inspiration for independent professionals and the self-employedIssue 48 – £4.95

• EUROPEAN FOCUS

• UK DEVOLUTION

• GADGETS FOR 2015

• SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS

DAVID’S THE BUSINESSInterview with the UK’s first freelance ambassador, David Morris MP

IPSE_297x210.indd 1 12/01/2015 11:50

Firstly I’d like to congratulate you all for making it through January, which I always find to be a long, arduous slog.

But the point is, we’ve made it to February – a month which I think it’s fair to say we all approach with a bit more energy and optimism. And for the 48th issue of IPSE Magazine, we’ve put together a mag-azine which encapsulates just how much freelanc-ers, contractors and independent professionals have to look forward to in 2015.

We spoke with David Morris MP, the UK’s first ever self-employed ambassador and the man handed the responsibility of taking our special sector forward. Head across to page 8 where our very own Jim Cassidy chatted to him at length about working for yourself and why he’s the right person for the job.

We’ve also touched on the successes we’ve had here at IPSE following the launch of our manifesto, which the policy team have been thrusting into the hands of the decision makers in Parliament. Signs are encouraging, Politicians are listening and we’re confident IPSE will be part of the debate come May. Turn to page 6 for an update.

On top of all the rest, we’ve brightened the place up with a little more colour and a lot more content from people working right at the heart of UK self-employment.

I hope you enjoy it, and don’t be afraid to get in touch.

ISSUE 48 CONTENTS

A WORD FROM THE EDITORBENEDICT SMITH

3CONTENTS

Freelancer Confidence Index – Q4

Britain on the Brink – Hamish Macdonell

Policy Brief – VAT Changes Spell Danger

Gadgets for 2015 – Caroline Baldwin

The Influence of Enterprise

Coworking at a Glance/Hub-Spy

COWORKING

29

QV OFFICES

READING

Sat just a stone’s throw from Read-

ing train station in the town centre,

QV Offices has 18 desks, bookable

rooms and flexible meeting spaces

for hire by the hour or for the entire

day. Benefitting from full unrestrict-

ed access to a 100 mbps leased line

internet, this work-hub has high

speed broadband capable of fast

download and upload speeds. Better

still, there are no limits or hidden

costs. Along with a self-service

kitchen, 500 car parking spaces and

regular networking and social

events, QV Offices is the perfect hub

to spend a productive, not to men-

tion comfortable day in.

25–27 Queen Victoria Street

Reading, Berkshire, RG1 1SY

THE WORK LOUNGE

MANCHESTER

Newly refurbished, boasting 40 hot-

desks and located within walking

distance of Manchester city centre,

The Work Lounge offers a shared

work environment for businesses

and individuals who want the flexi-

bility of using an office space as and

when they need to. With high-speed

broadband, desks, lounge seating

and plenty of natural light, freelanc-

ers benefit from all the usual neces-

sities in a particularly comfortable

working environment. There’s also

the added bonus of being able to just

turn up, making it the perfect drop

in destination for freelancers work-

ing on the move.

Empress Business Centre

380 Chester Road

Manchester M16 9EA

SANDFORD GATE

OXFORD

On the outskirts of the bustling city

centre, Sandford Gate sits at the

heart of Oxford’s East Point Busi-

ness Park. As well as hot-desking

facilities, the Centre has its own

Business Lounge – a bright, airy and

relaxed area for visitors to drop in,

check emails and hold informal

meetings whenever they’re in the

area.Easily accessible, modern, light

and airy, Sandford Gate has

everything you need for a quick pit-

stop close to the M40 into London.

Clarendon Business Centres

East Point Business Park

Cowley, Oxford OX4 6LB

THE SOAP FACTORY

ABERDEEN

Wackily named, but serious about

work, The Soap Factory offers its

wide range of business services out

to independent professionals and

other small businesses. With high-

speed broadband, hot desks, meet-

ing rooms and a virtual phone

system, it is a convenient not to

mention enjoyable spot to work

from. Just a five minute stroll from

Aberdeen train station in the city

centre, The Soap Factory is easily

accessible for those spending a few

hours in Aberdeen before continu-

ing on their journey elsewhere.

111 Gallowgate

Aberdeen, AB25 1BU

Typically, self-employment gives you freedom. Freedom to choose your

clients. Freedom to command your own fees and freedom to work from

wherever you choose – whether that be your living room, the café down

the road or your local pub for all anyone cares. That said, the allure of

working alone and separate from others can quickly wear off, which has

undoubtedly led to the phenomenal rise of coworking, a way of working

which has taken off all around the world.

With this in mind, IPSE Mag recently got in touch with Deskmag – our

coworking magazine counterparts – who kindly shared findings from

their Global Coworking Survey, which sheds some light on why this way

of working is growing in popularity.

THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF CO-WORKING

Based on the results of the 3rd Global Coworking Survey 2012/13

IPSE teamed up with NearDesk to provide simple access to hot desks, meeting rooms and work-hubs nationwide. An activated IPSE card gives access

to over 150 business locations around the UK, while IPSE members also get an initial two free days to use at any of the four regional hubs and will

benefit from an ongoing 15% discount on desk use at each of them. Without further ado here they are…

COWORKING

AT A GLANCE

Collaborative working spaces have taken the self-employed

world by storm – and here are the stats to tell us why

HUB-SPY

Jumping on-board the work-hub bandwagon, we round-up four work-hubs which IPSE members can try before they buy

50% SELF-CLASS AS

FREELANCE

32 AVERAGE AGE

OF COWORKERS

80% GRADUATED

WITH DEGREE

1 in 3 ABOVE AVERAGE

INCOME

SOCIAL CIRCLE

BUSINESS NETWORK

PRODUCTIVITY

GENERATING IDEAS

SELF CONFIDENCE

QUALITY OF WORK

86%

80%

74%

72%

71%

60%

With the Wind in Her Sails – Rebecca Shipham

Giving Youth a Go – Benedict Smith

Plainly Speaking – Stuart Heritage

Going Social – Jamie McDermott

The Network Effect Oil and Gas Contractors in Troubled Waters

BEN.SMITH@IPSE.CO.UK @BENSMITHIPSE

One Eye on Europe – Ben Wright

Introducing IPSE Futures

The Rise of the Female Boss – Rosie Libell

A Message from the Chair – Julie Stewart

From the Lobby – Simon McVicker

Jim Cassidy interviews David Morris MP

12 14 16

24 27 29

30 31 32

35 36 38

19 20 22

04 06 08

4MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

inspiration for independent professionals and the self-employedIssue 48 – £4.95

EUROPEAN FOCUS

UK DEVOLUTION

GADGETS FOR 2015

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS

DAVID’S THE BUSINESSInterview with the UK’s first freelance ambassador, David Morris MP

IPSE does not necessarily agree with, nor guarantee the accuracy of, statements made by contributors or accept any responsibility for any statements which are expressed in the publication. All rights reserved. This publication (and any part thereof ) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic form, or in any other format, without the prior written permission of IPSE.

IPSE, its directors and employees, have no contractual liability to any reader in respect of goods or services provided by a third party supplier.

EDITORBenedict Smithben.smith@ipse.co.uk@BenSmithIPSE

MEDIA CONSULTANTJim Cassidy

CONTRIBUTORSJim CassidyStuart HeritageCaroline BaldwinDawn WhitelyRebecca Shipham

ADVERTISINGmarketing@ipse.co.uk

PUBLISHED BYIPSE, Heron House, 10 Dean Farrar Street,London SW1H 0DX

IPSE MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES020 8897 9970ipse.co.uk/join

A Message from the Chair

2015 promises to be a big year for the growing number of young and experienced men and women working for themselves in the UK.

Our sector is on course for yet another record-break-ing year, and nobody would be particularly surprised if the number of people working for themselves in the UK soon breaches the 5 million barrier.

Along with this, our influence is growing, and here at IPSE, 2015 is set to be our most important yet. We’ve been busy laying the foundations ahead of this critical political year for quite some time now.

The general election in May will be upon us before we know it and, with no outright favourite, we’ve been forging relationships with policy makers from the leading parties. We want to make sure our key mes-sages are heard loud and clear by the people with the power to implement them. The IPSE manifesto, launched last September, outlined each measure Gov-ernment must take to truly unleash the quite stagger-ing potential of the UK’s independent workforce.

We called for representation of self-employment in Government, action on maternity pay and pensions, an end to late payments, a better infrastructure for the self-employed, help for young self-employed people and, of course, tax simplification.

Not long after, our cover star, David Morris MP, was appointed as the self-employed ambassador. The Gov-ernment then announced they were ready to seriously consider maternity pay for the self-employed and, more

Issue 48 – £4.95

JULIESTEWARTIPSE CHAIR

recently, a conciliation service for late payment was set up. The signs are encouraging and act as proof that politicians are ready and willing to work with us to build a better, friendlier self-employed landscape.

Our work also caught the eye of the Prime Minister, who met the winners of Fifteen for 2015, our nation-wide competition to find the UK’s best freelancer. Along with a few members of the IPSE team, I visited No. 10 and spoke with Mr Cameron and his advisers.

All said and done however, challenges lie in front of us and this year we have battles to win with HMRC. There seems to be a trend in taxation policy right now to undermine the one-person limited company structure. HMRC use the language of ‘tax avoidance’ to attack a very legitimate way of working. Whether it is on the amount of information they demand the agencies gather from us or on our expenses, we have a big fight on our hands at the beginning of 2015 – but it is a fight we are ready for.

Concerns remain over the size of the deficit and we can expect more attacks like this from HMRC after the election period. Tax receipts are poor and they believe there is wide-scale tax avoidance. Armed with evidence and research from our sector we will counter this the-ory, and ensure politicians understand the damage HMRC are doing to the UK economy by attacking the millions of people working for themselves in Britain.

We mustn’t forget that while millions celebrate the fall in oil prices, many contractors in the industry are suf-fering, finding contracts harder to come by. IPSE mem-ber Sanjoy Sen investigates on page 38.

Going forward we will not rest on our laurels; we promise to build on 2014’s successes. As an organi-sation we remain dedicated to making the UK a place where it’s easy to become, engage with and work as a freelancer, contractor or independent professional.

Working with you, our members, we believe 2015 has the potential to be our most successful year yet.

FROM THE LOBBY 7

With no outright favourite to win the battle for No. 10, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over West-minster as we draw ever closer to the general election on 7th May. The opinion polls consistently show both major parties in the low thirties. UKIP sit tenaciously in the high teens while the Liberal Democrats continue to struggle, far from the heights they once had.

Meanwhile the Scottish National Party are on a roll and look to be going from strength to strength, despite having lost the independence referendum. They have got to sustain this all the way to polling day and new Scots Labour leader, Jim Murphy, will do everything in his power to pull it back. That said, on current projections the SNP would get over 40 seats, and be on course to be real players in the next Parliament. They will have the balance of pow-er and no doubt hold the next Government to ransom over the future of the Union. The thought of either David Cameron or Ed Mili-band having to cosy up to Alex Salmond and his tartan team is the stuff of nightmares.

While political uncertainty is something we’ve become rather accustomed to in recent times, it’s not something we should feel comfortable with. Uncertainty is bad for business and bad for inves-tors and does nothing to improve economic con-fidence. Businesses like to have some sort of

certainty and an idea of what might happen over the next five years. Without this, they will be look-ing beyond May with some trepidation.

Issues around the NHS, the size of the deficit, immigration, the English constitution and our membership of the EU need to be resolved. If the Government in power doesn’t have the authority to take decisive action, the road ahead will be rocky for them and the UK. These are also the major issues which threaten to push the small business debate into the shadows. While politicians under-stand how important the 4.6million people work-ing for themselves are to the economy, they will prioritise the topics which get the majority of the media spotlight.

This is why it’s up to people like us, and organisa-tions like IPSE, to keep the discussion going. Our manifesto, released last September, got the ball rolling and we’ve been very pleased with how well it’s been received. The Conservatives have taken up a large part of it, and the initial vibes from Labour have also been positive. We intend to maintain this pressure, and over the course of the next few weeks, all prospective parliamentary candidates from all parties will receive the IPSE manifesto in the run up to the general election.

