Modern Work

modern work

Freelancers / Contractors / Independent Professionals / Self-Employed

ISSUE 5 £3.95

THIS CHARMING MAN

Innovative graduate talks about his big ideas for the world of web developers

VIVE LA RÉVOLUTION

Should the UK be following Macron’s lead on self-employment post-Brexit?

WORLD WIDE WORK

How spreading your wings on an international scale can help your career take off September / October 2018

1

EDITOR

Jyoti Rambhai

jyoti.rambhai@ipse.co.uk MEDIA CONSULTANT Jim Cassidy

DESIGN

Martin Harling-Coward

REPORTERS

Tristan Grove Tom Hayward Jordan Marshall Chris Piggott-McKellar Michael Bryce Imogen Farhan Lydia Wakefield

Front cover

Liam Charmer, 23-yearold technical innovator

See page 5 for full article

CONTRIBUTORS Hamish Macdonell Gemma Church Juliet Eccleston

PHOTOGRAPHY

Nisha Haq Photography Ben West Photography

ADVERTISING

marketing@ipse.co.uk

More Modern Work PRINT Pick up your copy of Modern Work from coworking spaces including WeWork London and Ziferblat.

ONLINE Read a copy of this magazine online at issuu.com/modernwork and see much more at modernworkmag.co.uk.

PUBLISHED BY

IPSE, Heron House, 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0DX

Modern work or 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, 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.

2

SOCIAL Look for us on Facebook and Twitter (@ modernworkmag) and stay up to date with all the latest stories, news and events .

EVENTS Get insights from industry leaders and meet like-minded business individuals at networking events. See page 38 for more info.

Newsflash “Just because you value the freedom of independence or the convenience of flexibility, it doesn’t mean you have to forgo basic trade union rights.”

John McDonnell Full story p.21

modern work

Contents INTERVIEW Liam Charmer

05

RESEARCH Nearly half of freelancers have not been paid for jobs

08

INTERVIEW Matt Barrie

10

BUSINESS AND FINANCE Why gig workers need to drive a change to the recruitment process

12

NEWS Macron: the new era of self-employment?

14

RESEARCH Is training the missing piece in the productiviting puzzle?

16

INTERVIEW Harvey Morton meets Michael White

18

FROM THE LOBBY Scotland’s taxing problem

22

BUSINESS AND FINANCE Global entrepreneurship education

24

LIFESTYLE Retro tech still relevant for freelancer?

30

LIFESTYLE The co-working space run by its members

26

BUSINESS AND FINANCE How to win work internationally

34

LIFESTYLE Tech review: Dell laptop/ tablet

29

EVENTS The events that could benefit you

38

Matt Barrie, founder of freelancer.com speaks about setting up as a freelancer

Macron, retro tech and what good work means to you A word from the editor

T

his edition of Modern Work is a celebration of all thing’s tech. We meet recent graduate and website developer Liam Charmer who talks about why and how he is running two businesses. IT consultants Harvey Morton and Michael White discuss how the sector has evolved for contractors over the years.

Meanwhile, another tech guru, Gemma Church takes a look at the retro tech that is still relevant for freelancers.

September / October 2018

A feature about Emmanuel Macron investigates the French president’s impact on self-employment and whether the UK should take a leaf out of his book.

Since Matthew Taylor published his report last year into modern working practices, there has been a focus on what constitutes ‘good work’.

And now, new research has revealed exactly what good work means to the self-employed.

Another running theme in this fifth edition is education and training. Lydia Wakefield

attended the International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference (IEEC) conference this month and she discusses the important of entrepreneurship education on a global scale.

Enjoy the read.

Jyoti Rambhai EDITOR

3

Aon is proud to announce our new partnership with IPSE Working together to provide IPSE members with access to exclusive insurance benefits Current insurance offers for IPSE members: Exclusive 10% discount off Professional Indemnity1 and Office2 insurance.

Exclusive enhancements to Cyber3 cover at no additional cost.

Professional Indemnity Insurance Protects those who provide professional advice, offer consulting services or handle client data and want to protect against the cost of allegations of professional negligence.

Office Insurance A range of Office products that provide comprehensive cover for your legal liabilities, damage to your property or interruption to your business. Office cover also extends to include damage to documents and, where required for certain businesses, breakdown of any equipment, the cost of legal expenses, and theft by any of your employees*.

Cyber Insurance Covers both your business’s liability following the loss of personal data, and the cost of meeting your obligations when personal data is lost. Cover can also be extended** to cover the cost of interruption to your business if your systems are unavailable, and the impact of cyber fraud.

Don’t take the risk, ensure you have adequate cover Get in touch to find out more about the special offers for IPSE members or to arrange a no obligation quote. Call our team on

0333 920 7616.

1 10% discount on current rates applies to clients who have had no Professional Indemnity claims in the last 5 years, subject to minimum policy premiums and underwriting acceptance.

2 10% discount on current rates applies to clients who have had no related Office Insurance claims in the last 3 years, subject to minimum policy premiums and underwriting acceptance.

3

Inclusion of Fraudulent Transfer and Criminal Rewards Costs covers at no additional cost and is subject to underwriting acceptance.

*Breakdown of any equipment, the cost of legal expenses, and theft by any of your employees is available through Office Elite Insurance only ** At an additional premium These offers are open to IPSE members only. You must identify yourself as an IPSE member in order to qualify for these offers at point of quotation. New customers only, offers can be withdrawn at any time.

Professional Indemnity, Cyber for Professionals, Office Elite and Office Essentials Insurances are arranged by Aon UK Limited and underwritten by Maven Underwriters, which is a Managing General Agent operating under a delegated underwriting authority on behalf of insurers. Maven Underwriters is a trading name of Aon UK Limited.

4 The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed is an introducer appointed representative of Aon UK Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FP.ENT.2362.TP.

modern work

Charmer hopes to be on top of the world

By Tom Hayward

S

Liam Charmer has big ideas about changing the world

September / October 2018

prouting out of California’s Silicon Valley, global giants Apple, Google and Facebook fight for world domination, thousands of start-ups and disruptors relentlessly jostle for relevance and over three-quarters of a million information technology workers compete to one day become the next worldwide influence.

Away from that melting pot of world-leading technology, entrepreneurship and innovation, where the competition is less fierce, the names less recognised and the jostling less intense, other tech-focussed businesses and individuals compete to stand out and thrive in their own ecosystems.

“I was at a networking event, and you had to stand up and say what you do. Everyone was saying they were an CEO or managing director, but I wanted to sound cool and stand out. So, I called myself a technical innovator.” Those are the words of Liam Charmer, a freelance web developer with big ideas and broad horizons.

“For my whole life I’ve been innovative. I’m really good at developing, but what makes me special is that I’m a developer that can innovate and not many people can do that. I do anything technology-wise, from web and mobile, to apps and design. I’ve always tried to come up with new ideas, but I also like to collaborate with peo5

ple and come up with a better idea or improve their idea.”

At 23, you’d be forgiven for thinking Liam is a fresh face on the block; instead, he’s been freelancing in and around Southampton since he was 12-years-old, and he is now an established and sought-after figure in the Solent area.

His crosshairs, however, are focussed on a more global influence.

He operates under two different – and very independent – guises which reflect the variety of his professional services. Remiam is an innovation business in which he designs and creates his own products or “inventions” – as he enthu6

siastically refers to them. Meanwhile, operating as Liam Charmer, he works as a web developer delivering client briefs.

Liam worked in an employed position as a developer alongside his studies, but upon graduating with a first-class honours degree from Southampton Solent earlier this year, he found the role stifled his creativity and innovation.

Therefore, he set up Remiam with a university colleague. But when his colleague later left the company, Liam continued it as a solo venture. If Liam Charmer is a source of regular web development work, Remiam is a platform he utilises to bring his big ideas and visions to life.

Currently, he’s working on an application that aims to revolutionise the way people use the high street and a Brexit-related website, wherepeople can upload images and reaction to when the UK finally leaves the EU. The results will then be projected onto Southampton Bargate.

“I actually really didn’t like working for people because I didn’t like taking orders from the wrong people,” he continues. “I’m not a control freak, but I like to be in control of things. It may sound arrogant, but I feel like my decision making is perhaps a little better than others, so I decided to jump into freelancing.

“There are no limitations with freelancing modern work

Liam’s passion for tech started from an early age. By 12, he was already building websites for people for £50 each – just enough for him to buy that year’s FIFA computer game. Before that, at school, he’d finish his own IT homework, then would do his classmate’s work too because he enjoyed it so much.

While he clearly has a wise and balanced head on young shoulders, there’s also an exuberance about Liam; a confidence in his abilities and a readiness to challenge his clients in their mutual pursuit of better results. In his competitive industry, he sees that as his niche.

“What hopefully makes me different, and how I market myself, is the fact that I have the confidence to talk and challenge you as my client. I say: ‘okay you’ve got this idea of what you want but I’m actually going to challenge that idea and make it better for you’.”

Away from Southampton, the tech industry is omnipresent, but much of the discussion surrounds its apparent lack of accountability,

“I just want to keep pushing myself and my end goal is to help the world.”

– it allows you to have greater freedom. If you work at a company you can be innovative, but it has to be confirmed by a manager. Whereas, if you’re a freelancer or self-employed, you can be innovative and say: ‘actually that’s a really good idea. I’m going to pursue it’.

“My innovation comes from that, I guess.

