Protecting and promoting the interests of freelance consultants and contractors
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Achievements
PCG's recent achievements include:
  1. Taking the landmark Arctic Systems Section 660A case to the Special Commissioners, the High Court and to the Court of Appeal, culminating in a judgment in favour of PCG member Geoff Jones. The outcome of this important case potentially affects hundreds of thousands of family businesses in the UK.

  2. Continued support of members� tax and employment status cases � current status�1,161 cases won versus three losses and one case withdrawn by the member concerned.

  3. Continuing to widen our lobbying reach, working with ministers and their shadows, key civil servants, MPs and MEPs, and�select committees.

  4. Submitting responses to the Government in respect of several consultation papers, such as:

    • Office of Government Commerce (OGC) consultation on Supply Chain Management
    • Department of Constitutional Affairs on proposals to change the Tribunals system (replacing the General and Special Commissioners of Income Tax)
    • HM Treasury on the Hampton Review of government regulation

  5. Lobbying against the directive on computer-implemented inventions, which would have made software patentable; our efforts were rewarded in July 2005 when the European Parliament rejected the directive.

  6. Working closely with Work Permits UK and�successfully campaigning to keep IT off the "skills shortage" list.�

  7. Improving and increasing media coverage and contributing�editorial to several respected publications, including the Institute of Directors' Growing Business, IEE Computing & Control Engineering, the British Computer Society's ITNOW and the ATSCo Staffing Handbook. We are also contributing to a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) book about freelancing.

  8. Expanding and enhancing our sphere of influence with complementary organisations, fielding guest speakers at a range of important events.

  9. Introducing a groundbreaking ISO9001 certification scheme called PCG (QS) for small, independent consulting firms, giving them the chance to compete on a level playing field for public sector and corporate contracts.

  10. Launching an Approved Contract scheme to enable agencies whose contracts have been through a rigorous review and approval process to brand those contracts with a special PCG logo, providing reassurance to their contractor clients that they are offering commercially sound, business-to-business contracts suitable for freelance businesses operating outside IR35.

  11. Introducing a new level of membership, called PCGPlus,�which offers additional insurance cover and a range of other valuable benefits.

  12. Passing our�third annual ISO9001 external surveillance audit, the precondition for retaining ISO9001 certification.

  13. Producing a range of publications, guides and literature, including:

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