The All Party Parliamentary Group for Self-Employment and Freelancing (the ‘APPG’) is a new group that has been set up to raise awareness within parliament about working independently.  This new group is chaired by David Morris MP who was appointed as the UK’s first ‘self-employed ambassador’ in November 2014.
The number of self-employed persons has been reducing for the last six months in a row and there are concerns that this is due to the additional pressures caused by the changes that the HMRC are making to the rules, which many contractors feel as a persecution of the self-employed.  The APPG hopes that its influence on government will help to reverse this downward trend.
The APPG met for the first time on the 15th September 2015 and discussed the group’s programme of work for the next six months and the upcoming government review of self-employment.  The group hopes to highlight the contribution freelance workers make to the UK economy and draw attention to the unique and specific challenges they face.