Every candidate on the doorstep will have had the opportunity to get to know our policies,

FROM THE LOBBY Simon McVicker casts his eye over the political climate as the parties ready themselves for May’s general election.

ANDY CHAMBERLAINSENIOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER @ANDYIPSEI believe this election will be fought on two issues – the economy and the NHS. The Tories will want to focus on the economy because they perceive the public trusts them most on it. And in the same way, Labour perceive they are the most trusted party on the NHS, so will no doubt make this the centre of their campaign. Labour’s inbuilt elec-toral advantage will be undermined by big wins for the SNP and I can’t see UKIP damaging the Tories as much as some predict. The Lib Dems won’t do particularly well, but it won’t be as bad as the polls suggest. Outcome: Tories will get the most seats, just. The Conservatives will try and reform the coalition with the Lib Dems, but with both parties having too few seats to form a major-ity, they will fail to do so. Labour, the SNP and the Lib Dems will form the next coalition government.

ROSIE LIBELLSENIOR PRESS AND PR OFFICER @ROSIEHLIBELL Miliband is struggling to show voters he’d be a strong PM, and the rise of the SNP could mean a number of votes lost for Labour. Lib Dem vot-

ers won’t forget Clegg’s broken promises and the Green Party will win many of their votes. The Conservatives have a strengthening economy on their side but they don’t seem to be trusted with the NHS. Final answer? A Conservative minor-ity government – but there’s a long way to go…

JORDAN MARSHALLPOLICY AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS ADVISER @JORDANIPSE No governing party has increased its share of the vote over the course of a full parliamentary term since 1922, and May’s election will not break this pattern. Coupled with an electoral system that hugely benefits Labour, I expect Ed Miliband to be the next Prime Minister – either securing a slim majority or governing in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and maybe even the SNP.

GEORGE ANASTASI POLICY DEVELOPMENT MANAGER @GEORGE_IPSEI can see there being perhaps half a dozen seats in it between Labour and the Tories. The big question mark is over Scotland, and we’ve had some predictions of 40 seats for the SNP. But these are way off the mark – there’s plenty of ‘shy

Labour’ voters north of the border, which will mean Labour should just break the 300 seat mark.The Lib Dems will also collapse but not to the degree being bandied about by excited pollsters. This makes a Lab/Lib/SNP coalition likely, al-though such an arrangement will be very fractious.Will it last the full five years? Probably. The SNP will have their share of tantrums but minor par-ties in a coalition ultimately suffer in the long run. Normal service with two party politics will resume in one or two elections’ time once the economy settles down and different personalities emerge.

BEN WRIGHTPRESS & PR OFFICER @BENIPSEUKIP’s popularity has peaked and it will be single figure seats for them (five max) and the Greens (two), while talk of a Lib Dem wipeout is a little unfounded, though their share will roughly halve to around 25–30 seats. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives will reach the 326 seats needed for a majority but where a coalition will be formed is another issue and at this point it’s impossible to call, with plenty to suggest no two parties would form a government together, so a minority (Tory if pushed) government is a possibility.

which could prove to be invaluable in such an unpredictable election race. We’re also devel-oping our policy pamphlets around each of our key pillars from the manifesto, which spell out in a little more detail what people working in-dependently need from the next Government.

In the final few weeks before the election, we can expect to see the public focus their minds on the party leaders. People will begin to ask themselves who they see as the best fit for Prime Minister and who can ensure economic pros-perity. My gut feeling is that this will help the Conservatives. And because the Policy team here at IPSE have made their general election pre-dictions, I too have been persuaded to risk my reputation and make my predictions. Everything points, I believe, to a hung parliament with the Conservatives securing the most votes and prob-ably seats. That said, if the Tory’s fall short of the 300 seat mark, in my opinion, they will struggle to form a government, as the make-up of the rest of the Parliament will probably have a centre left bias. If this happens, Mr Miliband could well sneak into No. 10, but there’s still everything to play for.

We are eagerly anticipating the release of the party manifestos, and now have some idea of what form they will take. You can clearly see the Conservatives’ line of, ‘We’re starting to fix the economy, don’t give it back to the people who

wrecked it!’ While on the other side, the Labour Party are focusing on the issues around the cost of living, something which they say the Tories have failed to address. But this is just half of the story and, with the public and media gaze turn-ing to the party leaders, get ready for a good old-fashioned schoolyard scrap.

Cameron – undeniably good at playing the Prime Minister role – will face criticism from the Op-position for promising the world, but when it comes down to it, failing to deliver. They will do their best to paint a picture of a man who will say anything to get elected.

The Conservatives will have their say on the leadership qualities of Ed Miliband, but quite frankly, who hasn’t? Incompetent, not up to the job, a light-weight – they won’t hold back. With the regular trading of insults between the two main parties, the pressure is quite clearly mounting. That said, it’s bordering on distaste-ful and, if key messages are lost as a result of squabbling, it could prove costly. The public want to see each party’s vision for the UK for the next five years, and if the two frontrunners don’t present this clearly, then the smaller par-

POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY IS SOMETHING WE’VE BECOME RATHER ACCUSTOMED TO

ties will do very well. Soon after the Budget on 18th March, Parliament dissolves on the 30th March – which is when the campaign trail well and truly begins. Like everybody else, we be-come spectators as the politician’s and media take over. The politicians know that winning over the media is important, but it could be the potential live television debates which make or break the party leaders. The broadcasters are desperate for the live debates, and with Nigel Farage and others set to enter the ring it could get interesting!

If my hunch is correct and we have a hung Par-liament, this could spell some difficulty as we look to push our policies to key decision makers. Instead of thinking long term, politicians will have their eyes firmly on a second general elec-tion, which could also be close. However, look-ing further ahead, there is reason for optimism. The direction the economy is going in, combined with the continued growth of self-employment, suggests that politicians, civil servants and pol-icy makers cannot ignore the role of small busi-nesses. It really has become just too important.

Whoever gains power will have to follow a more pro-freelancing agenda in terms of recognition and enabling this very legitimate and fulfilling way of working. Regardless of the result, IPSE will work with the next Government to make sure our key messages are heard loud and clear.

ARTICLE BY IPSE’S DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS SIMON McVICKER

@SIMONMcVICKER

OUR TEAM’S PREDICTIONS

9

On National Freelancers Day the Prime Minister appointed David, who won his north-west seat in the 2010 general election, as the first ever ‘self-employed ambassador’ with a remit to champion freelancers. For this affable and effective young politician there is only one rock anthem for this growing band of in-dependent professionals, self-employed and entre-preneurs… ‘We Are the Champions!’

He feels his own journey as a self-employed business-man has set him up for his new role:

“Music was my first love, but in my late teens I felt I had to get a real job, a real profession, one that really paid the bills and kept me going in between all of this musical ambition. So I went down the road of being a hairdresser’s apprentice, which I thought was cool, and there were lots of girls around! I kept up the gui-tar work in the evenings and was successful in writing several popular songs during the ’80s for artists like Jason Donovan, Sonia and Brothers Beyond.

“I was quite a good hairdresser. I worked for a very reputable outfit called Pierre Alexander Internation-al and I was Pierre’s youngest-ever stylist. When the music industry started to change from the style of music I was producing, I left Pierre’s and set up my first hair salon and bought my first house. I was 24 years old, so I felt like I’d lived a life, before I’d even started out in business.”

He was only in his new role a few hours when IPSE invited him to their National Freelancers Day event and the following day he was introducing our 15 for 2015 winners and the IPSE team to the Prime Min-ister at Downing Street. A real baptism of fire?

“I really enjoyed National Freelancers Day. It didn’t faze me too much because I was with a great crowd of self-employed people and that’s what I am, a small businessman. I might be a Member of Parliament but I’ve looked after myself in business for 30 years. I’ve been relatively successful, if I can say that in a modest way, at everything I’ve ever turned my hand to. I just think that if you’re self-employed it is a way of life.

“People have a dream and an idea. It is sometimes very hard to stay on course with that dream and that idea and it’s how you stay focused that makes you a success. Everyone has got a different story. Everyone has a different path. Everyone has a different road to travel. I say to young people I meet to avoid trying to replicate others, to me that is a recipe for failure. It’s up to each individual to carve out their own niche, put their own stamp of originality on whatever they do.

“My goal is to help cut away the red tape and try to figure out how we can help freelancers flourish.”

The young people who IPSE highlighted in the 15 for 2015 contest reflected this originality and determination. Were the two Davids, Cameron and Morris, impressed with our winner Rebecca Shipham and the runners up?

“We were exceptionally impressed. The PM was elat-ed because he knows the fastest growing sectors are the self-employed sector and the freelancer sector. To witness the people and businesses IPSE highlighted

He once auditioned for Duran Duran, gigged with Rick Astley and was taught basic chords by rock icon Peter Frampton. He wrote chart hits in the 1980s for Pete Waterman, appeared on Top of the Pops and has one of the biggest personal collections of rock guitars in the UK. But David Morris, the Conservative MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, has a new band to look after: Britain’s 4.6 million self-employed.

DAVID MORRIS

IT’S UP TO EACH INDIVIDUAL TO CARVE OUT THEIR OWN NICHE, PUT THEIR OWN STAMP OF ORIGINALITY

ON WHATEVER THEY DO. MY GOAL IS TO HELP CUT AWAY THE RED TAPE AND TRY TO FIGURE OUT HOW

WE CAN HELP FREELANCERS FLOURISH

DAVID’S THE BUSINESS No. 10’s man is singing the praises of the self-employed. IPSE’s Media Consultant Jim Cassidy meets the Government’s first Freelance Ambassador, David Morris MP.

DAVID MORRIS 11

in 15 for 2015 is uplifting. Young people like the winner Rebecca Shipham, who had been through the mill with redundancy and came out at the other end successfully, are a great example of the spirit of this sector. It heartened us both that we have these great examples of people with skill, vision and determination. They help to put the great into Great Britain.

“The reality is that many of them could go onto bigger things if that’s their goal. Even Rich-ard Branson started off very small, selling re-cords; I mean his story is legendary. Alan Sugar is another one. They all start off small. Today’s small businessman or woman could be tomor-row’s Alan Sugar. You just never know. Some will want to reach for the stars, whereas others are quite content to have their own successful small firm.”

We live in a cynical world and I wondered what the new small business ambassador would say to the cynics who might claim that his appoint-ment is just a pre-election ploy to encourage small businesses to believe the Conservatives are the real party of small business?

“Well, all I can say is I was a small businessman before I became an MP and, as I said before, successful at it. You will always get cynics. What happened previously is that the public sector became too top heavy and the economy became too reliant on it. We all know that the only way you’re going to have a healthy public sector is with a healthy economy and a healthy private sector.

“The employment see-saw went a little bit lop-sided at one point, but thankfully under the direction of the PM and the Chancellor it’s balancing out and we are starting to see the future direction.

“It has to be said that IPSE have been talking to the Prime Minister’s office at No. 10 for quite some time and demanding a minister for the self-employed. It needed someone who has been there, seen it, done it and worn the T-shirt.”

I was interested in the remit the Prime Minister has given David for this new role.

“My job is to go out there and interface with the small businesses. It’s a case of just looking to-wards having a vision and pushing and driving

that vision. I look at my role as part of the exec-utive in UK PLC and the PLC executive’s task is how do we make the people of the UK prosper?”

IPSE’s manifesto was published early in the autumn of 2014 and many would say that it’s now becoming an economic sat-nav for the Government when it comes to dealing with small business. Is this a case of a listening government listening to an organisation with a vision?

“Well yes, we are a lis-tening government and I certainly listen. I don’t know all the answers; anybody who tells you they have all the an-swers shouldn’t be do-ing this job. You have to listen and you have to learn. People who listen

and learn are the people who prosper in business.

“IPSE have some really good ideas. We are se-riously looking at maternity pay and paternity pay. How would it be costed? We think it’s going to go along the lines of whatever your last takings are on your books. It’s got to be linked to some-thing that you’ve done yourself as a self-em-ployed person. Without wanting to sound callous, if you haven’t got those books to produce, you don’t get the benefit. But if you have, you will get helped out. It’s early days but a welcome challenge. I used to sit in my office, having built up a chain of salons, doing paperwork thinking, ‘Why is it so complicated?’ Like thousands of other business people I would think, ‘Why can’t we do it like this?’

