Review: National Freelancers Day

Monday marked the first ever National Freelancers Day with a series of events up and down the country and organised by the Professional Contractors Group (PCG). As part of the celebrations Freelance Advisor, Crunch and Freelancer Mortgages Made Easy hosted an event in Brighton with over 50 freelancers.

The Brighton event was a massive success with a great turn out and a very lively discussion, chaired by Change Consultant Steve Hearsum, on everything from Tax to Trust, and from the Future of Freelancing and working in small teams and ‘guilds’ to what defines a freelancer and how management and government can learn to recognise the skills and knowledge that single people can bring to bear on projects.

It was fantastic to hear directly from Freelancers and Contractors as to the challenges we are all facing and, aside from the normal tax/IR35 debate, there was the beginnings of some excellent networking and discussion of how freelancers can cooperate to become even more useful to UK PLC. Freelancer Advisor would like to thank everyone who came and thank you for supporting what promises to be a cause worth fighting for, protecting and nurturing.

Thanks to the PCG – The Voice of Freelancing

The PCG did an fantastic job in raising awareness of the day and they have used it to reposition their efforts under the new banner and brand ‘PCG, the voice of freelancing’. We look forward to seeing this event grow and see real changes in the freelance sector over the coming year and we hope next year’s event is even more successful.

If you’d like to join the PCG and become part of the ‘voice for freelancing’ membership is just £120 per year. As well as helping freelancing become stronger with greater representation in government you will be helping the PCG investigate cases of bad practice in the industry, collect evidence and follow up with appropriate action and the more members the PCG has, the greater their influence.

PCG membership will also give you professional expenses insurance to rescue you during a tax investigation (covering eligible cases up to £75,000 in cost) plus joining will unlock the full PCG resource, including free tax and legal help-lines, contract templates to mitigate IR35 and other business risks, plus online forums and a regular concise update through our quarterly magazine, fortnightly newsletter and network of workshops – a fantastic set of tools for you and your business.

And thanks to Crunch for buying the beers!

Crunch have been keen supporters of the PCG’s efforts to boost the profile of freelancers. To mark National Freelancers Day and to tempt more people into the freelancing fold they’re offering a 10% lifetime discount if you sign up to any Crunch package before the end of the year.

Crunch founder Darren Fell says “we’ve created this offer because we are committed to freelancers and the freelancing community and the entire Crunch service will cost you 10% less than advertised of you sign up before the end of the year” – to take advantage of this offer, and to change the way you do your accounting forever, visit www.crunch.co.uk or call 0844 500 8000 quoting FANFD09 before January 1st 2010.

Future of Freelancing Videos

If you missed the videos played at the event they are now available to all (no password required) – just visit http://www.freelanceadvisor.co.uk/tag/Future-of-Freelancing/ to view.

These video’s were produced by PCG, the voice of freelancing as part of National Freelancers Day, for more information about the day visit:  www.nationalfreelancersday.org.uk