Two out of three employees in the UK plan to set up their own business in future, according to a new survey from cloud accounting software firm FreeAgent shared with City A.M, more than a 10 per cent increase compared to last year. The survey found that one in ten employees plan to start their own business in 2022, while another fifth plan to launch their own company at some point over the coming few years.
The survey revealed that motivations for launching a business had changed also changed since last year. In 2021, being able to choose the work that they do was the most common motivation, cited by 41 per cent of respondents, while 36 per cent felt they could earn more with their own business.
This year, however, the most common reason for wanting to start a business was achieving a better work-life balance, which was cited by 47 per cent of respondents. The ability to choose what work to do was again popular (40 per cent), but earning more money was just the 7th most common reason, with 27 per cent naming it as a motivation.
In terms of age groups, 18-34 year olds were found to be the most eager to start their own business, with 80 per cent of respondents saying they hoped to at some point. 60 per cent of 35-54 year olds said they wanted to start a business, along with 33 per cent of over 55’s.
The survey also found that COVID-19 and Brexit were continuing to influence people’s plans for starting their own business. Half of respondents said that the pandemic had led them to push back their plans, while 27 per cent said it had seen them move plans forward and 24 per cent said their plans hadn’t changed.
Regarding whether Brexit had put them off starting a business, 40 per cent said they agreed with the statement, 27 per cent disagreed and 34 per cent neither agreed or disagreed.
90 per cent of employees had concerns over becoming their own boss. 51 per cent cited setting up and dealing with tax, 32 per cent cited GDPR and IR35, 29 per cent were concerned about handling their business finances and 27 per cent cited a lack of support from the government for self-employed workers and small businesses.
Crucially, 82 per cent of respondents said they were unaware of the 2024 introduction of Making Tax Digital, which will mean self-employed workers with income of over £10,000 are required to manage finances and file tax returns digitally.