It allows me to be creative and free to do what I want to do. If you think of all the big innovations, like the mobile phone, Apple computers, they didn’t start with a company, they started with someone having creative freedom, coming up with an idea and then turning it into a company.

Freelancers have that luxury.”

September / October 2018

it’s wayward moral compass. Did Facebook influence the US Presidential Elections? Why are trillion-dollar corporations paying so little tax?

Why is more care and deliberation not being made in the rapid and seismic shift towards a workforce where robots are replacing humans?

For Liam, though, positive cause is central to everything he does, and his business model is predicated on developing products which not only serve a purpose but change the world for the better. It’s a lofty goal, but Liam certainly doesn’t lack purpose, enterprise or motivation.

“I want to help the world,” he adds. “Ever since I was young, I’ve always just wanted to make technical products that help people. I haven’t done anything that is so innovative that it has changed the world yet, but the products I make are helping clients on a smaller scale and that’s my real drive now. I just want to keep pushing myself and my end goal is to help the world.”

Despite his tender years, Liam has spent over half his life working in one capacity or another. But not content to rest on his laurels, he is constantly striving to better himself and expand his influence. His clients are no longer limited to Southampton, but current and upcoming projects are as far afield as America and Scotland.

“I’m really big on effectuation, which is when, as an entrepreneur, you always want to improve yourself to get where you want to get to,” he continues.

“I’m always going to be pushing myself and striving for greater things. I don’t ever want to be comfortable with what I’ve got. For some people, that’s fine. For me it’s not. I’m not going to help the world if it’s just going to be me being comfortable.

“If I was to try and look back and see how I’ve improved, the projects I’m working on now are huge, whereas the projects I was working on when I was 12 weren’t quite so big! Even last year the projects I was working on were for small organisations, whereas now I’m literally creating products that will hopefully go across the world.

A year ago I worked in the UK, now I work across the world.”

Back in Silicon Valley, the jostling continues as tomorrow’s Steve Jobs and Elon Musk position themselves for global relevance. Liam speaks of Jobs and Musk with a sparkle in his eye. It’s not just an admiration, however, but a challenge to himself: watch this space.

7

Being paid peanuts is driving you nuts Despite poor payment culture, work satisfaction among the self-employed remains high, new report reveals

By Jordan Marshall

N

early half of self-employed people have completed projects, in some cases worth up to ÂŁ60,000, but have never been paid for their work, a new study has found.

The report, Working well for yourself: What makes for good self-employment?, by IPSE and the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA), found that poor payment culture was one of the main things dragging down wellbeing for the self-employed.

Researchers at IPSE and the IPA surveyed 800 people and held a number of focus

8

modern work

groups with self-employed people from across the UK and asked them about what ‘good work’ means to them.

While the majority said they were happy with their working lives, of the 43 per cent who were never paid at all, almost two thirds (58%) were 18 to 34-year-olds.

“I don’t need a grandiose role; what I want to do is make a difference.”

And 63 per cent of all respondents said they had been paid late for at least one project. The study also heard how it was ‘relatively common’ to be asked to work for free.

Since Matthew Taylor published his report last year into modern working practices, there has been a focus on ‘good work’. But what is good work?

The report by IPSE and IPA set out to identify what exactly constitutes good self-employment.

Aside from the payment culture, which the report suggests needs to be something the government tackles by enshrining the prompt payment code in law, other factors that were highlighted in the study shed a more positive light. These include client relationships, worklife balance and skills, progression and a sense of purpose.

According to the survey, work satisfaction levels are incredibly high among independent professionals (7.3/10). This echoes the findings from the CIPD Employee Outlook Survey 2015, which found that general work satisfaction is higher among the self-employed at 81 per cent, compared with 61 per cent among full-time employees.

Nine out of ten also said they have a high level of control over their daily tasks and how they are performed. The reported suggests that this could be an important factor behind the high work satisfaction among the self-employed.

One participant said: “The good thing about being able to work when you want is I can get up late in the day and do nothing, and then if I need to work at three in the morning because I feel the need to, then I can.”

Autonomy goes hand in hand with worklife balance. Being in control gives self-employed people the flexibility to manage their working lives around other commitments such as family.

September / October 2018

The flipside to this is that some individuals sometimes feel that they cannot turn down work, and therefore may work longer hours.

But that is not the case for everyone and the report clearly states how one participant is more than happy to work a 60-hour week for themselves over a 35-hour week for an employer.

Director of the IPA, Nita Clarke, said: “It is hugely encouraging that so many of the self-employed enjoy meaningful and satisfying work.

“But it is also vital that we take a close look at those areas where work quality is less positive, such as around poor payment culture, access to government support and misunderstanding among some client organisations about how the self-employed should be treated.”

Much of the media and political narrative around self-employment is fixated on entrepreneurs, and the idea that growing a business is what primarily motivates those working in-

64% see increasing their skills and knowledge as a measure of progression dependently. But the Working well for yourself report debunks this assumption.

The survey asked respondents how they measured career progression. A significantly large proportion, 64 per cent, answered with increasing their skills and knowledge as a measure of progression and 50 per cent said increasing their annual turnover.

Very few respondents – only 16 per cent – wanted to be able to hire other people.

One IT consultant in Manchester summed up the self-employed spirit saying: “I don’t need a grandiose role; what I want to do is make a difference. For me, it is the ability to work on projects that are interesting and will also leave a legacy.”

Others talked about not wanting to climb the corporate ladder and instead staying focused on what they were good at. Another participant said: “In the company I was in, pro-

gression meant being a manager, but I wanted to stay on the technical side.”

This, according to the report, suggested that rather than striving to be empire-building entrepreneurs, the majority of self-employed people simply want to continue working for themselves and become “experts in their fields”.

Up until now, the government has been funnelling funds into helping businesses grow, which is not only a problem for the self-employed, but also for the UK economy.

The report therefore recommends that in a bid to help this sector develop and tackle this country’s productivity crisis, the government should offer more training incentives for upskilling. It suggests offering adult education vouchers and ensuring the self-employed benefit from the Apprenticeship Levy and the Flexible Learning Fund.

Another interesting theme that emerged from this study was how firms who engage with the self-employed do not always fully understand how they work and this can sometimes lead to conflicts, particularly around unclear contracts.

Commenting on this, Ms Clarke added: “Companies need to train their HR and procurement managers in the right way to engage with self-employed contractors.”

Simon McVicker, director of policy at IPSE, said: “This is a hugely significant and timely report. With ‘good work’ the issue of the hour after the Taylor Review, it is vital that we understand what makes for good working conditions not just for employees, but also for the self-employed.

“...it has never been more important to support this way of working...”

“The findings are remarkable. Firstly, although it is good to see that the self-employed are generally very happy with their work, it is truly shocking to discover how far poor payment culture still goes.

“While the government has taken steps to improve it, and it clearly has a serious impact on the quality of some self-employed people’s working lives, this is not universal. For most, skills development is much more important.

“With self-employment on the rise across the UK and beyond, it has never been more important to support this way of working and make sure it remains a positive choice for all.”

9

‘I was fundamentally unemployable’ Jyoti Rambhai speaks to founder of freelancer.com Matt Barrie on why he chose to go down the self-employed route

T

he labour market is shifting, and on a global scale. More and more people are now rejecting the traditional nine to five job and opting for the flexibility that freelancing offers.

In the UK alone, of the 4.8 million self-employed people, two million are what you call freelancers – people who work in highly skilled managerial professions – and 4.4 million work on their own, without any employees.

The rise of the internet has largely fuelled this growth, giving a new generation of people access to the global market at their fingertips, says Matt Barrie, founder of freelancer.com.

The Australian-born technology entrepreneur is not only familiar with the freelancing industry on a global level, he also has personal experience in setting up numerous businesses.

Matt, who studied electrical engineering at Stanford University, California, set up freelancer.com nine years ago after selling his first company, Sensory Networks, to an intel corporation.

Modern Work spoke with Matt about why he chose to become self-employed.

What made you want to start your own company and work for yourself ?

10

I realised from an early age that I was fundamentally unemployable. I questioned too many things and often wanted to do things in my own way, so I just thought I needed to create my own job rather than working for someone else. I like being my own boss. I have been self-employed since 2001. I set up Sensory Networks with three other people and ran that until 2006.

What are the benefits of being your own boss?

You get to forge your own destiny, come up with innovative ideas and execute them. The good thing about that is you can be really flexible. You can do various types of jobs, take a job while travelling and set your own rates.

It’s tough though too, you’ve got to have a lot of drive to get up in the morning and go and

do something. No-one is going to tell you on a daily basis what you should be doing.

The journey of an entrepreneur running their own business is like a rollercoaster… some days are great, some are terrible. You start off and it is like, wow, we’re starting a new company and then you’re like oh wow, there’s a lot of work.

“No-one is going to tell you on a daily basis what you should be doing.”

Why did you set up freelancer.com?

After I left my last business, I was working on some side projects at home – I was building a website for someone and needed help to do some modern work

programming for that and hired freelancers to do the design. I did that for a few weeks and realised, wow, there’s quite a lot of competition and this was back in 2007/08. That’s when I wondered if one of them would sell to me.

There were about a dozen that had some traction and I asked about half of them if they wanted to sell. And a few said yes, including Get a Freelancer , which actually was the best one, as it had the most traffic and the best SEO. As I fixed each problem with the sites, I found the revenue went up and eventually I got enough money to hire another person. Then as time went on, I was able to hire more and more people and bootstrapped it altogether.

