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COLLABORATION NO LONGER A DIRTY
WORD FOR SELF-EMPLOYED
A new report, ‘The Self Organising Self-Employed’, commissioned by the Federation of Small
Businesses (FSB), highlights how the self-employed are coming together to fill the gaps left by
Government by pooling their resources in schemes that offer financial support and security.
» » COLLABORATIVE IDEAS,
such as Bread Funds,
allow the self-employed to
contribute to a communal
fund which can then be
accessed to cover late
payments or used to provide
sick and maternity pay.
This provides participating
individuals the peace of mind
that employees have when
faced with hardship in their
working life.
The emergence of such
collaborative and supportive
initiatives is a response to
the unwillingness or inability
of previous Governments
to resolve issues facing the
self-employed. This includes
the clear disparity that exists
in the social security system
between the self-employed
and employees.
Mike Cherry, National
Chairman at FSB, said:
“Since 2000, the UK
has experienced a self-
employment revolution and
we now have 4.8 million
people making the choice to
go it alone. These ‘strivers’
have become the engine
room of the economy and are
driving growth and creating
jobs.
“The stark reality is, that
despite the self-employment
boom changing the face of
the modern workforce, the
Government has not been
quick enough to recognise
this ‘sea-change’ and the
self-employed are being left
behind.
“They have fewer rights
and fundamentally take on
far more risk than employees.
For example, when they fall
ill they lack access to critical
benefits such as sick pay that
many employees take for
granted. It has been left to the
self-employed themselves to
try and fill in the gap through
innovative ideas such as
cooperative models of savings
and collective insurance
models.
“These arrangements can
provide the self-employed
with a financial safety net if
they fall sick or get injured
at work. The Government
should step in and provide
equal maternity, paternity
and adoption pay alongside
addressing access to financial
products such as mortgages.
“The Government needs to
do more to actively support
the self-employed or it risks
endangering the growth we
are seeing in the UK.”
www.fsb.org.uk
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