The Daily Telegraph has published an article indicating that the Conservative Party are planning to reform the tax system “so that it no longer assumes the self-employed are ‘on the fiddle’.” Mark Prisk, the Shadow Business Secretary, singled out the Government's IR35 legislation, introduced in 1999 to tackle what was seen as a £900m tax loophole, as particularly unfair. "The current government has treated the self-employed disgracefully. More often than not they have treated them as if they are on the fiddle, which is wholly unacceptable. We want to reform the system," he said.  

A national advertising campaign highlighting Britain’s brain gain has been launched, spotlighting the rich talent pool amongst the UK’s 1.4 million freelance workers and highlighting their £82 billion contribution to our economic output.

The newspaper campaign and the Britain’s Brain Gain website reflects on the ability, imagination and effectiveness of freelance workers throughout the UK.