Operating as a freelancer or self-employed professional in 2024 brings important rights along with key legal and ethical responsibilities concerning tax, insurance, contracts, discrimination, data protection and more when running your independent business. Here we outline the main areas to be aware of:
Taxes
- You must register with HMRC as self-employed and file annual Self Assessment returns to report your income and expenses.
- Class 2 National Insurance contributions need paying once your annual profits exceed £6,725.
- You’ll need to register for VAT and charge this to clients if your total turnover tops £85,000 per year.
Business Insurance
- Public liability insurance is vital to cover any accidental property damage or personal injuries caused to clients while working. Our policies start from under £54 a year.
- Professional indemnity insurance protects your business against client claims regarding perceived failures or issues with your specialist advice, designs, plans, products or services provided. Our professional indemnity cover starts from under £54 per year.
- Employers liability insurance becomes legally required if you hire any permanent or temporary staff to help with your business.
Health & Safety
- By law, you must thoroughly assess risks related to your work activities and put robust precautions in place to mitigate dangers. This includes protection for yourself plus any employees, subcontractors or clients.
- Suitable safety arrangements must apply concerning use of equipment, hazardous materials, working at height, electricity, asbestos exposures or anything else representing a significant hazard depending on your trade.
- Adequate first aid arrangements need available at all work sites along with reporting of major injuries or fatalities to the HSE.
Contracts & Paperwork
- Written agreements with clearly defined project scopes, deliverables, timeframes and pay rates are strongly advised for all client work along with terms & conditions documents.
- T&Cs should clearly outline what clients receive, how approvals work, how disputes get handled, liability limits and more.
- Copyright issues concerning ownership and licensing of any intellectual property developed also need addressing contractually.
Discrimination & Equality
- You cannot decline client work or discriminate against customers due to protected characteristics like race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or disability status under the Equality Act 2024.
- ‘Equality training’ is now compulsory for public sector contractors under 2024 regulations with fines for non-compliance.
Data Protection & Privacy
- Strict rules exist concerning collecting, storing and handling any client or employee personal data under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles.
- Heavy fines now apply under the 2024 Digital Security Act for poor cyber security controls, lacking multi-factor authentication or compromised client information.
Accounting, Expenses & Record-Keeping
- Business accounts need keeping digitally for 6 years – all receipts and expenses must be securely stored with resilient backups.
- You can claim reasonable expenditures against tax for travel, equipment, training, professional membership fees and more.
- Doing quarterly income forecasts helps predict tax owed. An accountant provides very useful compliance advice.
Carefully following the regulations and best practices above allows you to operate legally while delighting clients as a 2024 freelancer or self-employed professional. We’re here to help explain any aspects in more detail so you can focus on your trade.