Why do you think there has been a surge in the number of people going freelance?

There’s a lot of opportunities now. There is a lot of choice that the internet has brought us. If you think back 50 years ago, if you were in a town and there was a lumbermill in that town, then many of the jobs that were available would’ve been in that lumbermill.

“The days of being average are over.”

data entering. I initially thought a little brother or sister of a friend of mine might be interested in doing the work – I said I would pay $2 per row and as there were 1,000 rows, that was around $2,000 worth of work.

I just thought, that when I was a kid, I would have loved to have been given a job like that where I could work on a computer in my own time and be paid a fair bit of money.

But it was just the most frustrating experience ever. I would have people say they would do it and a few months later they’d be saying sorry, ‘I had exams’ or ‘soccer practice’. And after about four months of trying to get this done, it wasn’t going anywhere.

So at that point I went online and typed in something like ‘cheap data entry online’ and September / October 2018

I found a website called Get a Freelancer (getafreelancer.com). I posted a project on that site, which looked terrible by the way, and then just walked away – went and got some lunch.

When I came back I had 70 emails from people saying they want to do the job. There was no way 70 people wanted to do the job I thought, I couldn’t even find one person. Initially I said I was going to pay $2,000, but then people were bidding down to do it for $100.

I hired a team afterwards and they did the job in three days and it was perfect. I didn’t have to pay them until the job was done and just thought this was game changing, it was just an incredible resource to start a company with.

I really liked this site, so I started my own site called Bid it out (biditout.com). I did the

But now you have all jobs available through the internet and not just through freelancing platforms, you can start your own business and use the internet to sell.

The flexibility and the choice now is huge, that’s why the freelance economy has really risen. And it’s thanks to faster and efficient communication methods, which allow you to work with anyone, anywhere in the world.

And many young people are going straight into self-employment now as a result. I taught entrepreneurship and mentored students at the University of Sydney for many years.

There would be a team of students, one person would be the CEO, another CTO, CFO, marketing and in sales. Over the course of the semester I would get them to write a business plan and at the end, they would pitch it to venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, who would give them a mark. Many of those students then went on to set up companies for real.

What would be your advice to someone starting out?

For freelancers, the main thing is you have got to figure out what the something extra is you bring to the role. As Tom Friedman said: ‘the days of being average are over’ – it is a very competitive market, so you need to have a niche skillset in a certain area.

11

Time to call the shots Why gig workers need to drive the disruption of hiring processes

By Juliet Eccleston Management Entrepreneur

T

here’s no doubt that the gig economy is gaining momentum and there’s no sign of it slowing down. The appeal is understandable: it’s flexible, varied and a great way to work with a number of organisations on a range of projects. However, contractors do face the pressure of needing to generate a steady stream of incoming work and many are finding that traditional methods, such as using recruitment consultants and job boards, just don’t deliver.

The simple fact is, people no longer trust recruiters to deal with them in an honest, transparent way or put their needs before making a profit.

Having freelanced extensively myself, I know only too well the frustration that comes with agencies failing to grasp your needs, putting you forward for unsuitable roles and then taking a significant cut of your income for doing very little in return.

I’ve even heard of some agencies inventing jobs just to get contractors to sign up. When you’re reliant on someone who doesn’t know you well enough to represent you to potential employers, you can’t be sure that the process is fair and transparent – they could wrongly assume you ‘aren’t the right fit’ due to their own personal views.

Many contractors prefer to use job boards instead, but these only work if you are searching

12

Illustration by Madeline Stuart

in the right place at the right time. This means that unless you are devoted to time-consuming regular searches, you could easily miss out.

It’s clear that these methods don’t work for contractors but for things to change, gig workers must actively disrupt the norm. A different approach is needed – one which uses a valuable tool that they already have at their disposal – their contacts.

The very nature of contracting and working for a number of employers and within various teams means that freelance professionals are especially well connected. When I contracted, the best way for me to find jobs was through my network: either by asking people if they knew of suitable opportunities or as a result of people I’d worked with recommending me for roles.

In our digital age and with social media at our disposal, it’s incredibly quick, effective and easy to find work this way. Getting rid of

the intermediary, such as the recruiter or job board, means that gig workers are put directly in contact with a collaborative network of people who can answer their question: “Do you know anyone who...?”

We’ve already seen other sectors get rid of the middle man with great results: Airbnb and Purplebricks have done so with travel and estate agents. The recruitment industry is absolutely ripe for a similar disruption.

Gig economy workers can drive this: with their fantastic contacts. They are in a prime position to use their networks as an extensive, trustworthy and reliable search function. The result will be a fairer and more equal way of finding jobs based on merit, not a third-party recruiter’s perception of your character, skills and abilities.

Juliet Eccleston is co-founder of peer-to-peer recruitment platform, AnyGood? modern work

One of the top five feminist books of the year

Entertaining and thoughtful this book is an important read

THE INDEPENDENT

BARONESS ALTMANN

Visually stunning (with illustrations throughout from Julia Murray), Spare Change is the first book of its kind to help millennials navigate the money minefield in a down-to-earth, entertaining and comprehensive fashion.

Using insightful quotes, quizzes and relevant research, it deals with almost everything you want and have to know about money.

Get your copy from ethical bookshop, The One World Shop:

September / October 2018

oneworldshop.co.uk/spare-change-iona-bain

13

Does Macron herald a new era of selfemployment?

By Jordan Marshall

Y

ou need a certain amount of confidence to create a political party named after yourself and lead it to the Élysée Palace. And Emanuel Macron is continuing to raise Gallic eyebrows with his pledge to make France a ‘start-up nation’.

Better known for producing large global firms operating in traditional industries, such as BNP Paribas, Carrefour, AXA and Total, France has historically not been especially freelancer-friendly, with higher tax rates and complicated processes for starting and operating companies.

But Macron is looking to change all that – incentivising entrepreneurs as part of a broader effort to reform France’s sclerotic economy.

14

As part of a wholesale reform of the French labour market, he wants to cut Corporation Tax from 33 per cent to 25 per cent.

Plans are also afoot to address the discrepancy in maternity leave between employees and the self-employed, simplify payroll taxes for small businesses and double the threshold to allow more microbusinesses to benefit from tax breaks. The Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that these reforms will be in place

by December 2019.

Self-employment currently only accounts for 11 per cent of the French labour market, well below the UK and EU average. This shift in the French government’s approach will have a positive effect in the long run, encouraging more people to

start businesses and pursue self-employment as a simpler and viable career option. It will take time though for this to take effect, as well as a strong political commitment to backing this significant change in mindset.

Over on this side of the Channel, there are serious question marks over the government’s commitment to the self-employed and a flexible labour market.

While France is looking to make it easier to establish and operate as a self-employed business, our Conservative government is making life far more difficult with punishing changes to the IR35 tax rules.

While France is looking to lower its corporate tax rates to encourage entrepreneurship, our modern work

Conservative government is trying to raise the rate of National Insurance for our smallest businesses and also increase the number of businesses forced to pay VAT. On its own, this would be very concerning news for the UK. What makes it all the more worrying is the ‘B’ word: we will be leaving the European Union in six months in what we all know will be a turbulent period. Macron’s startup nation is all part of a ‘battle for business’ whereby France and other EU countries will try to attract mobile international businesses to move operations out of the UK and into their countries.

This matters particularly for the UK’s 4.8 million self-employed. This is because many September / October 2018

work in sectors that rely heavily on access to the EU’s single market, such as financial services. Concerns do seem to be growing – IPSE’s latest Freelancer Confidence Index shows that Brexit is now the top concern for people working independently, over and above IR35 and other government policy.

This could well be because the self-employed tend to be the ‘canary in the coalmine’: they will be the first to lose out if companies decide to hold back on investment or move operations out of the UK. Theresa May’s hostile turn towards the self-employed is therefore spectacularly badly timed. While Macron is courting companies to set up shop in France, May is making it more and

more difficult for them to access the on-demand specialist expertise they so desperately need.

Changes to IR35, making it more onerous for private sector organisations to engage independent professionals, could well be the straw that broke the camel’s back for many companies who are looking for an edge over their rivals.

While Macronism may yet founder against entrenched interests in France (and scandals such as Alexandre Benalla will not help), the contrast with the UK’s direction of travel is concerning.

The UK simply cannot afford to give away its unique competitive advantage in these turbulent times – our world-beating flexible labour market.

15

The missing piece of the productivity puzzle

B

By Imogen Farhan

ritish labour market figures have been record-breaking in recent years, and for all the right reasons.

The Bee Gees’ Saturday Night Fever dominated the charts the last time Britain had an unemployment rate as low as 2018.

When it comes to measuring the health of the economy, however, the devil is in the detail.

That’s because productivity is a key driver of higher wages, better living standards and long-term economic growth. Since the financial crisis, the UK’s productivity figures have been headline-grabbing, but for all the wrong reasons. The average German worker produces more in four days than a British counterpart does in five, with productivity no higher now than it was before the financial crisis.

While commentators debate the complexities of the ‘productivity puzzle’, the reality is that we already know one important piece is missing. The UK faces a chronic skills shortage, with companies unable to access the skilled workforce they need to take advantage of technological change and maximise their potential.

To address this, the industrial strategy rightly focused on skills development – but failed to consider 15 per cent of the workforce, with not one mention of Britain’s self-employed.

To create an economy that can thrive in the future, IPSE, the trade body representing the UK’s self-employed, has developed a skills strategy for this sector. Reflecting the diversity of self-employment, its research showed the barriers people face in accessing training opportunities are wide-ranging.