“Well, now I am in a position to actually put proposals for change forward. I hope people reading this article will welcome the fact they’ve actually got someone with that front-line experience of running a small business working for them to make things easier and fairer. Some politicians are criticised that they are re-moved from the real world, haven’t faced business decisions, and haven’t been faced with problems and dark times. Well I’ve actually been there. I’ve been that businessman.

“The latest announcement by Sajid Javid, Sec-retary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and MP for Bromsgrove, that a conciliation service will be set up to help freelancers, self-employed

people and other small businesses resolve dis-putes around payment without court action must have been music to the ears of freelancers and small businesses.

“Also, Sajid announced a range of other meas-ures including a survey on strengthening the Prompt Payment Code, naming and shaming those who consistently fail to pay on time and ensuring that 30-day payment terms are main-tained all the way along the supply chain in government contracts. There will also be a requirement for all government suppliers to adhere to the prompt payment code. Suppliers who flout the code will be struck off. What better example of a listening government!

“And still on the subject of listening, at IPSE’s National Freelancers Day events I heard a lot of great ideas and thoughts. One lady suggested we have pop-up offices in libraries or in empty spaces on the high street. Well all these good ideas have gone to Matt Hancock, Minister of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and my boss Matt and his team will evaluate all these ideas and look at the cost im-plications and if the changes are practical and worthwhile.”

So in mid-May, if the Conservative Party holds power and David Morris is still the voice of small businesses, could we see the scrapping of the infamous IR35 legislation?

“If I get back into Parliament and I’ve still got this brief, then for starters I’ll be in dream-land.

But seriously, if I still have this role, one of my goals would be to start looking into how we can simplify the particular problems we have with IR35 and make sure we get a better system in place. Let’s be quite honest, IR35 is 16 years old and it wasn’t working

right when it first came in; so it’s about time someone grasps that nettle and starts to sort it out. And I can give you my word, if I’m in a po-sition to do it, I will look into it.”

Good man. I think that will encourage a lot of freelancers. One of the IPSE proposals in its manifesto is that we must have more education and careers advice around the world of self- employed and enterprise. IPSE would like to see this vocational advice included in the cur-riculum. Is that something you would support?

“I think many people now appreciate that in the past a lot of children were shoved down the aca-demic route, and they weren’t necessarily aca-demic. I’m the first one to say that I wasn’t that academic. I wanted to get out of school and be creative. But there was no route map, shall we say, to become a creative entrepreneurial business.

“I think things are a lot better now than when I left school in 1982, but I agree with IPSE’s goal that we offer more to young people who want to start a business. Give them the proper foundations to fulfil their dreams and hopes.

“I also believe we need a forum to help established firms. One of the biggest problems I remember in business was the changes to legislation that seemed to creep up on you. Quite often the law would change but nobody knew about it till they fell foul of it. Again, things are a lot better than they were five years ago but still, changes with legislation and red tape can demoralise a young businessperson

and the red tape is something I really want to cut back on. Because I’ve been there myself, and I’ve seen it, done it and fell foul of a lot of it.”

If you could change one thing for small business-es, professional contractors and entrepreneurs, what would it be?

“I would like to revisit the scheme where you had, in theory, one year’s free tax that would enable you to plough the money saved straight back into business. In reality, despite the great work of George Osborne in cutting back the deficit, we don’t have the funds to see this happen, but that’s not to say that we can’t do that in future years. I would like to talk to Lord Young on this and other ideas that have been raised. In Lord Young we have one of the greatest champions of

small business in the UK. He’s been there and done it in a previous government. When he speaks people really listen.

“We are fortunate that in David Cameron, George Osborne, Matt Hancock and Lord Young we have people of influence who monitor the progress of the self-employed, independent professionals and the entrepreneurial spirit they show with pride and commitment.”

Predicting what will happen on the political front in May would need all the skills of Mystic Meg, Russell Grant and Nostradamus rolled into one, but when you ask constituents in David Morris’s Morecambe and Lunesdale about their MP there is an overwhelming positive reaction.

One middle-aged woman I met said: “Just look at the sign above his constituency office in Lan-caster, Over £700 million and nearly 9,000 new jobs in Morecambe and Lunesdale since 2010. He’s an MP who is working for us.”

Even the ubiquitous and uncompromising taxi driver, took time out from pontificating about the ills of the world to reflect on his MP, saying: “Yes, the new by-pass has been started on his watch after years of just talk, talk, talk and there’s a sense this area is getting recognition. Most of the credit has to go to the MP.”

David is a great supporter of Rock the House, a musical awareness programme formed by the Conservative MP for Brighton, which encour-ages young musical talent, and he’s very proud of the fact he has already rocked the house.

“Only one rock band has ever played Westmin-ster’s Great Hall. I was a quarter of the band MP4 that played for the Queen’s Jubilee in 2012. We were pretty loud, in fact, and Westminster officials were worried about the stained glass windows, and when I performed a guitar solo, the volume dislodged a shuttlecock that had been up in the rafters since the reign of Henry VIII.”

It would seem David Morris MP is determined to shout from the rooftops and make some noise on behalf of independent professionals and the self-employed.

WE HAVE THESE GREAT EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WITH SKILL, VISION AND DETERMINATION. THEY HELP TO PUT

THE GREAT INTO GREAT BRITAIN

MY JOB IS TO GO OUT THERE AND INTERFACE WITH THE SMALL BUSINESSES.

IT’S A CASE OF JUST LOOKING TOWARDS HAVING A VISION AND PUSHING AND

DRIVING THAT VISION

INTERVIEW BY JIM CASSIDY, IPSE’S MEDIA CONSULTANT

JUST LOOK AT THE SIGN ABOVE HIS CONSTITUENCY OFFICE IN LANCASTER, OVER £700 MILLION AND NEARLY 9,000 NEW JOBS IN MORECAMBE AND

LUNESDALE SINCE 2010. HE’S AN MP WHO IS WORKING FOR US

FUNFACT

DAVID WAS A QUARTER OF THE BAND MP4 WHO PLAYED AT THE QUEEN’S JUBILEE IN 2012

TWO OF DAVID’S PASSIONS; POLITICS AND MUSIC.

DAVID MEETS WINNER OF FIFTEEN FOR 2015, REBECCA SHIPHAM OUTSIDE NO. 10.

FREELANCER CONFIDENCE INDEX 12

Not for the first time, the IPSE Freelancer Con-fidence survey matches the upbeat business forecasts in previous quarters. Based on results from our quarterly survey which looks at busi-ness performance in Q4 of 2014, members surveyed are on average commanding higher day rates, working closer to capacity and earning more each quarter.

That said, confidence levels – although still positive – have fallen considerably over the last quarter, indicating that these new high levels of performance will be difficult be beat over the next 12 months. Freelancers indicate that they expect their business performance to plateau over the course of next year, but have slightly higher hopes for the economy, which they believe will perform marginally better in 2015 than 2014.

DAY RATESSIGNIFICANT GROWTH IN 2014 THAT WILL SLOW DOWN IN 2015The latest results from Q4 of 2014 indicate that day rates have risen significantly (7.4%), with the average freelancer commanding fees of £525 a day.

In terms of outlook for the rest of the year, the majority of freelancers (57%) expect day rates to remain the same, while 26% (down from 29% last quarter) expect them to increase. 18% of inde-pendent professionals believe rates will decrease over the course of 2015, up 5% from Q3 of 2014.

Increased concern over rates is to be expected somewhat, given that freelancer day rates have risen by 7.4% over the last quarter and 11.2% over the last two quarters compared to average earnings growth of just 1.1% for the entire labour force across the whole of 2014. DEMANDCONTINUES TO GROW WITH MOMENTUMThe number of contracts undertaken by free-lancers grew consistently over the course of 2014, with those surveyed reporting an in-crease (32% in Q4) exceeding those indicating a fall (23% in Q4).

Looking ahead to the next 12 months, the out-look is almost unchanged, with 43% expecting the number of contracts to rise, compared to 44% in Q3 and 45% in Q2. While roughly a third of freelancers expect the number of contracts to remain unchanged over the next 12 months, a ratio of over two to one freelancers expect them to increase compared to those expecting a decrease.

ECONOMYCONFIDENCE WANING, BUT POSITIVE OVERALL 12–MONTH OUTLOOKWhile freelancers’ confidence in the economy has consistently fallen in the last three quarters, the 12-month outlook is nevertheless positive. 29% of freelancers are as confident in the econ-omy in 2015 as in 2014, whereas 40% are more confident, compared to 31% who are less.

Overall, the Q4 freelancer confidence index scores indicate that freelancers think that the economy will perform at least as well, if not marginally better, in 2015 than in 2014. Howev-er, in terms of mood, it has moved from bullish to cautious.

COSTSINPUT COSTS MOSTLY FLAT IN Q4 OF 2014, BUT EXPECTED TO RISE THIS YEARMore than half (54%) of freelancers reported that their costs hadn’t risen over the last quar-ter. Of the remainder, 36% had experienced an increase in business costs, while 10% indi-cated that the cost of running their business had fallen.

From last year’s Q3 survey we noted that there were roughly six and half freelancers whose costs had increased over the last three months for every freelancer who told us that costs had not changed. This ratio has now fallen to three and half to one, indicating reduced inflation-ary pressures on freelancers’ businesses. However, there has been a significant rise from 37% in Q3 to 51% in Q4 in the proportion of freelancers who expect input costs to rise over the next 12 months.

Looking ahead, on balance most freelancers expect their businesses and the economy will do better over 2015 than in 2014 but their con-fidence index values have fallen to levels which indicate this will most likely be just a marginal increase on last year.

CAPACITY UTILISATIONHIGH AND INCREASING FOR MOSTIn Q3 of 2013, we noted the high capacity uti-lisation of freelancers, with 81% of those sur-veyed working on a contract at the time of the survey. Capacity utilisation has increased still further, with 85% of freelancers under contract at the time of the survey in quarter four of 2014.

Likewise, a total of 86% of freelancers were out of contract for less than four weeks over Q4 compared to 80% in Q3.

This increase in utilisation has also benefited freelancers who have relatively high levels of spare capacity: just 8% of freelancers were out of contract for 10 weeks or more in Q4 compared to 13% in the previous quarter. So overall, 2014 has ended with very high levels of demand for freelancers’ services resulting in high capacity utilisation and increased day rates.

KEYFACT

UK #1 KEY MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS SHOW UK ECONOMY GREW FASTEST OF G7 ECONOMIES IN 2014

THE IPSE FREELANCER CONFIDENCE INDEX

QUARTER FOURFreelance business performance reaches new heights, but a slow-down is now expected, writes IPSE’s Senior

Economic Policy Adviser, Meagan Crawford.

Contract-review.indd 1 10/11/2014 16:35

IF YOU’RE IN SCOTLAND LIKE ME, YOUR TAX AFFAIRS ARE SOON

GOING TO GET MORE CONFUSING

HAMISH MACDONELL 15

The country is breaking up. I don’t mean on the surface, across our borders – although with the way the Scottish independence movement is gathering steam again, that might indeed happen. No, the cracks are appearing under the crust, some way below all the constitutional wrangles which have transfixed our politicians for the last couple of years, and they are changes that will affect us all.

Just consider this. Like many freelancers, I run my own limited company – a one-man company but a company nonetheless. At the moment, all the tax I pay – both Corporation and Income Tax – is gathered in by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. But I live and work in Scotland and, in a couple of years, I shall be paying my Income Tax to a new Scottish Exchequer and my Corporation Tax to the UK Treasury. As the level of Income Tax I pay is linked to the amount of Corporation Tax I pay, I have no idea how this is going to work – nor, I believe, do the new, rather beleaguered, Scottish tax officials: how-ever that is their problem, not mine.

But what is now abundantly clear is that Scotland is going to go its own way on Income Tax and on a number of other, smaller, taxes while West-minster will keep hold of the purse strings as far as Corporation Tax and VAT are concerned.

This north–south split could also be compounded by an east–west split – if the UK Government bows to the justifiable demands from Northern Irish politicians that they should be able to decide their province’s own Corporation Tax rates. Indeed, it is entirely feasible that, before too long, business people operating right across the UK could be paying more Income Tax in Scotland but less Cor-poration Tax in Northern Ireland.

