Being your own boss is falling out of fashion

IT’S normal for employees to moan about their boss. And now it seems Britons are even falling out of love with working for themselves.

The number of self-employed workers has fallen at its fastest rate for 17 years, dropping by 131,000 in the past 12 months. It means there were 2,500 fewer people working for themselves every single week.

In the years following the 2008 financial crisis, many entrepreneurial Britons set up their own businesses after finding themselves out of work or in lower-paid roles.

Self-employment peaked at around 4.6million people last June, accounting for 15 per cent of workers.

But the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show this has since dropped to fewer than 4.47million, or 14 per cent of all workers. The abrupt fall is the biggest since October 1998, when it dropped by 144,000 in a year.

The ONS said the drop was driven by fewer people opting to enter self-employment rather than large numbers leaving.

Chris Bryce, of the Association of Independent Professionals and the SelfEmployed, said this drop could go into ‘freefall’ if people with their own businesses were not given more Government support.

He warned the self-employed would be left worse off by changes in the summer Budget, including restrictions for those paying themselves in dividends and a review of the way National Insurance is paid.