Freelancing under the microscope

The All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group (APPSBG) is currently holding a public consultation to aid their investigation into the UK freelance industry.

They invite comment from all freelancers and those who hire them, via their website and at a public hearing in London on 11th June, and plan to include issues such as IR35 and opportunities in Europe.

While initiatives that aim to examine the needs and difficulties of freelance working are to be encouraged, the lack of structure within the online consultation process could prove to hamper the development of a really meaningful dialogue on the issue.

Co-incidentally, it was just last week that the freelance/client matchmaking site Guru announced it would be closing at the end of June. Wired News laments the passing of the mainly US resource as another blow for freelancers looking for work.

In the UK, there's much doubt in the freelance community of the value of these kinds of sites where jobs often go to the lowest bidder, no matter their experience.

Freelance writer Neil Bromage said he used to look for projects at smarterwork, a UK matchmaking site, but found it decreasingly worthwhile.

"The problem is that the site became populated by people willing to work for peanuts. As I'm no monkey I just stopped even looking at the postings. Haven't checked the site for probably 2 years now", he said.