For many, unpredictable schedules mean their training too needs to be flexible. Online, bite-size training can provide this flexibility, but knowing where to look and which providers to trust can feel like a stab in the dark. To help the

16

self-employed narrow down their search, the report suggests the government should collate trusted training courses delivered by the private sector and make them available through a dedicated self-employment hub on gov.uk.

Reducing the cost of training should also be a priority. For those on low incomes, passing up the next paid opportunity to invest in training isn’t always an option and can leave some trapped in a cycle of low pay.

Learning from examples of best practice across Europe, granting education vouchers targeted towards the vulnerable self-employed could provide vital support to those at the lower end of the spectrum.

This is crucial, as training is vital for career progression: 30 per cent of those in lowpaid self-employment who have training escape the low-pay trap within one year.

More also needs to be done to help young people prepare for the future of work. Analysts predicting how our working lives will change are sure of two things: the ‘9 to 5’ is on the way out and people will have to upskill, reskill and reskill again to stay competitive across their working lives.

Introducing enterprise modules in further and higher education courses which produce a higher proportion of self-employed graduates would be one way to help students prepare for flexible careers.

Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, said: “Productivity is not everything, but in the long run it’s almost everything.”

Policymakers are right to be concerned about this blight on the labour market statistics. With Brexit and technological change set to put further pressure on the UK’s skills shortages in the coming years, creating a training system fit for the twenty-first-century jobs market should be prioritised in government.

modern work

Financial guidance Making the complex Simple.

Close Brothers has been inspiring people to make a positive change to their financial future for over 45 years. Our skills and expertise help to make complicated subjects like tax planning, mortgages, pensions, retirement and estate planning easy to understand.

We are proud to be selected as the preferred Financial Planning partner for IPSE members.

For more information about our programme of dedicated seminars, webinars and online financial education portal, visit: membership@ipse.co.uk

0808 278 4083

www.ipse.co.uk/closebrothers

Telephone calls made to any member of Close Brothers Asset Management may be recorded, Close Brothers Asset Management is a trading name of Close Asset Management Limited (Registered number: 01644127). Close Brothers Group plc, registered in England and Wales and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 10 Crown Place, London EC2A 4FT. Š Copyright Close Asset Management Limited 2017.

CBAM4938 Mar 18

September / October 2018

17

The generation game and the age-old questions Two freelancers – one who’s just started out and one 20 years into his career – talk to Tristan Grove about their very different perspectives on the industry

S

heffield has undergone an astonishing transformation in the last 20 years: from a crumbling bastion of industry to a trendy metropolitan hub, with modern bars, cafés and co-working spaces springing out of the ground like daisies. Where once coal mining and steelworks were the order of the day, now the city is bustling with tech start-ups and creative freelancers.

So, what better place to talk to two freelancers whose careers are separated by 20 years about their very different perspectives on self-employment?

The first, Harvey Morton, IPSE’s Young Freelancer of the Year, who is only 20-years-old himself. He’s been running his own IT support business since he was 15.

The second is Michael White, 73, a freelance consultant electrical engineer, who set up his freelance business Michael White and Associates in 1998, the year Harvey was born.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE A FREELANCER So why did they both get into freelancing in the first place? Well, for Michael, it was really about his passion for engineering. He says: “Before I was consulting I was generally in employment. And one of the difficulties is that the only way to advance is to go up the management tree, and the further up the management tree you go, the further away you get from your core discipline.

“What I enjoy above anything else is design and engineering. Moving into self-employment – into consultancy – allowed me to go back to design and engineering.”

For Harvey, though, the story is quite different. “I set up my business originally doing on-call IT support through a school enterprise competition. I was 15, so after moving through 18

Michael White (left) with Harvey Morton

“I moved from doing on-call IT support to web design, and from there I went on to social media management.”

that competition and winning it, I decided I wanted to give it a go alongside sixth form and as I moved into university. And it’s become my career, really.”

But as their careers progressed, both Michael and Harvey found it had taken them in directions they did not expect.

Harvey explains: “I moved from doing oncall IT support to web design, and from there I went on to social media management, which is now the biggest part of what I do. The business has grown and evolved as I have, really.”

For Michael too, following the strands of modern work

seen as much of when Michael started out. But one of the reasons is that self-employment was far less prevalent back then. So, what else has changed? Are things easier for freelancers and other self-employed people now?

When Michael started his career, many people still had the view that you would be engaged with a company and would probably “stay there for life”.

“During my career, that changed completely,” Michael says as he smiles. “My first job move was when I found out what my boss was earning and I thought, ‘I’m not staying here 20 years for that!’

“As to whether it’s easier or not nowadays, I would think it’s considered more normal.

When I started out, my career would be quite unusual. It would only be the professionals such as lawyers, doctors and others that would be self-employed – or market traders. Certainly, there’s been a complete sea change in the way people look at employment.”

Things seem to be changing even more quickly now, because Harvey has noticed differences even since he started freelancing. his career led him down some unexpected, but welcomed paths. “I first went freelance to get away from the management side of it and get back to design and engineering,” he tells me.

“At first, I expected the projects I’d get involved with would be quite small – not as complex as the projects I was working on in employment. But within a very short period, I was engaged in quite complex and large retail centre projects, then even bigger data centre projects, which was very enjoyable. Now it’s rather like having a hobby and being paid for it.”

OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES For most freelancers, starting out and getting their business off the ground is the most challenging phase of their career. How was it for Harvey and Michael, and how much have things changed in the last 20 years?

“The first challenge was getting the first job,” says Michael. “But oddly enough, my first job actually came from my last employment.

“Soon after I left, there was some follow-up work from a project I’d been on, and,” he chuckles, “I took great pleasure in giving them quite a high price for it.

“Then it was an exercise in writing round a lot of consultancies and seeing if they were interested. A lot of them were interested, but one September / October 2018

particular catch was a young guy from a London consultancy who’d been tasked with expanding it into Manchester.

“I just happened to drop in at a time when he had lots of work and nobody to do it, so I stepped in.”

That was 20 years ago, however, and Michael was coming from a highly successful career in electrical engineering. For Harvey, then, things were a bit more difficult.

“Getting that first job was a challenge for me too,” the Sheffield Hallam University student adds.

“I remember how excited I was when I first set up my website and had everything ready: I kind of expected an influx of work straight away, but things didn’t start coming in for about a month. That initial period of getting started was quite difficult for me, and I was still having to do stuff for free six months down the line.

“I’m glad I did do that free work, because some of those people that I started out doing free work with now give me a lot of paid work.

The challenge for me was building up my reputation, because I did not have any experience behind me.”

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ Free work isn’t something you would have

“Over the last year I’ve seen more people start to respect freelancing as a viable career option.”

He says: “Over the last year, I’ve seen more people start to respect freelancing as a viable career option. For me, in sixth form, when I said I wanted to carry on with my own business, the careers advisor got all scared about it, as if it was really out-of-the-ordinary.

“Things have changed a lot even since then – now I go into schools and they’re promoting self-employment.”

Finally, what do these two successful freelancers have to say to people just starting out in self-employment?

For Michael, there are couple of key points: “If you’re just getting going, make sure you build up your networking and social skills – they’re invaluable. Also, always deliver more than you promised: leave a good impression to get your clients to come back to you.”

For Harvey, the message is very simple: “I’d say to just give it a go. If I’d not tried it, I’d have always wondered what I could have achieved.”

19

5

Reasons to consider private healthcare

1 Avoid NHS waiting lists 2 Prompt access to diagnosis with an out-patient option 3 Flexibility of appointment times 4 Choice of specialists, practitioners and surgeons 5 Wide selection of hospitals

IPSE is introducing AXA PPP healthcare to provide private healthcare insurance.

Call AXA PPP healthcare for a quote on

0800 5870 847 or visit axappphealthcare.co.uk/IPSE

Two m o FREE nths’ cover (when * you take o ut al He alth p a lan)

Perso n

Two months’ FREE cover when you take out a Personal Health plan* Flexible cover to suit your budget Speedy access to diagnosis and eligible treatment** **Subject to medical history and cover options chosen.

A Personal Health plan covers eligible treatments of new conditions that arise after you join. *Terms and conditions Lines are open 9am to 8pm weekdays. Calls may be recorded and/or monitored for quality assurance, training and as a record of the conversation. *Terms and conditions apply. Two months’ discount on private healthcare insurance is available to customers of IPSE only on the purchase of a Personal Health or Health for You plan.

Offer limited to customers who are not, and have not in the last three months, been a member of any AXA PPP healthcare Limited individual or corporate plan or policy, or a member of a trust scheme administered by AXA PPP healthcare Administration Services Limited or AXA PPP Administration Services Limited. Offer is non-transferable with no cash alternative. If paying annually, you will only be charged for 10 months of cover. If you pay monthly, the last two months of cover will be free. Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer, apart from our 5% discount for paying annually.

Offer may be withdrawn at any time.

The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed (IPSE) is an Introducer Appointed Representative of AXA PPP healthcare Limited. modern work 20 Personal Health is underwritten by AXA PPP healthcare Limited.

AXA PPP Healthcare Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Registered in England number 3148119. Registered office: AXA PPP healthcare, 5 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1AD.

Your monthly briefing REFEREES SHOW HMRC THE RED CARD THE Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has defeated HMRC in a First Tier Tax Tribunal after it successfully argued that a group of referees – some of whom officiated in the Premier League, Championship and FA Cup – should have been treated as self-employed rather than employees.

