What the political parties plan for contractors

Five of the six main political party leaders have submitted to contractor body IPSE the list of actions that they would take if voted into government on May 7^th.

As pledged in their manifesto, or in addition to it, the Conservative party say they will:

• Look at other ways to offer support to the self-employed, bearing in mind that maternity benefits is “one area of concern.”

• Ensure that 30-day payment terms are the norm for small suppliers, with 60 days being the maximum in all but exceptional circumstances.

• Proceed with the establishment of a new enforcement body that will be able to eject companies that fail to live up to the new standards of the Prompt Payment Code.

• Set up a version of Australia’s Small Business Conciliation Service.

As pledged in their manifesto, or in addition to it, the Green party say they will:

• Push to exempt businesses with a turnover of less than 100,000 Euros from the EU’s January 1^st ‘place of supply’ rules on VAT.

• Legislate to ensure that the self-employed are paid on time.

• Apply equal pay and anti-discrimination legislation to contracts between businesses.

• Ensure contracts provide compensation to be paid for by the organisation employing another should contracts be revoked prior to work taking place.

• Make unemployment pay available to the self-employed on equal terms to employees.

• Ensure self-employed people can claim absolutely equal rights with employees in other sectors, based on their average income and hours of work.

• Offer self-employed people with young children flexibility and freedom from childcare costs, with free care covering school hours for children aged one to five.

• Oblige BT to provide affordable, high-speed broadband-capable infrastructure for every small business, and to make it available to all rural areas at the same cost as in urban areas.

As pledged in their manifesto, or in addition to it, the Liberal Democrat party say they will:

• Ensure a constant flow of highly skilled workers by investing in pre-school education; driving up school standards, closing the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children, creating almost 2m new apprenticeships and getting more young people (and more disadvantaged young people) into university than ever before.

• Extend free entitlement of child care to all 2-year-olds and 1-year-olds.

• Ensure that the regulatory and tax environment is as pro-business as possible.

• Keep investing in vital infrastructure – both the physical and digital connections.

• Complete the roll out of high speed broadband to 99% of the UK.

• Put self-employed and independent professionals at the heart of the next government’s agenda.

As pledged in their manifesto, or in addition to it, the Scottish National Party (SNP) say they will:

• Be enthusiastic in its support for jobs and business.

• Always have an ‘open door’ to freelancers, entrepreneurs and the self-employed.

• Always support Scottish businesses, and take actions to boost jobs and competitiveness and to tackle inequality.

As pledged in their manifesto, or in addition to it, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) say they will:

• Introduce an evidence scheme for repeated late payment offenders, as well as proof that timely requests for payment have been made.

• End the exploitative lending practices of the largest firms.

• Remove the necessity for the smallest firms and independent professionals to demonstrate compliance in areas irrelevant to the job that is being tendered for in the public sector.

• Introduce a new trade credit insurance scheme to free up the tendering process by building on the Funding for Lending Scheme and the Finance Guarantee.

• Extricate the UK from the EU to remove small firms from “onerous” regulations.

Editor's Note: Related Reading -

Labour's 2015 manifesto - what's in it for contractors