An article on Freelance Supermarket recently displayed figures from the Trades Union Congress. This showed that over the last decade there has been an increase of 19% to the number of freelancers and contractors who work from home.
They wrote:
“To coincide with the celebration of National Work From Home Day in the UK, a new research study from TUC was published, revealing that there are 241,000 more freelancers, contract workers, and other employees work from home when compared to how many people did so just ten years ago.”
“TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady released a statement in conjunction with the research results, remarking that working from home has been a boost to the economy; support for her statement came from the Association for Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE), was the organisation's own research has revealed that freelancers that work from home made £109 billion in contributions to the British economy on an annual basis.”
With the recent legislative changes from HMRC relating to contractor expenses, could these figures be about to increase further for those who are no longer able to claim travel and subsistence expenses?
Alex Spendley, Sales Director at Nasa Consulting said:
“In the last few months we have seen an increase to the number of contractors who are working from home using our services. We’re not sure whether this falls in line with the new expense legislation, but it does seem that it is still on the rise. Speaking with some of these contractors, it appears that working from home is a preferable choice when looking for a new role.”
It looks as if clients are becoming more flexible to the needs of contractors, which could mean even more opportunities for contractors to work from home.