Self-employment and entrepreneurship: lessons from tax records and challenges for policy

40% of the growth in the UK’s workforce since 2008 has come from people working for their own business. IFS researchers are using administrative tax records to learn more about the self-employed and company owner-managers, including their characteristics, how these groups have been changing in recent years and how they respond to the tax system.

This event will showcase new IFS research on the characteristics and behaviour of this population and discuss the design of policies aimed at promoting small business. It will also feature a panel discussion on designing policy for small business owners, looking at:

• How could and should small businesses feature in the UK’s Industrial Strategy?
• How we can design tax policies that encourage entrepreneurship without promoting tax avoidance?
• Are there constraints faced by small businesses that policy should seek to alleviate?

This panel discussion will be chaired by Paul Johnson (Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies), and will feature Richard Davies (Chief of Staff, LSE Growth Commission), Sonali Parekh (Policy Director, Federation of Small Business), and Helen Miller (Associate Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies).

Registration and refreshments will be from 9.00, with the event starting at 9.30. A buffet lunch for attendees will be available after the presentations finish at 13.00, for those who wish to stay and discuss the topic.

The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged (through grant ES/R011699/1).