Number Of Self-Employed Reaches 5m
There are currently five million self-employed people in the UK, representing a significant increase over the last year.
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 145,000 more people chose to become self-employed in the 12 months leading to November 2019.
In total, 15.2 per cent of all people in employment worked for themselves, which means more and more Brits will require bookkeeping services to help them with their accounts.
Commenting on the increase in the number of self-employed people, personal finance specialist at Royal London Becky O’Connor stated: “Self-employment is a bold move. Being your own boss can work well, but it can also be tough, with challenges like chasing payments and insecurity of income.”
She went on to say self-employed people need to be aware they might be more vulnerable to financial changes; it could be harder to make a big purchase, such as buy a house, or budget their money; and it can be more difficult to save for retirement as they do not receive employer contributions to a workplace pension.
Ms O’Connor stated: “So many areas of public policy are based around the assumption that people have an employer and a steady income and need to be re-thought in a country where millions of people work for themselves.”
The ONS report showed that, on the whole, the UK employment rate reached a record high of 76.3 per cent between September and November 2019. This is an increase of 0.6 per cent from the previous year, and a 0.5 per cent rise from the previous three-month period.