And this could be just the start.

Scotland is going to have different stamp duty thresholds from the rest of the country from this April and it certainly won’t be long before air passenger duty is cut in Scotland, making it cheaper to fly off on holiday from airports north of the border.

You may think that, if you live and work in England, none of this will affect you but you would be wrong. That is because devolution is the new byword for our politicians. They see it as a panacea, something to head off the threat of nationalists, wherever they come from. In-deed, devolving power down to more responsive regional hubs is already becoming one of the key themes of the election campaign.

It was bubbling away during all three of the major party conferences last autumn and, what starts at conferences before an election usual-ly finds its way into the manifestos come elec-tion time. So you can expect to see all sorts of commitments to devolve power away from

London to regional centres across the UK. Partly, this is a reaction to the gravitational pull of London and partly it is an attempt to placate small ‘n’ nationalists. Whatever the reason, it is starting to be seen as a policy solution across a range of areas.

I have already touched on the devolution of tax powers but what about transport, health, education and elderly care? There is growing discontent in England’s northern cities at what is seen as a pro-London bias at Westminster. As a result, there is an increasing sense that Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and others will need to work together to secure the major transport projects and financial independence the area needs to compete against the capital.

Our Westminster politicians know this and they are starting to realise that they have to offer something to quell this gathering sense of griev-ance – and they believe the answer is devolution, giving more control over money raised as well as money spent, greater freedom over borrowing

and planning and more sweeping powers to cross traditional county boundaries.

There are good political reasons for this too. One of the major political fault-lines over the last few years has been over inequality, a feeling that some people are getting richer and richer while everyone else is struggling. And, whether it is right or not, London’s boom – both in property and wages – has fuelled a feeling that the capital is prospering at the expense of others, particu-larly in the north, and that is creating more and more inequality.

With many key marginal seats north of Watford, it makes sense for politicians of all parties to campaign on a devolution ticket as they approach polling day in May, however vague the language might be.

After Alex Salmond’s independence dream was defeated in September last year, there was a tendency among some metropolitan commen-tators to switch off as far as Scotland was con-cerned. It was as if they said: “That’s it, Scotland hasn’t broken away, the UK is safe, what’s next?”

But I would argue that it would be instructive for everybody to keep a close eye on Scotland – not just because the Nationalists may do so well in this year’s general election that inde-pendence is thrust right back on the agenda again – but also because, where Scotland leads, other parts of the country tend to follow.

Scotland is already almost a semi-autonomous, state-within-a-state but Wales is now moving towards the sort of devolution that Scotland was given back in 1999. After Wales, it will be the regional blocks of England moving towards the sort of devolution that Wales had and so on. We are now in a period of fluid and almost constant change and it is difficult to see it stop-ping any time soon.

But the big question for all freelancers out there is obvious – how does it affect you?

Well, if you are in Scotland, like me, your tax

affairs are soon going to get more confusing. If you live anywhere else, it is more likely to be a question of local direction and choice. This could manifest itself in localised business rates tax relief, in more flexibility over planning rules or the construction of major new transport projects.

It will certainly make things more complicated, particularly for businesses trading across new administrative boundaries. But it could bring many advantages too. If everything from stamp duty to air passenger duty is determined by local conditions, not by a market determined by

over-heating in the south-east, then this could help each part of the country find its own level.

Business conditions could improve and so, it might be argued, would prospects for freelanc-ers. It is impossible to be specific until we actu-ally know what form this new devolution will take. What is certain, though, is that this is the way the UK is going.

Far too many of us – and I include political commentators like myself in this – have been so obsessed about the grand and superficial, the possibility of leaving the EU or of break-ing up the UK, to notice the trend gathering pace underneath.

But this is where we are now. Will it be more complicated for freelancers in the future?

Almost certainly. But will it be better? For that answer, I’m afraid, we shall all have to wait and see.

BRITAIN ON THE BRINK OF DEVOLUTIONWith Scotland spearheading the movement, the UK must brace itself for devolution, writes political commentator Hamish Macdonell.

THERE IS GROWING DISCONTENT IN ENGLAND’S NORTHERN CITIES AT WHAT

IS SEEN AS A PRO-LONDON BIAS

ARTICLE BY POLITICAL COMMENTATOR HAMISH MACDONELL

@HAMISHMACDONELL

17POLICY BRIEF

2015 has brought little cheer for the UK’s small-est businesses so far, with a change in the way VAT works a nightmare for many. As of 1st Jan-uary, for those selling digital services directly to customers in the EU, VAT liability has switched from where the digital service is sold to the country where the customer is based. This means that although you still won’t have to pay VAT in the UK if you are below the £81,000 annual turnover threshold, you’ll now have to pay VAT on sales to customers in the EU at the local rate.

By registering for HMRC’s VAT Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) service, you’ll complete one VAT return and make quarterly payments which automatically cover all sales of digital services to EU customers.

However, the data collection and accounting pro-cedures which will have to be undertaken are simply not appropriate for businesses of this size. For example, to comply with the legislation, infor-mation such as the location of the customer’s bank and their IP address will have to be captured, and stored for 10 years for auditing purposes.

The list of ‘digital services’ which now fall within the regulations are confusing to say the least, and it isn’t difficult to see that problems will arise here in the coming months. This situation is especially frustrating given that the original intention of the legislation was to tackle large companies avoiding tax, by operating through subsidiaries in low VAT member states.

But it gets worse. We’ve caught wind that there are plans to roll out these VAT regulations to all businesses selling directly to EU customers from 2016 (i.e. not just ‘digital services’). This would only exacerbate the current problems, and act as a further drag on entrepreneurialism.

Government is now well aware of the problems these changes have caused. Here at IPSE we’ve started working with other organisations, such as Enterprise Nation and EU VAT Action, to look for solutions and urge Government to take speedy action.

We’ve also been in contact with MPs around tabling parliamentary questions to bring great-er political focus to the issue, and we’re keen to see a joint letter signed by key business organi-sations sent to the Treasury.

Government has simply failed to acknowledge the needs of microbusinesses when implement-ing policy. While it might not be possible to completely reverse the damage already done, we give you our word that we’ll work to amelio-rate this in the coming months.

We’re making as much noise about this issue as possible to bring it up the parliamentary agenda. IPSE has already achieved big wins on tackling the scourge of late payment, and we are determined to address the full range of is-sues which prevent those working independent-ly from flourishing.

WHY EVEN INTRODUCE THESE CHANGES? An EU Directive from 2008 is the precursor to this change. This was intended to tackle large compa-nies avoiding tax by operating through subsidiar-ies in low VAT member states – such as Amazon funnelling its EU sales through Luxembourg.

All businesses selling digital services directly to consumers in other EU member states will, however, unfortunately be caught in this net, requiring data collection and accounting pro-cedures which are simply not suitable for small businesses of this nature.

It’s worth noting that in a letter to Conservative MEP Syed Kamall, Treasury Minister David Gauke MP stated that during the negotiations at EU level the UK “had argued strongly for a cross-border threshold so that the smallest businesses would be outside the system alto-gether. But there was no support from other Member States or the Commission”.

WHAT COUNTS AS A ‘DIGITAL SERVICE’?• Supplies of images or text, such as photos,

screensavers, e-books and other digitised doc-uments, e.g. PDF files

• Supplies of music, films and games• Online magazines• Website supply or web hosting services• Supplies of software and software updates• Advertising space on a website

WHAT DATA DO I NEED TO COLLECT? In order for the seller to verify the customer’s location, you’ll need to collect certain data. You’ll need to get your hands on at least two of the following, storing the information securely for 10 years for auditing purposes:• Billing address• IP address of their device• Location of their bank• Area code of their SIM card or landline• Anything else relevant for a commercial trans-

action that reveals their location

However, Government has decided to give mi-crobusinesses six months to adapt to these re-quirements. Until 30th June 2015, businesses within the £81,000 annual turnover threshold will not be forced to manually collect informa-tion to verify their customer’s location. Instead, businesses will be able to “base their customer location VAT taxation on information provided to them by their payment service provider”.

HOW WILL I ACTUALLY PAY VAT?By registering for HMRC’s VAT Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) service, you’ll complete one VAT return and make quarterly payments which automatically cover all sales of digital services to EU customers. If you fall under the £81,000 annual turnover threshold, you will not need to charge VAT on sales to UK customers.

As noted above, until 30th June 2015, if you fall within the turnover threshold you will not be forced to manually collect information to verify your customer’s location – the onus in this transition period will fall on the payment service provider.

WHAT’S IPSE DOING ABOUT THIS? We’re hard at work exploring whether it’s possi-ble to suspend the implementation of the new VAT regulations, given the crippling impact the regulations have been proven to have on many microbusinesses. We’re working with various organisations such as Enterprise Nation, EU VAT Action and others to highlight the issues and urge Government to take speedy action.

We’re also in discussions with MPs around tabling Parliamentary questions to raise the issue. IPSE is also keen to see a joint letter signed by key business organisations sent to Treasury.We will be doing all we can to work with Gov-ernment and other organisations to ensure the requirements are less of a headache to comply with: the introduction of a transition period for the data collection requirements is one example of such a small concession.

We will also use our contacts in Brussels to help bring greater attention to the problems that im-plementation of the EU Directive has created.

VAT CHANGES SPELL DANGER FOR MICROBUSINESSESJordan Marshall, IPSE’s Policy and External Affairs Adviser, tackles VATMOSS, detailing just how damaging it is for small business owners.

WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE COMPLYING SIMPLER?Entrepreneur, Julie Hall, put together a summary to ease compliance, which includes;

Use a Simple Shopping Cart: There are lots of simple shopping carts that you can use where you can ask for the information you require at the point of sale. Government has suggested that all you need is the billing address for their credit card and phone number, including the country code. A couple of suggestions are: Easy Digital Downloads which has an extension or Woo Commerce, a more complex shopping cart that also has an extension.

Use a Marketplace as your sales channel: If you sell digital courses, Udemy is a great option for video courses. They do charge you 30% of the price for the privilege, but you can create your own link for your community and they don’t take commission for sales from that link. There are lots of other marketplaces for different types of businesses, so check what’s out there for your industry.

Redirect people from different countries to different pages If you have a WordPress website, you can use a plugin called GEO IP, which redirects people based on their country IP address to different pages on your website. The same developer has also created a second plugin, called WP Country Content Shortcode, which allows you to create country-specific content from within the same Wordpress post. Using the GEO IP plugin, you can then redirect people from the EU countries to specific pages relevant to them. Your UK customers can be sent to a different page and international customers to another page again. Alternatively using the WP Country Content Shortcode you can create specific content for people from different countries all on the same page.

ARTICLE BY JORDAN MARSHALL, IPSE’S POLICY AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS ADVISER

@JORDANIPSE

ONE EYE ON EUROPE 19

A SLOW STARTEconomically, it has not been the best start to the year for the eurozone which officially entered into deflation in the first week of January; an intervention by the European Central Bank to try and spark life into the region’s sluggish econ-omy has quickly become all the more likely.

Equally deflated are British attitudes to what is viewed as a weakening and burdensome EU. David Cameron had already promised an in/out referendum for 2017 should he still be Prime Minister, though his recent efforts to fast track the process suggest there’s a possibility this could take place earlier. Short of a referendum on membership, reform in some shape or form could be on the cards. In early January, Camer-on met with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel who, though refusing to back any reform that would require the rewriting of any policies enshrined in EU treaties, expressed support towards some of Cameron’s proposed measures. Either way, talk of a ‘Brexit’ will be high up the political agenda throughout the year.

Things haven’t got off to the best start politi-cally either. The storm that followed European Commission President Juncker over alleged tax deals offered to companies during his time as Prime Minister of Luxembourg has carried over into the new year, with the European Par-liament set to launch a full enquiry. The victo-ry of radical left-wing, anti-austerity party Syriza in Greece’s recent election has sent a political and economic shockwave through the Eurozone, the tremors of which will be felt throughout the coming year. The EU has also felt the anger of many small business owners. Changes made to the Place of Supply Directive and the establishing of a VAT Mini One Stop Shop (VATMOSS – or VATMESS as Twitter users aptly named it) by HMRC have huge implications for small businesses dealing with digital content across Europe.

