Freelancers call for recognition

In his New Year message to members, the leader of the UKís freelancers is calling on government, industry and trades unions to recognise the ìthird wayî of working.

David Ramsden, who chairs the Professional Contractors Group, says ìour biggest challenge is to get across the very simple message that not everyone chooses to be either an employer or an employee. For too long, employment and tax legislation has been based on the notion that there are only two ways of working. Successive governments have always talked in terms of bosses or workers; Europe cannot conceive of another way except in its recognition of ëles artisansí and the assumption is always that todayís sole trader is tomorrowís Richard Branson or Alan Sugar.î

PCG has announced that in 2007 it will spearhead a major independent research project to find out how many freelancers there are in the UK, how they came to choose that way of working and the issues that are of greatest concern to them.

ìOur membership is growing and that alone tells me that more and more people are choosing to go freelance. In every other walk of life, we celebrate diversity but not when it comes to work. Our task is to continue to represent those tens of thousands of people ñ creative, innovative, independent, flexible and mobile - who play such a valuable part in the local, national and global economyî said Mr Ramsden, adding ìMy prediction for next year is the research findings will surprise an awful lot of people!î