The IPSE has made recommendations regarding the training system as they believe it is one that very much disadvantages the self-employed.
The report recommends:
- Fixing the design faults in the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) Scheme;
- Introducing Adult Education Vouchers to incentivise lifelong learning among low-income groups;
- Making apprenticeship levy funding available for employment agencies to subsidise training for the self-employed people they represent;
- Making training for new skills tax-deductible for the self-employed;
- Establishing a self-employment hub to improve signposting to trusted online training providers;
- Ensuring the self-employed benefit from the new Flexible Learning Fund;
- Introducing enterprise modules in higher and further education courses which produce more self-employed graduates;
- Urgently reforming the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) levy.
Imogen Farhan, IPSE Policy and External Affairs Officer, commented, “The current system for training both unfairly disadvantages the self-employed and flies in the face of the Government’s goal to create a flexible labour market capable of adapting to rapid technological advancement.