Members of the UK’s contractor community tell Recruiter that the chancellor could have done more to boost the sector.

Dave Chaplin, chief executive of Contractor Calculator, says: “Contractors will benefit directly from the 2013 Budget – up to a point.”

However, he says George Osborne “falls short” in his failure to create “an imaginative growth strategy for the economy”.  

The reduction in corporation tax, increased personal allowances and the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) allowance will marginally improve contractors’ finances in the short term, says Chaplin.  

"The question is whether the measures focused on kick-starting construction through housing and infrastructure spend can happen fast enough, as it will take time for the benefits to filter through the supply chain.

"The chancellor has lacked imagination and courage to take stronger decisions on simplifying tax and freeing up the growth potential of the UK’s growing body of contractors and freelancers."

Stuart Davis, chairman of the Freelance and Contractor Services Association (FCSA), says: “Encouragingly, the chancellor abandoned any former notion to impose further red tape on the flexible workforce… However, the chancellor didn’t cut any red tape either, demonstrating that we still have a long way to go to communicate to government the true value of the flexible workforce and the even greater contribution they could make to economic growth, given the right conditions.”