Auto enrolment quietly sorts pensions for employees. Contractors get nothing of the sort, and fewer than one in five of the self-employed now saves into one at all. ContractorUK asked 278 contractors when they finally started, how IR35 shapes the route in, and what "enough" actually looks like.

There's a certain confidence in billing someone for money they don't have. As contractors, we spend half our lives chasing clients for payment on work we've actually done, often months after the invoice went out. HMRC, meanwhile, is exploring whether it can charge us tax on income that hasn't arrived yet.

Here's something nobody really prepares you for when you set up a limited company: what happens when you want to stop.

I became a contractor nearly eight months ago, and I've lost count of how many people have asked me whether I'm worried about the lack of security. Right now, I'm more curious about theirs...

I’ll be honest: I sorted my mortgage before I went full-time freelance. Not because I couldn't have applied as a contractor, but because I'd heard enough to know it wouldn't be straightforward. 

ONS figures show UK unemployment has hit a five-year high. More people are chasing fewer roles, searches are taking longer, and the pressure to land the next contract is real. Scammers know exactly how to exploit that feeling.

The British Chambers of Commerce published its quarterly survey results earlier this month, showing that 73% of UK businesses cite labour costs as their biggest pressure. That figure has barely moved in six months, and is the number one concern… ahead of energy, ahead of inflation, ahead of tax. When you look at what's actually happened to the cost of employment recently, it makes sense.

The assumption is that your accountant will sort it. Keep your receipts, pass them across at year end, and everything claimable gets claimed. Job done.

We've all been there. Invoice goes out. Silence rolls in. You send the polite chaser. Then the slightly less polite one. Then you're lying awake at 2am doing mental maths, wondering if this client is actually going to pay and whether you can push harder without torching the relationship.

There's a particular kind of confusion that comes with contracting in the UK, and it doesn't get talked about enough.