HMRC had sought to recover PAYE and NICs contributions from PGMOL on the basis that the referees were employees. However, employment tribunal Judge Sarah Falk decided that the engagement – relating to three seasons between 2013-2016 – lacked sufficient levels of Mutuality of Obligation (MoO) and control – two of the key indicators of self-employment.

LABOUR LAUNCHES PROPOSAL FOR ‘GIG ECONOMY’ THE Labour Party has unveiled proposals that would provide statutory rights to everyone working in the so-called ‘gig economy’. In a speech at the Trades Union Congress, shadow chancellor John McDonnell pledged to “restore the balance of power in the workplace”, but the measure hasn’t been welcomed by all.

“Labour’s proposal will drive a stake through the heart of the flexibility which makes gig work so attractive to people,” IPSE said.

“The gig economy has created opportunities for workers, benefited consumers and confirmed the UK as a global beacon of innovation. This proposal may have the unintended consequence of making it more difficult for people who want to explore new challenges by having a ‘side hustle’.”

BBC PRESENTER TO APPEAL 1R35 RULING BBC PRESENTER Christa Ackroyd is to appeal a court decision that ruled in favour of HMRC in a significant employment tribunal ruling.

Christa Ackroyd Credit: BBC

In February a First Tier Tax Tribunal found that Ackroyd was, in reality, an employee of the BBC and was therefore ordered to pay HMRC £420,000 of income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

Representing Ackroyd, Jolyon Maugham, QC, will argue on two grounds: the first against the tribunal’s acceptance of HMRC’s argument that because Ackroyd was governed by the BBC’s editorial guidelines, she was in effect an employee.

The second, around whether the BBC had a direct contract with Ackroyd, rather than her Personal Service Company (PSC), which would suggest IR35 would not apply.

Government backtracks on class 2 NICs abolition THE government has backed down on a pledge to abolish class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) in a decision that represents a fundamental breach of faith with the self-employed sector.

The scrapping of class 2 NICs – originally announced by George Osbourne in the 2015 summer budget – had been delayed a year to April 2019. But in a written statement, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, Robert Jenrick announced the government would not proceed with abolishing the tax during this parliament.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said: “This is yet another betrayal of the self-emSeptember / October 2018

ployed. These people are the engine of the economy and have been let down again, while giant corporations have seen their tax bills slashed.

“Few will trust Philip Hammond or the Tories again.”

The move comes just one year after the government was forced into an embarrassing u-turn after it had announced it was increasing class 4 NICs for the self-employed.

The latest move has been widely condemned by business groups, including leading self-employed body IPSE .

“This decision to backtrack on a pledge to

abolish class 2 NICs – a awkward levy which applies only to the self-employed – is a fundamental breach of faith with the sector,” said IPSE’s deputy director of policy, Andrew Chamberlain.

“This Government-led attack on the self-employed is the latest in a barrage of bad decisions which has left our smallest businesses feeling helplessly abandoned.”

As recently as last year, chancellor Philip Hammond had said: “The class 2 NIC is regressive and outdated. It is right that it should go.”

The tax cut would have saved hard-working self-employed people around £150 a year.

21

Haggis, neeps and taxes

By Hamish Macdonell Scottish Political Editor, The Times

O

ne thousand and seventy-four pounds: that’s the extra tax someone in Scotland earning £75,000 is now paying every year for the privilege of living north of the border.

For those on £50,000 the figure is £824 while for those on £35,000 it is £90.

These figures are a combination of higher income tax rates set by the SNP government in Scotland and tax cuts which have come into force in the rest of the UK. It is already clear some freelancers have set up their own companies as a result of the tax rises, preferring to pay corporation tax at a UK rate than be saddled with higher Scottish income taxes.

As a result, this one income tax change is likely to have increased the rate of business growth in Scotland, something the SNP government will no doubt celebrate without quite appreciating the irony.

When Nicola Sturgeon is asked why Scots should pay more in tax than their counterparts elsewhere, she often cites the extra benefits Scots receive. These include free tuition at university, free personal care for the elderly and free prescriptions.

All these universal benefits help play into the impression that Scotland is not just different but is more Scandinavian than England - with

higher taxes but better public services.

This perception, which the SNP does all it can to promote, highlights perfectly the growing tension between the Scottish government’s unashamedly euro-friendly approach and the stance taken by the UK government, which is anything but Eurofriendly.

But, as everyone who pays even the most cursory glance in Westminster’s direction will know, while the Conservative government is driving the UK out of the EU, it hardly has a settled view on the way forward.

Indeed, it is the deepening and damaging rift at the heart of the Conservative party in Westminster over Brexit which is overshadowing absolutely everything in politics, in all four corners of these islands.

One Conservative MP described the atmosphere in the Commons as “hateful, poisonous and awful”.

That MP, a soft leaver, has such a big majority that he has a job for life, if he wants it. But even he is thinking of quitting such is the destructive nature of politics at Westminster at the moment.

Those deep divisions are causing odd alliances too. In Scotland, the Conservatives have publicly appealed to the SNP to back Theresa May, warning that failing to do so could precip-

“Why Scots should pay more in tax?”

22

modern work

Those earning £35,000pa will pay

Chris Bryce

£824

Chief executive at IPSE

The self-employed are losing faith in this government

more

Nicola Sturgeon: Scotland’s first minister

September / October 2018

itate a ‘no deal’ Brexit.

To put this in perspective, this is a Scottish Conservative party asking its greatest political enemies to back its prime minister, against elements in its own wider party.

In any other time, such an intervention would be an extraordinary step but, in the context of the political chaos that is Brexit, it barely represents a footnote.

Unfortunately, there is so much noise around Brexit that many people outside Westminster have switched off: they have heard so many contradictory warnings from both camps they are listening to nothing at all now.

But this matters: particularly to freelancers and everybody running their own businesses.

That is because, whatever happens with Brexit, the economy is going to contract, at least in the short term. If the big corporations have less money, there will be less work for individual contractors.

Brexiteers insist that things will get better over time and that the UK will boom again after the readjustment of leaving the EU has fed through the system, and they may be right.

But the most sobering part of this for freelancers is that they could be hit first, and hit hard.

Everybody who has worked for themselves knows that, for most companies, the easiest budget to cut is the freelance one.

Freelancers may be best placed to react flexibly to Brexit but they also might be the first ones to feel the effects of an economic slowdown.

The usual advice for any business heading for a period of turmoil is to prepare well in advance but that is impossible in this situation because no-one, absolutely no-one, knows what’s going to happen.

Given all that, making the decision to set up a limited company to avoid Scotland’s higher income tax rates, might not seem like the most important decision a freelancer can make this year.

But at least it is a positive course of action and, while all else is in turmoil, that may be a small thing – but at least it’s something.

I HAVE previously spoken about the threat of the disastrous changes to IR35 being extended to the private sector. Since the summer, there hasn’t been much more news on that front, but one thing is for sure: the government has lost what little trust the self-employed had in it.

Early in September, chancellor Philip Hammond announced that the government was shelving its plan to scrap Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs). This iniquitous tax is only levelled at the self-employed, and scrapping it was held out like a carrot to the self-employed – delayed and pulled along the road to try and salvage self-employed people’s faith in the government.

As if doubling back on this pledge wasn’t enough: there are now also rumours the government is considering scrapping the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA). This would be a double whammy for the self-employed. If the government extended the disastrous changes to IR35 on top of all this, it would be like first taking away the carrot, then cutting the donkey’s legs out from under it. That would truly destroy what little faith the self-employed still have in the government.

The Conservatives used to be known as the party of small businesses and the self-employed, but in recent years they seem to have done everything possible to destroy that reputation.

With all the uncertainty of Brexit ahead of us, they should be doing everything possible to support the self-employed, not stifle them.

In the face of these far from positive developments, however, you can be sure that IPSE is fighting harder than ever for the rights and interests of self-employed people across the UK. We are doing so not only by representing those interests across government, but also by growing and building up our influence as an organisation.

We recently forged a new agreement with Uber, bringing all drivers using the Uber app into IPSE. It not only gives the drivers rights and representation; it also boosts our clout in government and industry. In IPSE, freelancers and the self-employed now have a stronger champion than ever.

23

Lessons to be learnt on the importance of education

I

By Lydia Wakefield Education & Training Correspondant

ncreasing numbers of students are looking to start their own businesses when they finish university – in fact, over half (56%) are now considering it. So, what is the education sector doing to support these ambitions?

Many universities are demonstrating commitment to ensuring students develop valuable enterprising behaviours, attributes and competencies, as well as the knowledge and confidence to practically apply these skills whether setting up business ventures, becoming self-employed or growing existing ventures.

Enterprise education develops students’ behaviours, attributes and competencies needed to generate ideas and make them happen. The devel24

opment of competencies such as creativity, idea generation, innovation and problem solving are essential in any business context, but particularly when starting your own venture.

Entrepreneurship education builds on this, focusing on the application of enterprising competencies in realistic environments – addressing the practicalities of operating such as understanding legal implications, funding and start-up strategies.

Every university is different and will have varying levels of enterprise and entrepreneurship education within, alongside and outside of the curriculum. While some recognise entrepreneurship and enterprise as core to their strategic values and have full teams dedicated to this provision, others are limited by conflicting priorities and resource.

