Skip to main content
We're here with practical information for your business. Learn about business planning, running a business and more.

Search

For a successful business, you need a viable business idea, the skills to make it work and the funding. Discover whether your idea has what it takes.

Forming your business correctly is essential to ensure you are protected and you comply with the rules. Learn how to set up your business.

Advice on protecting your wellbeing, self-confidence and mental health from the pressures of starting and running a business.

Learn why business planning is an essential exercise if your business is to start and grow successfully, attract funding or target new markets.

It is likely you will need funding to start your business unless you have your own money. Discover some of the main sources of start up funding.

Businesses and individuals must account for and pay various taxes. Understand your tax obligations and how to file, account and pay any taxes you owe.

Businesses are required to comply with a wide range of business laws. We introduce the main rules and regulations you must comply with.

Marketing matters. It drives sales and helps promote your brand and products. Discover how to market your business and reach your target customers.

Some businesses need a high street location whilst others can be run from home. Understand the key factors from cost to location, size to security.

Your employees can your biggest asset. They can also be your biggest challenge. We explain how to recruitment and manage staff successfully.

It is likely your business could not function without some form of IT. Learn how to specify, buy, maintain and secure your business IT.

Few businesses manage the leap from start up to high-growth business. Learn what it takes to scale up and take your business to the next level.

Freelancer fortunes improve as economic bounce back begins

11 May 2021

The latest survey of sole traders shows that UK freelancers have seen a "remarkable" recovery in earnings in the first quarter of 2021 after an incredibly difficult year.

New research conducted by the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) and PeoplePerHour has found that freelancers' earnings and confidence in the economy saw a "remarkable recovery" to pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2021.

In Q1 2021, freelancers' average quarterly earnings stood at £20,778 - 20% up from £17,283 at the end of 2020. At the same time, freelancers' average spare capacity (the number of weeks they go each quarter without work) dropped from 4.3 weeks to 3.7 weeks. Although this is still not quite back to pre-pandemic levels, the findings show that freelancers compensated by raising their day rates.

Freelancers' confidence in the UK economy also dramatically rose. Short-term (three-month) confidence increased from -27.8 to -4.3, which is the highest it has reached since Q4 2015, before the EU referendum. Long-term (12-month) economic confidence rose from -27.7 to -0.2 - also the highest since Q4 2015.

The key metric that has not significantly recovered is freelancers' confidence in the performance of their own businesses. This is the first time since 2014 that freelancers have had less confidence in their business than the economy. Respondents said that "government regulation related to hiring freelancers" and "government tax policy" were the two main factors negatively affecting their business - ahead of the pandemic.

Andy Chamberlain, IPSE director of policy, said: "The roadmap to opening up the UK has driven a remarkable recovery in freelancers' earnings and also their confidence in the economy. Economic confidence among freelancers is in fact now at its highest level since before Brexit. After a dark year in which they were disproportionally hit by the financial impact of the pandemic, freelancers are again seeing cause to hope … Historically, the freelance sector has always been a key driver of economic recovery and it is clearly raring to go.

"Amid the optimism, however, there are also lingering causes for concern. Above all, the recent changes to IR35 are clearly damaging freelancers' confidence in the future of their businesses - not unreasonably as they see the chaos now running through the contractor hiring market."

Meanwhile, the latest quarterly SME Trends Survey from the CBI shows that SME manufacturing output is expected to improve markedly in the coming quarter. Its survey of 260 SME manufacturing firms saw optimism grow at the fastest pace in seven years. The volume of total new orders grew, reflecting a rise in domestic orders, while export orders were flat. In the next quarter, output and domestic orders are expected to bounce back, with predictions for output growth at the strongest in the survey's history (since 1988).

Written by Rachel Miller.

Stay up-to-date with business advice and news

Sign up to this lively and colourful newsletter for new and more established small businesses.