LOOKING AHEADPolicy-wise, the Small Business Act (SBA) – the Commission’s attempt at a comprehensive SME policy framework in the EU – underwent public consultation late last year, the results of which will frame the Commission’s 2015–2020 ap-proach to supporting SMEs and entrepreneurs across Europe. Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commis-sioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepre-neurship and SMEs, is responsible for the proposal of the revised SBA. Bieńkowska has

ONE EYE ON EUROPEIPSE’s Ben Wright takes a look at the year ahead in Europe.

WITH THE GENERAL ELECTION LOOMING, IT’S SET TO BE A SHAKY, BUT FASCINATING,

YEAR FOR UK–EU RELATIONS

aimed to ensure the new directive will reduce the time and cost of establishing a business in Europe, alongside her wider mandate to revive Europe’s entrepreneurial spirit and foster a culture that supports SMEs and entrepreneurship.

The SBA provides the policy framework for the competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium Enterprises (COSME) initiative, which heads into the second year of its 2014–2020 programme. COSME is a multi-faceted support system that offers assistance in unlock-ing finance, market access and support for entrepreneurs. COSME’s 2015 work pro-gramme sets out 27 action points supported by a €264 million budget. Along with continued processes such as expanding the Erasmus for Entrepreneurs exchange scheme, many action points represent new initiatives, such as sup-porting SME access to key enabling technolo-gy (KET) platforms and helping them to be more resource efficient. The COSME work programme expects that throughout the initi-ative’s lifetime between 220,000 and 330,000 SMEs will receive financing from COSME.

WHAT’S NEXT?Late last year the Commission released its annual ‘action plan’ setting out its work pro-gramme for 2015, though what aspects of the programme the Commission will follow remain to be seen. With a new political make-up and a new balance of power in the European Par-liament after last year’s elections, the Commis-

sion is to have a tougher time pushing through its agenda. This was quickly highlighted in mid-January, when the political parties all voted against each other’s resolutions to the Commission’s legislative agenda for 2015, in-cluding the EPP proposal which fully backed the Commission’s agenda.

With the MOSS up and running and the terms of the Place of Supply Directive implemented, there is little hope of changing the law at Eu-ropean level. The focus of campaigning has instead moved to reform of HMRC’s MOSS, which is designed to facilitate administration of the new rules, though its ability to do so is debatable and the MOSS does little to help small businesses heavily impacted by the leg-islation. Additional guidance was published by HMRC in late December with some slightly favourable adjustments. Though with the terms of the directive having taken effect on 1st Jan-uary and reports of many businesses already having closed rather than face the administra-tive and financial burdens the new terms im-pose, it’s safe to say attention over the issue will not fall any time soon.

For entrepreneurs and small businesses, the Commission’s rhetoric of removing red tape, promoting entrepreneurship and facilitating easier access to finance will be nothing new. After the VATMOSS fiasco and with a potential renegotiation of membership terms on the table, it will be a difficult task to convince small busi-nesses, especially in the UK, that the EU is working for them. With the general election looming, it’s set to be a shaky, but fascinating, year for UK–EU relations.

BEN WRIGHT HOLDS AN MA IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, WITH A FOCUS ON EUROPEAN POLITICS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

@BENIPSE

KEYFACT

220–330k NUMBER OF SMEs EXPECTED TO RECEIVE FINANCING FROM COSME

Looking for discounted rates on life assurance and private medical healthcare? Look out for IPSE Futures, a flexible benefits scheme for our members, launching soon…

AEGON PENSIONS SCHEME 21

Frank Meaden of Aegon UK, kindly sat down with IPSE Magazine to give us all the details on IPSE’s newest membership benefit.

FIRST, WHY CHOOSE AEGON?Aegon has a long history of helping people prepare for their financial futures. We’ve been around since 1831 and although we’ve grown and evolved we remain committed to helping our customers take control of their finances so they can create the future they want.

Aegon is now part of a global provider of pen-sions, investments and protection. Our global head office is in The Hague, but here in the UK Edinburgh has always been our home. Today we’ve combined our deep understanding of pensions and investments with market-leading technology to bring you Aegon Retirement Choice (ARC) and to give you an overarching view of your finances.

By moving your portfolio to ARC you might find that you’re able to access a wider range of invest-ments than your current plans offer, benefit from lower charges and, of course, view and manage all your investments together online with only one username and password to remember. That said, I should point out that before you decide to move your existing savings and investments, it’s important that you speak with your financial adviser to make sure that it’s the right choice for you and you’re not giving up any valuable benefits from your existing arrangements.

AND WHAT ARE THE ESTIMATED SAVINGS?It’s fairly tricky to estimate the savings you’ll make, but they depend on four things: Taxation – currently benign towards retirement savings. Investment returns. Charges – you’ve got a good deal here, and a transparent deal as well.

How much you contribute and how long you contribute for – obviously this is the primary driver. You shouldn’t wait until you’re in your forties or even your fifties before you start sav-ing; retirement planning should be of interest to all working people regardless of age. Use our calculators to work out roughly how much you should be contributing.

ARC BRINGS ALL YOUR FINANCES TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE – WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS? I guess there are a few things here. First of all it’s really handy to have all your savings and invest-ments visible in one place. This helps you under-stand the progress you’re making and makes it easier to understand how much investment risk you are taking overall.

You’re also able to access a wide variety of invest-ment houses from one place, so your eggs aren’t all in one basket, so to speak. You can keep tabs on the charges your investments are being subject to and, with ARC, one of your charges reduces as you accumulate. With your savings all in one convenient place, you’re much less likely to lose track of old schemes. All financial houses have to deal with old pots long since forgotten by their owners – you don’t want to lose your money.

THE TERM SWITCHING IS BANDIED ABOUT REGULARLY, BUT WHAT IS IT – AND WHY IS IT BENEFICIAL?IPSE have, in conjunction with their advisers, chosen an investment fund they think best meets the average needs of their members, but it may not be the best fit for you as an individ-ual. If you want more control over where your money is invested, you can choose a fund or a range of funds that is more tailored to your needs. This is called switching.

You can switch investments online at any time (within the provider’s terms and conditions) using the switch function. We won’t charge you for any switches you make, although your in-vestment provider, the company that provides the fund you choose, might charge. Typically this would be an initial charge against the in-vestment you make into that fund. Some more complex investments might have other charges. Have a look at the providers’ important infor-mation documents for details.

The benefit to you is that you are able to create a portfolio of investment funds using the tax wrapper that best suits your needs. You can then change that portfolio as the economic cycle turns and as your thinking changes over the years. If you’re not sure, stick to the default fund or seek the services of an investment adviser.

HOW DOES ARC HELP YOU TAKE A MORE ACTIVE ROLE WITH REGARDS TO YOUR PENSION AND SAVINGS?It’s designed to enable you to take control of your money so you’ll have the security of know-ing exactly how your portfolio’s doing and wheth-er your savings are on track. If you wish, you can provide your adviser access as well. It’s an online solution; you can log on anytime, wherever you are. It’s easy to use and secure too.

Within seconds of logging on you’re able to re-view the value of your savings in each of your product wrappers, details of your investments, a full transaction history for your account and projection of what you might get back from your Aegon SIPP. Depending on how confident you are financially and how much of an active role you want to play, you can choose to do more than just look at how your account’s doing online.You can invest more money into other tax wrap-

pers such as an ISA or a general investment account, and then transfer other investments you have to ARC, switch your investments and even open new product wrappers.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT INVESTMENT OPTIONS/PRODUCT WRAPPERS?We use cutting-edge technology to host a va-riety of products in one place. We call these products ‘wrappers’. They’re essentially sav-ings vehicles that have different tax treat-ments, contribution limits and allowable investments. You can choose from one or more of these product wrappers. They include; a pension, an individual savings accounts (ISA), a general-purpose investment account and an offshore bond.

Pensions are generally considered to be one of the best ways to save for retirement, but you can also use an ISA as a retirement savings vehicle either as an alternative to a pension or, attractively, alongside your pension. There are limits to how much you can pay into ISAs each

year though, and the tax benefits work in dif-ferent ways from pensions. The main difference is that you get Income Tax relief on your pen-sion contributions but not your ISA contribu-tions but then the income generated by your ISA is tax free. Pension income is taxable.

If you’ve already made the most of the main tax-efficient savings products such as pensions and ISAs but have more to save, general invest-ment accounts and offshore bonds are other options that may be suitable. ARC gives you a huge choice of different investment types – so you can choose what’s right for you, now, and in the future. Whether you’re looking for long-term capital growth, want to preserve the sav-ings you have or start taking an income, we have the funds and the tax wrappers to help.

You can keep things straightforward and choose from our insured funds, including our risk profile ranges, or you can choose from a wider range of investments, making sure you have exactly what you need.

IS IT EXPENSIVE OR TIME CONSUMING TO TRANSFER YOUR MONEY INTO ARC?Aegon won’t make a charge for enabling your transfers, whether you’re using a pension or an ISA. However your current provider may make a charge. You ought to investigate this before transferring. You should also be aware that some restrictions may apply. Before you transfer your pension, we recommend talking to a financial adviser as there are a number of important factors to consider. You should also bear in mind that you won’t benefit from any potential returns on cash transfer whilst a transfer is pending.

And it doesn’t take much time at all to set up. If you want to do this yourself you can apply for a transfer online in just a few simple steps.

INTRODUCING IPSE FUTURES GETTING YOU READY FOR TOMORROW As part of IPSE membership benefits, we’re giving our members the opportunity to set up a pension plan and contribute to it. Together with Aegon, it’s our mission to get the UK’s self-employed workforce ready for retirement.

IPSE recommends appropriate expert independent advice should be obtained before making any investment or other investment decisions.

This morning, Tim viewed the latest digital issue of Talk Business Magazine, on his tablet

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Untitled-1 1 11/06/2013 10:59

ROSIE LIBELL 22

THE RISE OF THE FEMALE BOSSIPSE’s Senior Press and PR Officer, Rosie Libell, looks at the reasons behind the growing number of women choosing to work for themselves.

KEYFACT

1.43 MILLION NUMBER OF SELF-EMPLOYED WOMEN IN THE UK

The number of people choosing to become their own boss is on the rise and women are now leading the way. ONS figures show that in October 2014, 1.43 million women were self-employed, with a 9% increase in self-em-ployed women year on year compared to only 4% for men.

The rate of women entering self-employment is now more than double that of men, but why the sudden rise of the female boss?

An IPSE commissioned ComRes survey – com-pleted by over 1,000 freelancers – shows clear differences between why men and women choose to go it alone. Achieving a better work/life bal-ance is more important for women (56%) than men (46%), as is the greater control of hours which being your own boss allows (49% com-pared to 43% respectively). Men, on the other hand, are more likely to freelance for the money. The better work/life balance is particularly beneficial for parents who are able to better balance their family life with work. Tradition-ally, it’s women who look after the kids, which could be a key reason behind the rise in women choosing to go it alone.

This attitude seems to be changing, though, after a survey by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills found that 53% of respond-ents stated that childcare should be the equal responsibility of both parents. According to the survey, 56% of men would like to share childcare,

compared to 50% of women. So judging by these statistics, a better work/life balance isn’t just a benefit enjoyed by women, after all.

And I must point out that not all of the women going it alone are doing it because they have children – far from it, in fact. Women across the board seem to be waking up to the benefits of working for themselves. Self-employment can work for everyone, including young people who are increasingly moving away from the tradi-tional 9–5 and venturing straight into self- employment after university.

Take 15 for 2015 finalist and freelance illustrator, Emmeline Pidgen, for example. She dived straight into self-employment after graduating in 2010. Emmeline is just one of the UK’s 1.43 million female self-employed professionals and it should be celebrated that so many women are choosing to strike out alone.

However, I am far from naïve, and self-employ-ment in the UK remains somewhat unbalanced. IPSE’s survey with ComRes shows women are heavily under-represented in industries like transport and storage. What’s more, the survey goes on to highlight the worrying gender pay gap in freelancing, with men (£419 per day) charging significantly more than women (£256). A female freelancer earns on average 61% of what a male colleague would earn, which isn’t right really, is it?