Regardless of the level of provision, Enterprise Educators UK is advocating the importance of this by connecting educators and practitioners to learn from each other, encouraging the exchange of good practice and engaging in policy development. Each year, educators championing

enterprise and entrepreneurship come together to learn, network and share best practice at the International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference, which was held at Leeds Beckett University this year.

Now in its thirteenth year, the conference addressed enterprise and entrepreneurship on a global scale. Educators from around the world gave presentations on the importance of enterprise education on an international level.

While in the UK, entrepreneurship education is being recognised by universities, colleges and even the government, countries like China have gone that one step further.

Keynote Jing Zhang, spoke on how China has become a ‘wildland’ of opportunity for entrepreneurship since the country’s government made a requirement for all students to study it in 2016.

With six topical strands, the conference was packed full of practical, interactive workshops delivered by experts from all over the world. modern work

Lydia at the IEEC conferences in Leeds This year the parallel sessions explored enterprise in the curriculum, co-curricular enterprise education, supporting start-ups and established businesses, enterprise education beyond graduation, partnering for enterprise and entrepreneurship, and social enterprise and innovation.

Educators showcased their support for students and graduates pursuing entrepreneurial careers, the lessons they have learned and recommendations for the future.

Some of the key themes emerging from this year’s IEEC were the importance of educating about value creation over growth, embedding entrepreneurship education across universities within the curriculum and collaboration to improve entrepreneurship education.

There was a strong consensus across many speakers that entrepreneurship education should not only focus on growth but rather value creation – whether financial, social or economical.

September / October 2018

The focus on value creation supports broader aims and motivations of individuals looking to establish their own business venture.

Recent research has identified that the success measures of the self-employed are much more focused on increased knowledge and expertise, with only 16 per cent identifying taking on members of staff as indications of success. So, the move away from growth to value creation certainly aligns with the motivations of the self-employed.

The final keynote of the conference looked forward, exploring what future entrepreneurial universities should look like. Dr Todd Davey, associate professor for entrepreneurship at Institute Mines-Télécom Business School examined how universities themselves should be entrepreneurial and innovate to meet changes in the market and students.

The five core proposals were that universities will become: • Talent-engine – developing and validating

student competencies; • Life Partner – adding or scaling skills of professionals at all stages of their careers; • Discovery – cutting edge visionary and collaborative research; • Home-base – open co-working exchange spaces for the region; • Launch-pad – entrepreneurial base for students, academics and business.

Universities must continue to establish how their role within society and the economy can keep up with innovation and prepare their students and wider community for rapid change.

As self-employment and entrepreneurship grows around the world, so to does the need for continued growth of entrepreneurship and enterprise education.

The conference was a celebration of the great work that is being done internationally to improve enterprise education and inspires further development and growth in this space.

25

The power is in your hands A co-working space in Sheffield gives members a chance to run the place themselves

By Tom Hayward

26

L

ike any other day at Sheffield’s Union Street co-working space, Thursday is a hive of activity; an early-morning yoga class has just finished, a pop-up street vendor is preparing pie and mash and freelancers – from designers and consultants, to editors and poets – are going about their daily business.

At the heart of Sheffield’s vibrant, emerging co-working scene, Union Street has been striving to give power back to its members and become the city’s ‘go-to’ destination for freelancers since it opened in 2014.

“We’re trying to create an atmosphere where there’s a sense of energy – a friendly and productive space that acts as a contrast to what you’d find at home or in an office,” co-ordinator Matt Hill tells me in Union Street’s buzzing ground floor café.

“But also, can we reflect people’s values?

We want people to feel like they’ve had influence and agency over the things around them; from small things like sourcing and suppliers, right up to the bigger picture.

“We want a contrast to the top-down, corporate, no agency, no influence, no control environment. As a co-operative, being able to increase participation, increases the fruits for everyone involved.”

Union Street is not a co-working space

defined by its facilities, but by the people who call it home. There’s a charm to it: a four-storey, formally vacant city centre building with winding corridors, upcycled furniture and, as Matt tells me, a long ‘to-do’ list.

It’s the ultimate example of what a little TLC can do to a previously empty space.

Since its doors opened four years ago, Union Street and its inhabitants have been breathing life back into the venue and the wider Sheffield community.

“Having an active community is the ideal,” Matt continues. “We’re trying to reach out to some of the best things that are happening in Sheffield and see if we can be a sort of catalyst here in the city centre. If we can do that, then we have a win-win outcome.

“Initially, we wanted to cultivate a worklife balance, which we felt was really very important. We’ve been very keen to facilitate good quality workshops and meet-ups. Having space for private hires is another great way of bringing people in. Everyone from the university to campaign groups uses the space, and that diversity adds a lot of value.”

Around 100 permanent members ply their trade at Union Street, with co-working hotdesks starting from £45 per month, and permanent desks from £150. modern work

as I try to make a positive contribution to people around me.”

That ethos is something that runs centrally to everything done at Union Street – from, like Matt says, the smallest things right up to the bigger picture.

Here, you’ll find freelancers from all backgrounds and industries co-existing and co-operating: designers helping consultants and editors helping poets. And with Matt constantly adding to his personal ‘to-do list’, this inclusive, plucky co-working space has grander ambitions.

“I’d love to continue the trajectory and momentum towards increased collaboration,” he adds. “We want more exciting people joining us.

We want to open our eyes to other spaces in the city, and also help other people who don’t want to be based at home. If they’re in a city where there are very limited options, we’d love to create somewhere for them.”

Each floor offers something a little different: above the ground floor café – equipped with free workspace, superfast wi-fi and a private meeting room – is a first floor of event space. Hot desks, fixed desks and further meeting space occupy the second and third floors respectively.

A varied and popular list of regular events include yoga, Pilates, life drawing, African drumming, food growing workshops and after-work socials. With a vegan breakfast club and regular clothes exchange, Union Street caters for everyone – members or otherwise.

All that, combined with its welcoming atmosphere and the emphasis placed on collaboration, not competition, adds to the overall appeal for its members – many of whom greet Matt like an old friend when they arrive.

“I’ve been working from Union Street for about a year,” says Brendan Docherty, a freelance video editor based at the venue. “I lived and worked from home previously, but I felt very isolated and, even though I was doing well with work, I needed to get out into somewhere like this where I’m surrounded by other people.

“I feel fairly cemented here now – I like Matt’s ethos. He’s very interested in what people are doing here and how he can help and to keep us working. It’s a real community. I’m here not only to try to get more work but help run the place too. I feel an affinity to here, and I want to see it succeed.”

Union Street is indicative of the evolution and welcoming atmosphere in Sheffield itself.

Majid Majid – an outspoken, unapologetic and refreshing 28-year-old – is Sheffield’s lord mayor and said after his election: “I’m happy as long September / October 2018

Overall rating Price Location Facilities Wi-Fi Coffee

Charity launches co-working Fridays

A CHARITY is converting its art space every Friday into a co-working hub to encourage community and networking among freelancers.

East London is home to more artists than anywhere else in Europe, but it is also one of the most economically deprived parts of the UK. So, St Margaret’s House, which supports well-being and creativity in Bethnal Green, launched ‘Co-working Fridays’ last month at their art hub, Create Place to support the self-employed.

The programme allows freelancers to use the space for a three-hour slot every Friday, either from 10am to 1pm or 1pm to 4pm for just £5.

Users can book a slot in advance or simply turn up on the day.

Community arts manager Siobhán Forshaw, who runs Create Place, said: “You can’t move in East London without tripping over a co-working space – they are popping up everywhere in response to changing labour practices, especially in the creative industries.

“We wanted to offer something a bit different to what’s already out there. The Create Place is a lo-fi, homely environment and we have desk spaces available just for people working on creative or community-focused projects.

“We are making plans to build a collective and produce a future programme of workshops and events based around the needs of freelancers.”

The space offers wi-fi, coffee, a meeting room and a private garden. There is also the award-winning vegan café, the Gallery Café, run by the charity.

Details: stmargaretshouse.org.uk

27

28

modern work

Review The Dell Latitude 5289

T

By Michael Bryce Business Analyst

he Dell Latitude 5289 2-in-1 laptop starts at roughly £1,300 (we tested the £1,400 mid-range version) and is a very subtle yet productive 12.5-inch laptop.

Like many notebooks on the market these days, the 5289 has the ability to transform in to a tablet on the go simply by flipping the screen back on itself, automatically disabling the keyboard and automatically rotating the screen to the correct orientation. But that’s not all it can do.

The mid-range model that we tested makes use of a snappy Intel Core i5-7300U vPro seventh generation processor clocked at a very respectable 2.60GHz, which was more than capable of handling moderate use of Adobe Creative Cloud for photo and publication editing, getting a thumbs up for processing power from our self-employed graphic designer (cheers Martin!).

The 10-point 1080p touchscreen display is a handy feature to have, however, all of our testers found that the screen itself was slightly too small for the rugged chassis, leaving large bezels around the edge.

To an extent, we can expect this to allow for the necessary thumb-space when holding it in tablet mode, but it’s still a bit too much bezel for a laptop, especially compared with the edge-to-edge standard in the smartphone market.

The keyboard is compact, yet well designed and tactile. Unlike some other notebooks, I never felt claustrophobic while typing, and the smart backlit keyboard will come in handy when working at 3am on that final final draft.

The trackpad however, can be frequently inaccurate and the fact that it’s so small doesn’t help.

The trackpad does however score some points for having physical left and right click buttons, with very confident actuation, making it easy to decipher if you’ve clicked something even if you’re on the move.

