Andrew Chamberlain, Deputy Director of Policy at IPSE, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed, commented: “The continued low inflation is generally good news for the self-employed. However, IPSE’s quarterly Freelancer Confidence Index has shown throughout 2015 that a high percentage of freelancers are concerned about rising business costs. As they tend to travel longer distances for work than conventional employees, the increase in air fares may add to these concerns.
“Inflation remains barely positive, so it still has a long way to go before reaching the target level of 2% - and is set to average only 1% in 2016. Today’s figures are unlikely to trigger a rise in interest rates any time soon.”