Self-employed expect buoyant future

According to the latest figures from Kensington Mortgages’ Self-Employed Index, 48 per cent of all businesses anticipate turnover to increase over the next 12 months.

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This is an increase of 5 per cent on the results from the last index, published in February. The follow-on effect is also being felt in recruitment, with a quarter of the self-employed expected to take on more staff over the next 12 months, a rise of just over a fifth over the last quarter.

Ian Giles, director of marketing at Kensington Mortgages, said: “With four interest rate rises since August and a change of Prime Minister imminent, many people are becoming more cautious about the outlook for the finances over the next six to 12 months. But not the country’s growing band of self-employed – they are going from strength-to-strength and are even more bullish about their business prospects than they were three months ago.

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“However confident they are, business owners will still need sound advice and brokers can play an important role in making sure the self-employed get the advice they need to keep their finances in good shape.”

Jonathan Barnett, director at All Mortgage Matters, said: “I don’t think that there is a particular link between a strong self-employment industry and self-cert mortgages. Self-cert is for people who can’t verify their earnings and if business is buoyant they won’t self-cert.

“If new businesses spring up as a result of these figures, the owners probably will self-cert as the industry caters for them.”

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