The left IO ports include two USB-C ports, either of which can be used to charge the laptop

September / October 2018

with the compact USB-C charging cable. Fear not though as the laptop does have two USB-3 ports.

In addition to this, Dell has blessed us with a full-size HDMI port for external monitors – so no dongles required – as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack, Micro SD card reader, security card reader, and a SIM card slot.

Unfortunately, Dell has decided to use a cheaper SATA III SSD configuration, rather than a PCIe SSD; but you probably won’t notice this at all unless you try to move hours of 4k video files about, and even then, it’s not exactly slow.

Now to the body, the rugged and rubberised exterior is defiantly not faking its toughness.

There is virtually no flex in the body to report on, and the hinges on the screen are so tough that you could spend hours converting between tablet and laptop modes to your heart’s content and it would still feel exactly the same.

Dell is very proud the 5289 has survived MILSTD 810G torture tests, and they should be. This impressively tough laptop is light and portable.

Overall, the 5289 is a great laptop with some superb engineering from Dell, which has earned it a solid 4 stars. Ideally, we would have liked to see less bezel, and if we were being picky, it could have done with some more USB ports. Importantly the price is just about what you’d expect for a laptop of this spec; it could be better but isn’t ludicrous.

THE SPECS:

• 1.34kg • 12.5 16:9 1080p display, integrated graphics • 10-point multitouch • Gorilla glass • 256gb SSd • 3.5 mm combined stereo jack, MicroSD card reader, SIM slot, USB 3.0 Type-A, Kensington lock, 2x USB 3.0 Type-C (incl.

DisplayPort/power supply), HDMI, USB 3.0 Type-A, smart card reader

29

Revealed: The retro tech still relevant for freelancers

By Gemma Chruch

I

recently bought a record player for my office. My husband swiftly mocked me and suggested I rebrand myself as: “The freelance writer who gets retro tech.”

But the reason behind my purchase was simple. Beforehand, I relied on my smartphone to churn out music via Spotify. Every time I changed a song, my phone chirped at me like an impatient two-year-old with social media updates and new emails. Hours would get lost tapping the screen when all I wanted to do was listen to some questionable 90s hits.

This is one of the standout benefits of retro tech. Each item is designed to do one thing. In today’s digitised world, our devices serve multiple purposes.

While the amalgamation of technologies is handy to save space in your pocket, retro tech lets you focus on the job in hand.

As a writer, I’d be lost without my trusty notepad. It’s filled with shorthand scribbles and there’s no digital equivalent to keep up with the fast pace of interviews I have to conduct. I once tried using an app to record my interviews, but it took me hours to navigate and write up my work.

The pen is, most definitely, mightier than the app for me It seems I’m not alone. Pen and paper are helping freelancers the world over. Helen Ward is a freelance architectural designer at the Creation Design Studio who specialises in residential design and relies on sketches during early design conversations with clients.

“I sketch as we talk to get an idea of what they want. It’s an instant picture to get across my point. Then, the initial sketches evolve as I use a bunch of tracing paper sheets to overlay and

build the spaces to suit the client needs. Once the client has reviewed and is happy, then I move to CAD to fix the design and present it for application.”

“A lot of newer designers haven’t been taught the art of drawing on a drawing board, only computer modelling. They rely on their computers to tell them that something is possible or not. But tech has its limitations, in that it will only tell you what it has learnt. Which means experience and confidence to say something is wrong is needed in those situations.”

Quality penmanship is an important component of Berenice Smith’s work. The owner of the Hello Lovely design company said: “I practice calligraphy, paint, consult a typographic rule to measure leading and point size, use Pantone swatches in my work all the time to provide the best colour accuracy, and have bookshelves groaning with design, hand lettering and print books.”

“Understanding design principles and what the typographer wanted to achieve when they designed a font helps to use it correctly and contextually. Sketching out designs on paper or sitemaps helps with unique and user friendly work. It’s often when I get a lightbulb moment.

I have a notebook specifically for this, so I can refer back to it for inspiration.”

Dave Sheppard, director at the Big Bear Creative design studio, also uses the Pantone colour reference book, which is basically a printed colour swatch that allows you to accurately choose a colour for a brand and get it all printed correctly. While online versions of Pantone exist, Dave’s not a fan: “They obviously don’t replicate print in any way shape or form - so they are

“If it’s not broke, why change it.”

30

really just an inaccurate guide.”

“Other retro tech is our trusty iMac. We’ve been using it now since 2011, so it’s not massively old but, in our industry, it’s technically a dinosaur. It still does the job though and if it’s not broke, why change it?”

I couldn’t agree more.

HIDDEN TREASURES How much do you think your old tech is worth? It may surprise you. Vintage Polaroid cameras can sell for around £100 a pop and a Game Boy in its original polythene wrapmodern work

heritage items, with no recognition of the significance of the items. I can help bring order and to develop plans and policies to organise and exploit this heritage “Retro tech helps me to explore the digital archives that I find. This can range from VHS tapes and films to floppy disks and even hard drives. I can be presented with boxes of labelled (or unlabelled) items that I have to identify and assess. That often means using retro tech, alongside new tech that protects my kit from any digital viruses. My challenge then is to preserve the most important digital items.” ping was recently put on eBay for a staggering £999.99.

But the real value of retro tech is often in the information it holds. From local councils and premiership football clubs to FTSE 100 companies and schools, this is where Janice Tullock steps in.

Janice, an archive and heritage consultant at Janice Tullock Associates, helps people to develop, preserve and exploit archive and heritage collections.

She says: “Often people have a mass of September / October 2018

STANDING OUT The incorporation of retro tech with modern methods can produce some fascinating results. Andrew Miller, owner at Andrew Miller Photography, still uses film cameras for some of his work, including wedding albums (although the albums are printed digitally).

He says: “The look of real film will never go away. Despite all the advances in modern digital photography, film photography comes with a certain something. I shoot film for a select number of weddings. Those clients tend to be more discerning and value the extra time

and cost that goes into using film.”

Spike Brown is a full time commercial/ advertising and PR photographer at Blue Feather and has worked in the industry since 1984. He said: “Having worked with analogue special effect techniques using in camera methods on transparency film for the first 20 odd years of my career in photography, I now apply those methods to digital photography to give either unique effects that can’t be replicated in post-production or are too time consuming and uneconomic.

“It helps my work stand out from the crowd to get me noticed, create interesting images to a competitive budget and generally work in a more time efficient manner.”

In the end, it all comes down to our user experience. New tech makes your life easier, helps you keep pace with the competition and keeps the human race innovating. Without it, we would all be lost.

But, sometimes, you just want to put a record on and let the music drown out the relentless buzz of your smartphone.

All images courtesy of Hello I’m Nik (www.helloimnik.co.uk) 31

IPSE Board Elections 2018: Why you should think about standing

32

modern work

T

here’s nothing quite like being a director – especially somewhere like IPSE, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed. We’re the leading body representing self-employed people in the UK, and I’ve been on our board for five years now. In fact, I recently had the honour to be elected chair of the organisation.

Being on the board is exciting.

With somewhere like IPSE, the thrill of being part of something bigger. IPSE has grown enormously in the last ten years, expanding to represent everyone from creative freelancers to Uber drivers.

What’s more, we are now more influential than ever before – across the worlds of business and politics. As a director, you play a central part in that.

Being a director at IPSE is also about being able to make a difference.

Over the last five years, I’ve seen us do amazing things for the people we represent – both our own members and all self-employed people across the UK. From fighting off inequitable tax hikes to boosting the availability of training, we’re making the UK a better place for the self-employed. And as a director, you’re vital to that.

Then, of course, there are all the skills you can develop as a director – from governance and financial management to strategy and marketing. Whatever your professional background, you will be certain to pick up new skills.

It also opens you up to new experiences you simply wouldn’t have elsewhere – especially with an organisation like IPSE, which is growing exponentially in scope and influence. I don’t think the chair before me, James Collings, for example, ever imagined that joining the

September / October 2018

board would lead him to be advising a congressional hearing in Washington DC. But that’s where he found himself a couple of years ago, and being a director creates many unexpected and amazing opportunities like that.

Of course, you need to be able to show that you have some pretty advanced skills and talents to get elected in the first place. Our directors must have real business acumen, strong strategic skills and a good understanding of financial planning and budgeting. You don’t need to have been on the board of a FTSE 100 company, of course: you just need some evidence of these skills. And more than that, you need to be committed to IPSE’s principles, have real integrity and be genuinely collegiate in the way you work.

Our directors have a hugely important role in IPSE and have ultimate legal responsibility for the business, ensuring we comply with company law, employment law and all other regulations. As members of the board, they also have a fiduciary duty – collectively and individually – to IPSE and its members.

If all that sounds daunting, don’t be discouraged. IPSE’s directors don’t fit the stuffy stereotype! In fact, for our board elections this year we’re keen to hear from the widest range of people – across the full breadth of IPSE’s membership. Our board leads and represents IPSE, so we think it’s essential that it also reflects our organisation’s ever-more diverse membership.

That’s why, if you’re an IPSE member, with at least some of the skills and experience we’re looking for, I’d urge you to nominate yourself for election to the IPSE board. To put yourself forward, visit our website About Us section.

Caroline Morgan

33

Spreading your wings How to win work internationally

By Chris Piggott-McKellar

Illustration by Dunni Mustapha

34

modern work

W

hen systems engineer Aled Morsford secured a job at one of the world’s leading aerospace companies after completing university, he assumed he would be there for the long haul. This was the late 1980s, when having one career with one employer was seen as a typical pathway to success.

