{"id":2949,"date":"2017-07-31T13:20:44","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T13:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/my-brains.co.uk\/jackross\/?p=2949"},"modified":"2017-09-28T15:59:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T15:59:56","slug":"sick-pay-valued-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my-brains.co.uk\/jackross\/sick-pay-valued-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Sick pay valued over other benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Self-employed people would prefer to receive sick pay than any other statutory benefit, a study has found.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

FreeAgent and The Freelancer & Contractor Services Association (FCSA) polled 900 micro-business owners and found 76% do not currently offer sick pay and other benefits such as maternity leave, holiday or redundancy pay.<\/p>\n

Attitudes towards statutory benefits varied depending on business structure, with sole traders more likely to value sick pay compared to those working through their own limited companies.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, 35% of self-employed people have no plans to fund their own retirement.<\/p>\n

Julia Kermode, chief executive at the FCSA, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many people who work for themselves, self-employment is a career choice and those who choose it know this way of working does not come with statutory benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, it is clear from our research that many have not made appropriate provisions to cover benefits that employees receive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government should find a way of offering additional benefits, specifically to those people who want and need them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savings for self-employed people<\/span><\/h2>\n

Compared to full-time employees, self-employed people don\u2019t have access to benefits or employer pension contributions to support their savings.<\/p>\n

However, there are options available.<\/p>\n

You can usually save up to \u00a340,000 per year tax-free into a pension, while you can save up to \u00a320,000 a year into an ISA.<\/p>\n

Contact us to discuss your savings strategy.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Lack of funds holding back start-ups<\/p>\n

Almost half (40%) of aspiring entrepreneurs cited lack of funds as the main barrier to starting a business, according to research.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Out of 1,500 people surveyed by Yell Business, 51% thought about starting their own business but barriers such as risk of failure (25%) and not knowing where to start (23%) were preventing them from doing so.<\/p>\n

However, the study found 40% of businesses were started on under \u00a3500, while 32% were formed on \u00a3250 or less.<\/p>\n

Further findings:<\/p>\n