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Last year women made up over 31 per cent of all sole traders registered in the UK, with some regions are showing more female entrepreneurial growth than others.
Since 2008 the number of female sole traders in London has grown by 22 per cent, with other growth hotspots including Middlesex (23 per cent growth) and East Lothian in Scotland (21 per cent growth). Scotland saw some of the strongest growth for female sole traders, with Midlothian, Peeblesshire and West Lothian (all 21 per cent growth), all featuring in the UK’s top 10 female freelancer growth regions.
The town with the lowest growth rates for female sole traders is Gwynedd in Wales, which experienced a moderate 10 per cent rise since 2008.
This spike in women opting to freelance follows reports of the thickening corporate glass ceiling, with 80 per cent of Britons believing that it has become even more difficult for women to progress in large corporations.
London remains the top spot for female freelancers – last year in South West London nearly half (41.31 per cent) of newly registered sole traders were female, 10 per cent more than the national average (which is 31.08 per cent).
This information comes following a Freedom of Information request from Crunch Accounting. The HMRC data includes information on 3,517,580 UK businesses.
Laura Hughes, Crunch's Accountancy Training Manager, said: “It’s great to see more women setting up on their own in business. So many of our clients choose the freelancing lifestyle for its flexibility and for working mothers, a sense of control and autonomy is key. Thanks to technology this working lifestyle is now becoming more accessible to more people.”
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Susie Hughes © Shout99 2013
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