Five years down the track, however, and the promised promotion and pay rise didn’t materialise. This was a problem for the goal-orientated Aled. He worked hard. He had the right qualifications. But taking a step back made him realise that things were unlikely to change anytime soon. It wasn’t until he successfully applied for a contractor role working under the umbrella of the same aerospace company in Saudi Arabia that his career really took off.

“Spread your wings”, says Aled, when Modern Work asked him what advice he would give people considering thinking of contracting or freelancing across international borders.

“You gain so much, and it’s not always something you’d immediately think to put on your CV. You learn about different cultures, different ways of working, different companies and how they work.”

Aled would know. His time in Saudi Arabia lasted five years, and he has spent cumulatively well over a decade since contracting to major aerospace and defence companies across continental Europe.

There are a number of things you need to consider when trying to win work internationally. And these apply whether you are one of the growing number of digital nomads – people who can pack up their laptop and work on any project from virtually anywhere on earth (provided there’s decent coffee and stable wi-fi) – or, like Aled, move to a specific location to work on a project as a contractor.

Working overseas isn’t all smooth sailing – or flying, for that matter, if you work in aviation. For every tale or cheery Instagram post of globetrotting travellers combining work while they wander, there are examples of hardship and disappointment. But if you are thinking about spreading your wings, there are some things you can do to ensure minimal turbulence during the transition.

Firstly, there are the practical considerations. Do you need a visa? Are you eligible to work where you want to go?

Do you need to register for tax? Doing some basic research

at the beginning of the process ensures that your dreams of combing work with travel can get off the ground.

Secondly, Aled says, you’ve got to pack the right attitude.

“When you come to contract in different countries, then you have to respect the culture and their knowledge base.

“It’s paramount that you get on with people and you don’t alienate them.”

So you’ve arrived in-country, what next? If you already have a contract lined up, then finding suitable accommodation is both a priority and a pain.

“I often go to the city I’m to be based in a bit earlier and scope it out,” says Aled.

“I try to get in with other contractors who are willing to share information about accommodation, places to eat, where to stay, agencies to use and those not use. You need to establish a firm baseline.”

If you are digital nomad, or arrive in country without a contract, there are many platforms which are dedicated to connecting freelancers to organisations looking for specialist skills. This raises another practical consideration – do you invoice in local currency or pounds?

“That will often be dictated by company policy. For example, in the Middle East I was paid partly in pounds, and partly in local currency.”

Many online platforms will often require you to accept an offer in a certain currency. If not, make sure it is clear during your negotiations which currency you’re quoting in. And take advantage of services like Transferwise which often make transferring money between countries more cost effective than using banks.

Finally, getting a good accountant is “invaluable” Aled says. For many, leaving the relative security of a full-time job for the uncertainty of contracting or freelancing is made more alluring by the prospect of working internationally.

But does the reality meet the lofty expectations? “I wouldn’t consider going back to working as an employee. To be goal orientated is one of the perks of being a contractor.

“Overall, working internationally has made me a more rounded engineer,” says Aled. “The fact you’ve lived in a place where you’re totally out of your comfort zone, where you’re taken away and have to deal with people on a daily basis and understand their culture and work with difference, that is massive.”

“It’s paramount that you get on with people and you don’t alienate them.”

September / October 2018

35

Ask the expert

How do you manage your time and finances during a period when you have less work coming in?

F

Steve Folland Founder of Being Freelancer podcast

irst up, when it comes to my finances, I have two bank accounts, one personal or current and the second a business account.

By having separate bank accounts I am able to pay myself a ‘salary’. So, if I have a higher earning month, much of that gets retained in the business account and covers slower periods.

Over time you build up a buffer of funds to draw from, which also takes away the panic of ‘no work’.

This also allowed me to deliberately take August off this year to be with the kids – I knew I could still pay myself.

When it comes to managing my time: when I have less work, I try and seize the moment and not work. Relax. See friends and other freelancers. I remember all of those late nights and crazy shifts I’ve put in and that this ‘time off’ is well earned.

I also take time to sort life admin and finances – file my tax return early and that sort of thing. I aim to get those things done while there is time spare.

Both of these things will get easier over time; you build up the confidence to know that there will be more work around the corner.

Then you can embrace the quiet times instead of fearing them.

Do you have a question for our experts?

Email it to editor@modernworkmag.co.uk and get a one year’s subscription for the printed edition of Modern Work – and the financial magazine My Money FREE!

36

Should you have a separate personal and business social media accounts?

Toby Tetrault Marketing Manager, IPSE

T

here are several things to consider when separating your personal and professional social channels. Having a single social channel is simpler to manage and potentially cheaper to run through management dashboards, but a key question is around how you perceive yourself and your company’s brand.

The solo-self-employed often do not differentiate themselves from their brand. This could simply be the difference between being called Jane Doe Ltd or Wild Cat Design Ltd. There is a deeper question about whether you should create a brand name or not. For the moment though, let’s ignore that debate and focus on how you manage your social media.

Posting content unrelated to your brand and industry, will reduce your ability to target the audience you want, grow your network and increase business.

For example, if you are a graphic designer in the fashion industry and you regularly post about your favourite designs and articles from Stylist to a network of people in the industry, then having one channel could reinforce yourself as a brand and increase your exposure to the right audience. However, if you just post cat videos and the odd comment to friends and family, that might be less relevant.

There is no one right answer to this question and there are many factors to consider. If you are serious about growing your social presence to gain new business, consider your audience and what they want to consume online. Then assess whether your personal social channels deliver this content to the audience you want. If they do not, then consider creating a business profile.

modern work

September / October 2018

37

Networking, seminars & events

MY MONEY MANCHESTER, FINANCES FOR FREELANCERS Join IPSE for an evening of financial advice and networking in the creative surroundings of WeWork Spinningfields, Manchester.

FREELANCE FRIDAY NETWORKING EVENT Join contractors, freelancers and independent professionals from a range of industries at this informal networking event to share experiences, challenges and make connections. There is no need to pre-register to attend: simply go along to the venue between 17.00 - 19.00.

Details: Friday 28 September, 17.00- 19.00 Citizen M, Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G2 3BW PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL? HOW TO BALANCE YOUR BRAND ONLINE For business professionals, social media can present a huge challenge in terms of getting the ‘personal’ and ‘professional’ balance right.

During this webinar, marketing consultant Luan Wise will look at personal branding and advise on how to get the right balance.

Details: Monday 8 October, 12.30 – 13.30, ipse.co.uk

38

This is tailored for anyone new to freelancing/ self-employment or looking to make the leap! We have a range of industry experts joining us to offer insights and practical tips on setting up, finding work and to answer any questions you may have at this event all themed around finances.

Details: Wednesday 17 October, 18.30 – 21.00 WeWork, No. 1 Spinningfields, Quay Street, Manchester, M3 3JE MY MONEY LONDON, FINANCES FOR FREELANCERS Join IPSE for an evening of financial advice and networking in Central London. This event is designed both for those new to self-employment and for more experienced professionals. There is something for everyone!

We have a range of industry experts joining us to offer insights and practical tips on setting up, finding work, wealth management, mortgages and more. They will also answer any questions you may have on freelancer finances.

Details: Tuesday 30 October, 18.30 – 21.00 London venue tbc, see www.ipse.co.uk for further updates

TAX PLANNING WEBINAR WITH CLOSE BROTHERS Led by IPSE partner Close Brothers Asset Management, this session will address the importance of tax efficiency and explain the main personal taxes.

Topics covered: • Explanation of the main personal taxes; • Effective income tax planning; • Understanding your tax code; • Mitigation; • Effective Capital Gains tax planning; • Effective Inheritance tax planning; • Common personal tax reliefs; • ISAs , Lisas, Help to Buy Lisas .

Details: Tuesday 30 October, 13.00 – 14.00

modern work

WEDNESDAY 17 OCTOBER 18.30 – 21.00, MANCHESTER

New to freelancing?

Considering taking the leap?

Join IPSE for an evening of financial advice, hints, tips and networking to help you on your journey!

Drinks and canapes will be provided, all in the creative surroundings of @ WeWork Spinningfields, Manchester.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

Managing your books

Invoicing

Expensing

Mortgages

Winning work

Setting rates

Book your free place today: ipse.co.uk/events

Sponsored by:

September / October 2018

39

You are unique We think your mortgage should be too.

Being a freelancer takes guts, but the freedom, flexibility and financial benefits can be priceless.

When it comes to obtaining a mortgage however, you could be penalised for being self-employed, as banks and lenders do not always look at your income holistically or consider your true borrowing potential.

We are CMME - the UK’s leading mortgage specialists for freelancers, contractors and the self-employed.

Deals designed exclusively for self-employed professionals Borrow up to 5 x your annualised income Access to some of the most competitive rates in the market Experts in complex income CMME has helped over 25,000 clients get the right mortgage for their individual needs.

We’d love to help you too!

Visit cmmemortgages.com

Or call 01420 592 642

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage CMME is a trading name of CMME Mortgages and Protection Limited. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA reg. 414798). Registered in England No. 04886692. Registered Office: Albany House, 5 Omega Park, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 2QE. Please be aware that Commercial Mortgages, Overseas Mortgages and some Buy To 40 Let Mortgages are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Calls may be recorded for training and security purposes and to improve the quality of our services.

modern work