MPs who appreciate the benefits contractors and freelancers bring to the UK are planning a campaign to educate fellow MPs, government departments and the civil service about the critical importance of contracting to the UK economy.
“Freelancing is the very foundation of the British wealth-creating sector,” says Brian Binley MP, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Freelance Sector. Despite this, he believes that contractors and freelancers are poorly understood by policymakers and those civil servants responsible for implementing policy. He therefore vowed that the AAPG would work to change the “myths and assumptions” surrounding contractors and freelancers.
Binley was speaking as MPs sitting on the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Freelance Sector met for the first time at a roundtable event organised by PCG on 6 July 2011. MPs, policymakers and industry experts, including ContractorCalculator, all took part.
According to PCG Managing Director John Brazier, the first stage of the education process will be an Autumn 2011 report to MPs. This will be based in part on the results of the roundtable forum held on 6 July 2011, and boosted by further research being conducted by PCG.
Professor Andrew Burke from Cranfield School of Management presented new research on how vital construction contractors are to the UK. He also pointed out that contractors are neither ‘growth businesses’ or ‘failed entrepreneurs’, as they are sometimes viewed, but vital ‘growth enablers’ for new enterprises, helping to de-risk new ventures.
Presenting on the legislative and regulatory landscape were Professor Patricia Leighton, of the Universities of Hertfordshire and Leicester, and Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). Leighton argued that the UK features “too many examples of rather bad legislation” and that policymakers must understand the UK’s flexible labour market before legislating. Green agreed, warning of the dangers of policymakers “interfering ... without understanding”.
However, the AAPG’s treasurer Jim Dowd MP urged caution. He highlighted what he sees as the inevitable tension between a flexible and an unregulated labour market, saying that ‘flexible’ should not be taken to mean ‘unregulated’. But, he pointed out, “there is a need for regulation to be flexible” too.