The gender divide is particularly evident in certain sectors, namely infrastructure (0% of women say that they charge £501 or more per day vs 13% of men) and production (17% of women say that they charge £501 or more per day vs 30% of men).

Freelancers – able to set their own rates – do have the potential to bring an end to the unfair pay gap. That said, some might question wheth-er women actually have the confidence to charge quite as much as their male counterparts, which could be influencing this gender pay gap.

Not finished there, IPSE then surveyed 1,000 employees – asking them a similar set of ques-tions. Two in five respondents were reluctant to go solo because of the lack of financial security that goes hand-in-hand with working for your-self. In truth, this is understandable and you’ll do well to find any self-employed person who doesn’t worry about this – and it certainly isn’t a concern just held by women.

Continued IPSE research reveals that women are significantly more concerned than men about self-employed rights and benefits, such as pen-sions and maternity/paternity pay. Self- employed rights play a big role in the IPSE man-ifesto, in which we call for better treatment for independent professionals. If our suggestions are implemented by the next Government, we may well see even more women working for themselves in the UK.

Whatever the reason for going freelance, wom-en are shaking up the self-employed landscape, which is reason to celebrate if you ask me. Long may the rise of the female boss continue.

WHATEVER THE REASON FOR GOING FREELANCE, WOMEN ARE SHAKING UP THE

SELF-EMPLOYED LANDSCAPE

THE RATE OF WOMEN ENTERING SELF-EMPLOYMENT IS NOW MORE THAN

DOUBLE THAT OF MEN

@ROSIEHLIBELL

CAROLINE BALDWIN

A new year is upon us and you may be embarking on some flimsy resolutions already. But one goal you should stick to this year is investing in a few gadgets to help you work more efficiently well into 2015. While Google Glass and fitness trackers gained most of the column inches in 2014, there are still some business- savvy pieces of kit available to help make your year that little bit easier.

GADGETS FOR 2015Caroline Baldwin runs us through the gadgets with the potential to make a big difference to your business.

THE LOGITECH WEBCAM C930E

A quality webcam is a must for any home work-er – nothing says ‘take notice of me’ like a clear confident image of yourself on the screen, rath-er than being hunched awkwardly in front of your low-quality built-in camera.

The Logitech Webcam C930e provides the wid-est viewpoint from a desktop camera, 90 degrees, and has pan, tilt and zoom functions, as well as HD 1080p video. Also, this clever little webcam doesn’t suck all your bandwidth because the video processing is done inside the camera. Just plug into your USB port and away you go with-out having to install any additional software.

PERFECT FOR: The conference caller

HOW MUCH: £119.99 from Logitech

LIVESCRIBE 3 PEN

For those who like handwritten notes, but still like to be part of the technology revolution, consider the Livescribe 3 pen. Using digital notepaper, the smartpen captures handwritten notes and transfers them wirelessly to the Live-scribe application. And if you like your note-books to be premium quality, Livescribe has teamed up with Moleskine.

The company also supports Evernote, which stores your notes in the cloud to read on any device, while Apple integration allows iOS users to convert their scribbles directly into diary dates and contacts on their devices. Another useful feature is the pen’s microphone. Tap the pen on a word you wrote earlier and it will play back from that exact moment you were writing – which makes searching your recorder for a comment made during a meeting much easier.

PERFECT FOR:The wordsmith

HOW MUCH: From £129.99 (Android compatible pen available spring 2015)

MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO 3

If you’re on-the-go for most of the day, getting hold of a lightweight PC with substantial power is always going to be a dilemma. But the Surface Pro 3 is the latest professional tablet from Mi-crosoft, combining the power of a laptop with the lightweight form of a tablet.

This hybrid has a fourth generation Intel Core processor, various connection ports, and a 12-inch screen which claims up to nine hours bat-tery life while web browsing. Add in a smartpen, a flexible kickstand and a click-in keyboard, this is the closest you’ll get to your home PC on the road. Also, as it’s a Microsoft device, you won’t have to turn your back on enterprise apps or the Microsoft Office suite.

PERFECT FOR: The my-office-is-the-coffee-shop freelancer

HOW MUCH: From £639 from various retailers

CORTANA ON WINDOWS PHONE

Cortana is the much awaited personal assistant from Microsoft which claims to make modern life easier. Available on Windows Phone 8.1 devices, the personal assistant can do ordinary tasks like make calls and send texts, but it can also let you know the latest score from your favourite sports team and track your upcoming flight.

Microsoft’s adverts for Cortana have poked fun at Apple’s equivalent, claiming that while Cor-tana has evolved into an intelligent assistant, Siri’s only upgrade is into a larger phone. But Cortana’s ability to ping you a reminder to pick up that pint of milk when you’re near the super-market makes Siri look like it still belongs in nursery school.

PERFECT FOR:The forgetful

HOW MUCH: Available on Windows Phone 8.1 devices, such as the Lumia 735, starting at £189 SIM-free

WORKFLOW APP

Workflow is an automation tool for iPhone and iPad users, which allows users to build their own efficient shortcuts for their Apple devices. By automating your digital life, you can drag and drop different apps to connect over 100 different actions. And for convenience the developers have provided ready-built automations in a li-brary to get you started.

You can create an app for your home screen which calls your other half, or get directions to the nearest coffee shop in one tap. But the point of Workflow is to personalise your smart device to make it easier to organise the tasks only you conduct on a regular basis.

PERFECT FOR:The control freak

HOW MUCH: £1.99 special launch price on iTunes

SMARTER WIFI COFFEE MACHINE

This WiFi connected bean-to-cup coffee grind-er will message you through the free iOS and Android app to ask you if you want a cup of coffee as you enter the house. And it will wake you up when your coffee has brewed in the morn-ing and alert you when it needs refilling.

PERFECT FOR:The person who has everything

HOW MUCH:£99.99 from March 2015

25

ARTICLE BY CAROLINE BALDWIN

@CL_BALDWIN

DAWN WHITELY 27

Our organisation has been drawing attention to the valuable work enterprise support organisa-tions do to encourage and support pre-start and start-up businesses across England for over 20 years. Whilst we might not be an organisation you have heard of, we like to think you will have come across one of our members – they have been of-fering independent advice and support to those thinking about starting or already running a business for over 30 years. 97% of the English population is now able to access services from NEN’s member organisa-tions and we hope that you are part of that number.

As the attractions of enter-prise and entrepreneur-ship increase, especially for the young and for the old, the attractions of em-ployment in large organisations decrease. Few large corporations or public sector employers can offer a job of any sort for life, and automatic career progression and guaranteed pensions are things of the past for most people.

More and more people are looking to self- employment as a positive career option and, whilst they might have aspirations to grow through port-folio activity where they collaborate with a pool of other like-minded and skilled professionals, they have little or no desire to grow their business through creating directly employed jobs.

This is the backdrop to what we think is a ‘new normal’, a situation which we are strongly en-couraging Government and all other stakeholders with an interest in our economy and our society to embrace.

In the last year alone, 128,282 clients across Eng-land accessed the independent enterprise support, advice and training services offered by the NEN membership. Of those, 80,618 were individuals looking to start a business – and that’s a 58% in-

crease compared to the previous year. The re-maining 47,664 supported were established small businesses. I can confidently say that they would welcome the opportunity to support you and your business too if they have not done so already.

Research shows that those who seek support in the setting up and running of their businesses are more likely to survive and thrive and there is no greater example of good quality, personalised and

tailored support than that offered by our members and associates. The beauty of our membership net-work is that members are based in and understand their local communities and economies; meaning the support they provide is truly relevant and tai-lored to each individual

they support. In all our membership does, their focus is on their clients – those brave people who seek to support themselves, their families and their communities through the skills of enterprise.

Our network is now the only national channel for independent face-to-face enterprise support. Protecting this valuable network, to enable them to continue to support their clients and the econ-omy, is very important – and strengthening this network is key to the work that we undertake.

You’ll be passionate about your business and, as a membership network, we are too – and the strength of our belief in the economic and social impact of independent professionals and the self-employed is something we have in common with IPSE, which is why we are proud to work with them. We see this as an exciting opportuni-ty to explore the potential for future collaboration and to ensure we are championing the cause of our collective membership.

National Enterprise Network is a unique mem-bership body representing those working in the

enterprise support sector across England. It believes its membership is crucial to England’s economic growth. The role of the Network is to support the work of the membership by repre-senting their interests, promoting the results they achieve and connecting them with opportunities for even greater success. The membership covers the length and breadth of England, with over 97% of the population having access to support and with new businesses achieving an 80% one-year survival rate.

Members include not-for-profit organisations which provide independent and impartial advice, training and mentoring to new and emerging businesses. There are enterprise agencies, cham-bers of commerce, local authorities, further and higher education providers and other specialist enterprise support providers.

THE INFLUENCE OF

ENTERPRISENational Enterprise Network CEO, Dawn Whitely,

discusses enterprise in the UK and why it is so deserving of committed representation.

KEYFACT

128, 282 NUMBER OF CLIENTS IN ENGLAND WHO ACCESSED NEN’S SERVICES LAST YEAR

WHILST WE MIGHT NOT BE AN ORGANISATION YOU HAVE HEARD OF,

WE LIKE TO THINK YOU WILL HAVE COME ACROSS ONE OF OUR MEMBERS

PASSIONATE ABOUT START-UPS AND SME DEVELOPMENT DAWN HAS VAST EXPERIENCE OF START-UPS AND SMALL BUSINESSES FOLLOWING MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS WORKING IN THE ENTERPRISE SUPPORT SECTOR.

@WHITELYDAWN

National Enterprise Network is a unique membership body representing those working in the enterprise support sector across England, it believes its membership is crucial to England’s economic growth. IPSE are working closely with Dawn and her team as we strive to build a more enterprising United Kingdom.

COWORKING 29

QV OFFICESREADING

Just a stone’s throw from Reading train station in the town centre, QV Offices has 18 desks, bookable rooms and flexible meeting spaces for hire by the hour or for the entire day. Benefiting from full unrestricted access to a 100 mbps leased line internet, this work-hub has high- speed broadband capable of fast download and upload speeds. Better still, there are no limits or hidden costs. Along with a self-service kitchen, 500 car parking spaces and regular networking and social events, QV Offices is the perfect hub to spend a productive, not to men-tion comfortable, day in.

25–27 Queen Victoria StreetReading, Berkshire, RG1 1SY

THE WORK LOUNGE MANCHESTER

Newly refurbished, boasting 40 hot-desks and located within walking distance of Manchester city centre, The Work Lounge offers a shared work environment for businesses and individuals who want the flexi-bility of using an office space as and when they need to. With high-speed broadband, desks, lounge seating and plenty of natural light, freelanc-ers benefit from all the usual neces-sities in a particularly comfortable working environment. There’s also the added bonus of being able to just turn up, making it the perfect drop- in destination for freelancers work-ing on the move.

Empress Business Centre380 Chester Road Manchester M16 9EA

SANDFORD GATEOXFORD

On the outskirts of the bustling city centre, Sandford Gate sits at the heart of Oxford’s East Point Busi-ness Park. As well as hot-desking facilities, the centre has its own business lounge – a bright, airy and relaxed area for visitors to drop in, check emails and hold informal meetings whenever they’re in the area. Easily accessible, modern, light and airy, Sandford Gate has everything you need for a quick pit-stop close to the M40 into London. Clarendon Business CentresEast Point Business ParkCowley, Oxford OX4 6LB

THE SOAP FACTORYABERDEEN

Wackily named, but serious about work, The Soap Factory offers its wide range of business services out to independent professionals and other small businesses. With high-speed broadband, hot desks, meet-ing rooms and a virtual phone system, it is a convenient and en-joyable spot to work from. Just a five- minute stroll from Aberdeen train station in the city centre, The Soap Factory is easily accessible for those spending a few hours in Aberdeen before continuing on their journey elsewhere.

111 GallowgateAberdeen, AB25 1BU

Typically, self-employment gives you freedom. Freedom to choose your clients. Freedom to command your own fees and freedom to work from wherever you choose – whether that be your living room, the café down the road or your local pub for all anyone cares. That said, the allure of working alone and separate from others can quickly wear off, which has undoubtedly led to the phenomenal rise of coworking, a way of working which has taken off all around the world.

