IPSE warns over slowing self-employment growth

IPSE, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed, has responded to the labour market statistics showing that self-employment growth may be beginning to slow down.

The new figures released by the ONS today show that there are now 32.2 million people in work – 415,000 more than this time last year. However, the growth in employment has come from employees rather than people choosing to go self-employed. This month, the level of self-employment remained the same: 15% of the workforce (a total of approximately 4.77 million people).

Tom Purvis, IPSE’s political and economic advisor, commented:

“The slowdown in the growth of self-employment should ring alarm bells for the government. It should be especially concerning given the recent news about the importance of the service sector – which has a strong self-employed presence – to the UK’s productivity. If the government wants the service sector-driven growth in productivity to continue, it should focus its efforts on creating a supportive environment for the self-employed.

“There are many challenges facing the self-employed at the moment, not least because of the problems with Universal Credit. This flawed system is leaving self-employed people up to £3k a year worse off than employees earning the same money. This is just one of the areas where the government should be striving to create a better environment for the self-employed. To this end, IPSE has already offered the government inquiry into Universal Credit ideas for making the system fairer for people who work for themselves.”