To support this, PCG would like to invite freelancers, contractors, consultants and interims to share views on the evolving profile of contractors, their achievements, their personal experiences and their relationship with business leaders and permanent employees via this special online survey.

The PCG urges all freelancers and contractors to complete this survey. They would very much like to hear your views on the evolving profile of Freelancers, your relations with business leaders, your interactions with permanent employees and your personal experiences of embarking upon and making a success of your career as a Freelancer.  They believe this will be of great help to PCG and their partners in unlocking and promoting the full potential of Freelancing.

This survey is being conducted by leading research consultancy ComRes on behalf of PCG and partners.  This survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

The link below will take you directly to the survey.  

http://surveys.comres.co.uk/wix/p311768434.aspx

Independent Contractor Services (ICS) are proud to support National Freelancers Day and we will be launching a competition to mark the day. More details to follow soon.

ICS provide accountancy and administration services to the contractor marketplace. Established in 2002, we understand the value of contractors within the UK marketplace and can offer a number of solutions to match your needs. For more information please visit our website, http://www.ics.me.uk/ or alternatively telephone us on 0800 195 3750.

The PCG have said it is mainly IT workers who are on short contracts who are losing work to the new employees through intra-company transfers (ICTs).  They were designed to allow movement of specialist staff between global offices of multinational companies without the need to go through the lengthy immigration process. The number of intra-company transfers in IT exceeds those of all other professional staffing sectors combined.

Gary Sharp, director of PCG and an IT contractor based in Scotland, said:

“Companies appear to be using these ICTs much more frequently to bring in workers, particularly in IT software development and the banking industry in Edinburgh. The problem is that, because of the recession, there is a much more limited amount of jobs and our members are being replaced.”

The PCG has written to Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Finance Secretary John Swinney to highlight the issues. They describe the use of ICTs by banks as “particularly galling” given that the UK Government owns large stakes in the beleaguered financial institutions.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies is also campaigning for the rules to be changed, saying ‘Skills shortages in the IT sector are nowhere near as acute as they used to be. The UK labour market has the capacity to meet the vast majority of these requirements.’

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said that a review of ICTs would be published later this month, with the government due to report its findings in the autumn.