UK SMEs increase their use of limited company contractors

PeoplePerHour questioned 1,300 SMEs about their hiring habits and 32% of them said they had hired a freelancer for the first time in the past six months. There are around 4.5 million SMEs in the UK, and this percentage was representative of the small business community as a whole it indicates a massive upswing in the number of opportunities available for contractors and freelancers. A third of the firms surveyed also said freelancers work for them on a weekly basis.

80% of the respondents said freelancers became a mainstream source of talent for small businesses last year. Only 16% of the firms surveyed said they intended to hire permanent full-time employees this year, but 41% said they would utilise the services of a freelancer.

The report says the main driver in the increased use of freelancers is the ability to engage staff remotely. However, as that is the service PeoplePerHour provide, that view may be biased in its favour.

A lot of small businesses find themselves bogged down with all the bureaucracy surrounding the employment of permanent members of staff. Added to that, the recession caused a lot of companies to make redundancies, which in turn left them without the necessary skills to make their business grow. Freelancers are the obvious choice to fill these skills gaps and since economic growth has faltered, the trend to utilise their talents is likely to continue.

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