With this in mind, IPSE Magazine recently got in touch with Deskmag – our coworking magazine counterparts – who kindly shared findings from their Global Coworking Survey, which sheds some light on why this way of working is growing in popularity.

THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF CO-WORKING

Based on the results of the 3rd Global Coworking Survey 2012/13

IPSE teamed up with NearDesk to provide simple access to hot desks, meeting rooms and work-hubs nationwide. An activated IPSE card gives access to over 150 business locations around the UK, while IPSE members also get an initial two free days to use at any of the four regional hubs and will benefit from an ongoing 15% discount on desk use at each of them. Without further ado, here they are…

COWORKING AT A GLANCECollaborative working spaces have taken the self-employed world by storm – and here are the stats to tell us why.

HUB-SPYJumping on-board the work-hub bandwagon, we round-up four work-hubs which IPSE members can try before they buy.

50% SELF-CLASS AS FREELANCE

32 AVERAGE AGE OF COWORKERS

80% GRADUATED WITH DEGREE

1 in 3 ABOVE AVERAGE INCOME

SOCIAL CIRCLE

BUSINESS NETWORK

PRODUCTIVITY

GENERATING IDEAS

SELF CONFIDENCE

QUALITY OF WORK

86%

80%

74%

72%

71%

60%

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REBECCA SHIPHAM 30 GIVING YOUTH A GO 31

If you’ve failed to notice the meteoric rise in the number of young people working for themselves in the UK these days, one might wonder if you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years – well, I would anyway.

For this growing group of talented, ambitious young freelancers aged between 18 and 29 has grown by an astonishing 38% between 2008 and 2013. They now make up one of the two fastest growing groups of self-employment in the UK, which is some feat if you cast your mind back to the self-employed landscape just 20 odd years ago.

Self-employment was once the sole preserve of experienced men with a book of contacts and deep pockets. But change is well and truly afoot, and self-employment has transformed dramat-ically in recent times.

Today, young men and women of all ages, back-grounds and professions are deciding to work for themselves. Self-employment in Britain today is a deep, diverse and exciting pool of tal-ent. And what’s more, these young entrepreneurs aren’t armed with dozens of contacts and years of experience or funded by the bank of Mum and Dad. They are individuals with a talent or an idea they’re passionate about turning into a business. Hats off to them, I say.

All said and done, however, the number of young people working for themselves could and – in my humble opinion – should be bigger. And if self-employment and entrepreneurship were on the curriculum in schools and part of the syllabus at university, we might well see this group grow even bigger.

My own university experience is case in point. As a journalism student in 2011, I was planning to take my next step into the big bad business world. Was I told to even consider freelancing, or in other words look into the possibility of working for myself ? Not from what I can remember. Whether that was down to poor guidance from my tutors or that self-employ-ment didn’t make it onto the course syllabus, I’m unsure, but I suspect it was a combination of the two.

Perhaps I should take comfort from the fact that I’m not the only one, as finalist of IPSE’s recent 15 for 2015 competition, Sam Forrest, explained.

“Throughout school, self-employment was rare-ly touched upon or mentioned as a viable career path. The focus was on going to a good univer-sity, getting a good degree, and working your way up in a company before retiring.”

At 4.6 million strong, and accounting for nearly 16% of the UK’s workforce, you would have thought the sheer size of the self-employed sector alone warrants some kind acknowledgement in the education system. It’s surprising really.

Of course, some might argue that’s what school careers services are in place for. Careers advis-ers are, after all, there to help students explore their futures and begin to make decisions on their career path. But since 2012, when schools were handed the responsibility to take control of their own careers services, this seems to have fallen by the wayside somewhat.

Just last year Ofsted revealed that 75% of schools visited by the education watchdog weren’t delivering adequate careers advice. And I wouldn’t be one to argue with this. From what I remember, the meetings I had with these ca-reers advisers were few and far between, formu-laic and impersonal.

Now I’m not for one moment suggesting that self-employment should be rammed down the throats of students; quite the opposite. I simply believe that young people should be equipped with the knowledge and skills to decide wheth-er they wish to work for themselves or enter traditional employment.

IPSE has got the ball rolling in the right direc-tion, calling in their recent manifesto for self-employment to be recognised on the cur-riculum. That said, this ball could do with a firm push in the right direction from the powers that be in Government.

GIVING YOUTH A GOEditor Benedict Smith casts the spotlight on the role of self-employment in schools and universities.

18–29 YEAR OLDS NOW MAKE UP ONE OF THE TWO FASTEST GROWING GROUPS

OF SELF-EMPLOYMENT IN THE UK

Back in August I saw news of the 15 for 2015 competition in my Twitter newsfeed. I’m not normally one to enter competitions but this one seemed to suit me in terms of working as a self- employed designer, so I sat and submitted my entry that night. I was certain there would be experienced business people entering with more business knowledge and accruement so I didn’t give it a second thought, other than thinking that I probably wouldn’t hear anything back.

The next thing I know I’m being called by IPSE with their congratulations on being shortlisted in the competition! I was invited to London, along with the other 14 finalists, for a photo shoot and networking session. Within minutes of meeting the other finalists I understood what the compe-tition was about, and I realised why I had got there. Everyone was just like me – individual people making a living by doing something that they loved.

When it came to the award show on National Freelancers Day there was a real sense of excite-ment. The venue and the event itself were a million miles away from working in solitude as a freelanc-er. I was nervous and excited for the evening, and to see who was crowned the winner. I hoped it would be me, but I truly didn’t expect it.

When we were all on stage I had my hands behind my back. Apparently this made me look smart, but in reality I was holding on to the table behind me to stop myself from shaking! It wasn’t until we were standing up on the stage that I realised how much this meant to me. When I was an-nounced as the winner I was amazed, shocked, overwhelmed, and very happy indeed. It was wonderful, after five years of hard work, the days where, I didn’t see or speak to anyone, the long days and the late nights working; and now here I was being applauded for my efforts. This rec-ognition made it all worthwhile. I could have let that applause go on all night.

So what next? Since winning this award I have really welcomed the challenge of promoting freelancing and self-employment. I have felt for a while now that we should encourage young people to see working for themselves as being a viable career path in life. Winning this compe-tition has given me a voice to be able to do this.

Part of my prize money has therefore gone in to launching an additional business – Creative Briefs (www.creativebriefs.co.uk) , where I aim to deliver talks and workshops at schools and colleges to inspire and educate learners about what I do as both a designer and as a freelancer. Prior to my career as a designer I worked as a tutor in a college near Hull and I have seen first hand how students are inspired when profes-sionals from different industries visit them. I’ve already got interest from schools and colleges in Hull with talks lined up in early 2015.

Creative Briefs also aims to tackle the problem that tutors are finding as government rules change to make work experience a compulsory part of education. Design tutors particularly are finding it harder to allocate placements, espe-cially where the number of students outweighs the number of local businesses willing to take them on. Creative Briefs aim to offer a working design studio environment where learners can focus on self-employment and business skills within their own chosen area of creativity, de-signed specifically to cover the work experience modules required. I’ve collaborated with a part -time design tutor to help deliver this, and other self-employed creatives have been in touch asking if they can be involved at some level. It’s early days, but I am hopeful that Creative Briefs will take off beyond the initial local work I’m doing.

Winning the competition has helped my business enormously. I’ve got more design work as a result of it, and know it has pushed me forward in terms of my professional development, helping me take the leap from freelancer to business owner. The prizes arranged by IPSE have all individu-ally contributed to this, each of them giving me a step up with their services or advice.

Overall I think the main difference the compe-tition has made is in relation to my own self-con-fidence in business. When you work alone you can sometimes think you’re going a bit mad. A big pat on the back like this has shown me that I’m doing things right, and I’m looking forward to a really bright future.

WITH THE WIND IN HER SAILS15 for 2015 winner, Rebecca Shipham, on entering the competition, being crowned the UK’s best freelancer and life after it.

EVERYONE WAS JUST LIKE ME – INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE MAKING A LIVING BY DOING

SOMETHING THAT THEY LOVED

SINCE WINNING THIS AWARD I HAVE REALLY WELCOMED THE CHALLENGE OF PROMOTING FREELANCING AND

SELF-EMPLOYMENT

ARTICLE BY 15 FOR 2015 WINNER REBECCA SHIPHAM

@SHIPSANDPIGS

KEYFACT

38% GROWTH IN FREELANCERS AGED 18–29 BETWEEN 2008 AND 2013

ARTICLE BY IPSE MAGAZINE EDITOR BENEDICT SMITH

@BENSMITHIPSE

STUART HERITAGE 32

LEADING THE CHARGE By their very nature, the lion’s share of independent profes-sionals are leaders. Brought in by organisations to control complex, critical situations, they manage and lead teams into uncharted territories, mak-ing game-changing decisions in the process.

But when it comes to taking charge in a business environ-ment, which out of psychologist Kurt Lewin’s three leaders do you identify most with? THE AUTHORITARIAN Straight from the Kelvin Mac-Kenzie school of leadership, the Authoritarian – as one might expect – makes decisions, sticks by them and doesn’t take any prisoners. Often criticised for its ruthlessness or insensi-tivity, this leadership style hasn’t got the best of reputa-tions. That said, in a time- critical environment, when a decisive leader full of self- belief is required, the Author-itarian fits the bill perfectly.

THE DEMOCRAT Democrat with a small ‘d’ – leaders who fit this mould are generally seen to be the most effective. They ask questions, encourage participation and, perhaps most importantly, listen, before making any judgement calls. Compared to the style of the Authoritarian, the process is collaborative, and keeps team members en-gaged and focused.

THE DELEGATOR Delegative or laissez-fair lead-ership is the most hands-off approach to managing there is. Highly skilled, self-motivated teams can thrive in this environ-ment, but people who require guidance can suffer as a result of constant delegation.

A few months ago, just as Christmas party season was hitting its stride, I accidentally received an email from one of the companies I work for. I’m paraphrasing, but the bulk of the message was basically “Dear contract-ed employees of this warm and luxuriously appointed office complex, to celebrate another year of this tight-knit organisational family, we’ve painted the walls with chocolate and installed a unicorn that squirts cham-pagne out of its horn. First come first served!”

Obviously at this point, I set my knackered laptop to one side, got up off my tatty Ikea sofa, did my dressing gown up extra tight, shuffled over to my fridge and comfort-ate handfuls of supermarket ham until I start-ed to gag. Because I’m a freelance writer, you see, and this is the way of things.

2015 marks my 10-year anni-versary of not working in an office. It’s been 10 years of scrimping and begging; 10 years of learning on the job; 10 years of being the one who the postman always leaves unde-livered parcels with, because he knows I’m always in; 10 years of talking to pens for company, adhering to progressively lower personal hygiene standards and buying suits that will never be worn because I never go anywhere nice any more. Truth be told, it’s been a long decade.

On the plus side, my work gives me a freedom that my office-based friends envy. I’m a man without a master. Or, since I freelance all over the place, a man with about 40 different masters, none of whom is particularly great at processing invoices. Oh, who am I kidding? There is no plus side.

Nobody trains you to be freelance; you’re simply dropped in at the deep end and expected to figure everything out for yourself. Getting contacts. Learning to pitch. Figuring out tax. Managing your time. And, just to make things worse, you’ve got to do this while simultaneously earning enough money to pay your rent. If I could, I’d travel back in time to 2005 and pass on all my amassed knowledge to the newly freelance me. “Thank you, fat and grizzled and balding and ex-hausted-looking stranger,” he would say. And then he’d have a much better time of it than I did. Here’s what I’d tell him.

1. DON’T WRITE THINGS FOR EXPOSURE The worst eight words anyone can tell you are “We can’t pay, but it’ll be great exposure”. Here’s why:

A: It’s code for “We don’t think you’re worth paying”.B: You don’t want to gain a reputation as the berk

who’ll write for free. C: You’re validating a culture that already sees content

as a free resource, and is pricing paying companies out of business.

2. TURN STUFF DOWNThe curse of the freelancer is that you immediately become the greediest moron who ever lived. Terrified by the prospect of running out of money, your instinct

will be to gobble up every paid offer that comes your way, even the really bad ones. It happens to everyone. It’s why Woody Allen spent some of his life boxing kan-garoos. It’s why David Mitchell advertised Bonjela for a while. It’s probably why Robert Webb still advertises the Post Office. And it’s

why, for a time, I churned out endless pieces of nothingy rubbish for women’s magazines. Remember, the things you write will shape your future career. Try to keep at least half an eye on your long-term goals.

3. FOR GOD’S SAKE, DO SOME EXERCISETrust me, spending 10 years on a chair tippy-tapping your fingers on a keyboard all day is the quickest way to get really fat. Your choice is this: learn to enjoy ex-ercise or learn to embrace the muu-muu.

If younger me knew all this from the outset, he’d be much more successful than current me. But then again he’d still be going bald, so he’d be screwed either way. I’ve achieved nothing.

TEN YEARS OF BEING THE ONE WHO THE POSTMAN ALWAYS LEAVES

UNDELIVERED PARCELS WITH, BECAUSE HE KNOWS I’M ALWAYS IN

PLAINLY SPEAKINGGuardian, VICE, and Radio Times writer Stuart Heritage gives us an insight into his life as a freelance journalist.

ARTICLE BY FREELANCE WRITER STUART HERITAGE

@STUHERITAGE

Guide to Freelancing 1Visit www.ipse.co.uk/advice to download it today.

Guide toRetirement Savings

Why should you think about saving for retirement? Well once you’re no longer working, you will typically need more than just the state pension to rely on.

Planning in advance to make sure your savings pot is big enough to enable you to have a comfortable retirement is essential.

IPSE’s Guide to Retirement Savings outlines the basic information you will need to consider when thinking about saving for retirement.

GOING SOCIAL

If you set one goal for yourself in 2015, it should be to embrace social media in a professional capacity. If you aren’t using such tools as Twitter or LinkedIn to promote your business and net-work with like-minded individuals and potential clients, then you’re missing out on some great business opportunities.

Managing and developing your professional brand are fundamental to building your business online in the fast-paced, technology-focused world of today. Through the use of social media you can easily boost your presence, build your network and win new business.

In this day and age, freelancers, contractors and independent professionals are business all-rounders – they simply have to be. Taking care of accounts, managing hectic schedules, sourcing new leads and keeping up to date with the latest industry knowledge are no mean feat, which is why a fair portion of self-employed people fall short when it comes to marketing themselves online.

So, in this article I’ve outlined three very simple steps that you can follow to ensure you hit the ground running with social media in 2015.

STEP 1: CHOOSE THE PLATFORMS THAT SUIT YOUThis mostly comes down to personal preference and time. What do you like talking about and how often can you talk about it? I would strong-ly suggest that everyone have a LinkedIn profile and Twitter.

After setting up your profiles, if you haven’t already, you need to update them – I can hear many of you huffing, “Now where did I put those login details?”

A nice profile picture, job title and description will help people to quickly identify who you are

(and why they should connect with you) and, in the case of LinkedIn, a list of your most recent achievements and roles to show people.

If you’re a creative and like to take pictures and record videos then you can use platforms like Instagram and Vine, which can be used to share content across your other social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.

STEP 2: WHAT TO SAY AND WHEN TO SAY ITYour tone of voice is important in that it sets a precedent for updates to come. Oftentimes the industry you’re in can set the tone. However there’s nothing to stop you breaking the mould. Choose how you want to write your updates and don’t be afraid to be fun and have a humorous side – you’ll probably get more people engaging with you if you do!

Set yourself the goal of investing 15–20 minutes on LinkedIn a couple of times a week to update your profile and engage with new and old busi-ness contacts. Twitter can be installed on your smartphone too, so checking your feed and sharing a few updates two or three days a week will suffice.

A small investment of your time will go a long way to building your profile and boosting your online presence. If you find yourself with more time to invest in each platform then you’ll be a digital superstar in no time.

STEP 3:PROMOTE YOUR PROFILES & CHECK YOUR PERFORMANCEDon’t be afraid to promote your profiles. Include your LinkedIn address and Twitter handle on your business cards, share your Twitter handle across your LinkedIn profile and vice versa. Tell your friends, business contacts and people you

meet about your profiles too. The more you promote your profiles, the higher the engage-ment with the right people will be.

Also, be sure to check how well you’re sticking to your goal of investing 15–20 minutes, two or three times each week, across your social chan-nels. If you’ve invested the time well, you’re al-most guaranteed to see your ‘followers’, ‘mentions’ and retweets (RTs) steadily grow. Once you’ve successfully achieved this goal over a couple of weeks, it’ll be time to up your game and commit to a more regular stream of social interaction.

Social media platforms are great for helping you to engage with people online and spread your message across a large audience, so take advantage of these free-to-use tools today and let 2015 be a highly productive year for you and your business!

IF YOU SET ONE GOAL FOR YOURSELF IN 2015 IT SHOULD BE TO EMBRACE SOCIAL

MEDIA IN A PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY

THROUGH THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA YOU CAN EASILY BOOST YOUR PRESENCE, BUILD YOUR NETWORK AND WIN NEW BUSINESS

GOING SOCIALIPSE’s social media expert, Jamie McDermott, outlines his top tips to maximise your social media presence this year.

35

ARTICLE BY IPSE’S SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT, JAMIE McDERMOTT

@JAMIE_IPSE

The smart way to manage your spending abroad.

THE FAIRFX CORPORATE PREPAID CARD

020 7778 9300 corppay@fairfx.com www.fairfx.com/business

It’s a modern, open space with metallic lighting features, exposed brick walls and splashes of colour amongst a grey backdrop; perfect for a laid back business meeting or a catch up over lunch. Free WiFi, a varied menu and delicious pastries ensure that I&J is the perfect place to settle down for a day’s work.

Coffee is sourced from Shoreditch’s Ozone Coffee Roasters and expertly prepared by an enthusiastic bunch of baristas. With a brew bar up and running, offering coffee brewed via aeropress or V60 meth-ods, I&J blends a serious approach to coffee whilst maintaining a casual vibe, effortlessly appealing to the casual coffee drinkers and aficionados alike.

COFFEE CORNER IRIS & JUNE, LONDONBringing some much needed independent café cool to Victoria is Iris & June. Located just behind the bustle of Victoria Street, in less than a year I&J has built up quite a following as the area’s finest provider of quality coffee.

@IRISANDJUNE 1

The Honours is the latest in Michelin-starred Edinburgh restaurateur Martin Wishart’s em-pire – his bistro in association with the Malmai-son hotel chain. Wishart is one of Scotland’s culinary superstars, and, if my experience of his restaurant on Loch Lomond is typical, then rightly so.

The old Malmaison main restaurant has been completely refurbished, and refurbished well in my opinion. Two bright – but nonetheless fitting – pictures depicting Glasgow’s industrial herit-age in a ‘Glasgow school of art’ style adorn a whole wall of the restaurant – very apt for a modern Scottish restaurant.

The cocktail bar is well stocked and profession-ally staffed: a decent Tanqueray 10 Martini was no problem – stirred, dry, one solitary olive (even numbers of olives are just wrong).

The staff are quietly efficient, and nothing is a problem. The fixed price menu is good value at

£22.50 for three courses, but the à la carte menu begs to be dipped into.

The chateaubriand is closer to London prices than Glasgow’s, but worth every penny. While it is unfortunately served with less béarnaise than it deserves, the delicious duck fat chips and the lightest onion rings imaginable make it a triumph.

The wine list is smallish, but well selected: a decent St Emilion for under £40, a wide range for £40–50, and some special treats up to £200 a bottle. A good range, and suited to the meat-heavy menu.

Glasgow has recently been given a Marco Pierre White steak restaurant to add to its selection of pretty decent food purveyors, who opened with the proclamation that Glasgow should not be seeking Michelin approval, but great food at good prices. If the already award laden Wishart wants to get in on that market, I for one am happy.

RESTAURANT REVIEW THE HONOURS, GLASGOWGary Sharp spends an evening at one of Glasgow’s newest and best diners.

TWO WORDS Discount MichelinCLIENT SAFE Posh, but good valueRETURN VISIT Yes

4.5 /5

THE NETWORK EFFECT 36

@THEHONOURS

citizenM says:the most unbusiness-like business hotel you’re likely to do business in.

London, New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Glasgow & Rotterdam

www.citizenM.com

#citizenM

to all freelancers of the world, citizenM welcomes you all

38WHAT’S ON?

With oil prices tumbling, IPSE member and de-velopment engineer Sanjoy Sen investigates the damage caused to contractors in the industry.

Whilst the recent global oil price collapse is proving a blessing for motorists, things feel very different amongst industry contractors. World-wide, oil majors are re-assessing their existing portfolios and curtailing future investment. And the UK North Sea is looking particularly vul-nerable because of its high operating costs and dwindling reserves. Many Aberdeen contractors have already suffered (one or more) rate cuts and reduced hours, a particularly sobering experience for younger entrants who’ve known little other than a buoyant market. Others haven’t been so lucky, with lay-offs being announced on a seemingly weekly basis. Recent events have at least given lie to the notion that permanent workers enjoy greater security; many staff roles have also been axed, sadly.

For once, political parties, trade unions and industry are in broad agreement; urgent stimu-lus is required. Offshore taxation has ratcheted up over the past decade, currently sitting at 60%, a combination of 30% Ring-Fenced Corporation Tax and a 30% Supplementary Charge (SC). Pre-1993 fields are also liable for Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT), thus generating an eye- watering 80% marginal rate. Whilst there have

been calls to scrap both the SC and PRT, remem-ber that at current oil prices, there’s little or no profit to levy any taxes on. The real need iden-tified is the incentivisation of investment; a step in this direction was the 2014 Autumn State-ment’s Cluster Allowance. Forecasting oil prices has historically confound-ed analysts but unlike the short-lived drop in 2009, an upturn could prove some way off this time. Huge geo-political forces are at play, with demand subdued (lower Chinese growth, post-Ukraine Russian sanctions) but supply un-changed (American shale bonanza, Saudi market-share strategy); this is unlikely to resolve itself overnight. In the meantime, none of this prevents Scottish and UK politicians from fall-ing out over pre-referendum predictions. So, challenging times lie ahead for oil and gas con-tractors in 2015 but this needn’t spell the end of North Sea oil. Following Sir Ian Wood’s 2014 re-view, the Oil & Gas Authority was formed to foster co-operation amongst myriad operators; its work is now under way. And, ultimately, the current spate of mega-mergers should create opportunities for tech-savvy individuals and niche suppliers. Most of all, now is the time to boost operating efficiency and to deploy technology to maximise recovery from existing fields. As an industry, we take signif-icant unplanned downtimes and manage to leave half the stuff in the ground.

MEMBERS’ AREA OIL AND GAS CONTRACTORS IN TROUBLED WATERS

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY If you’re new to freelancing, desperate to network or simply looking to brush up on your business skills, what better time to book onto our upcoming IPSE events online and across the UK?

Visit www.IPSE.co.uk/events for more information and to register.

ENERGISING YOUR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN 201512TH FEBRUARY18:30–19:30 – ONLINE

ADVANCED CV WRITING AND LINKEDIN PROFILES FOR NEWER CONTRACTORS 25TH FEBRUARY 19:00–20:15 – ONLINE PERSONAL BRANDING AND MARKETING YOURSELF AS AN INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL4TH MARCH18:30–20:30 – LONDON

HOW TO WRITE A HIGH-IMPACT CV FOR EXPERIENCED CONTRACTORS 25TH MARCH 19:00–20:15 – ONLINE

CHALLENGING TIMES LIE AHEAD FOR OIL AND GAS CONTRACTORS

KEYFACT

$47.36 THE PRICE OF A BARREL OF NORTH SEA CRUDE OIL, THE LOWEST LEVEL SINCE EARLY 2009

Guide to Freelancing 1

Guide to Freelancing

IPSE’s Guide to Freelancing is an interactive resource, jam-packed full of business advice and tips, from tax planning to marketing & PR.

If you’re just starting out or already an established freelancer, this 80 page guide is specifically designed for you.

Visit www.ipse.co.uk/guide to download it today.