The report said: "The UK had internationally low levels of self-employment for many years but has caught up with the EU average and, if current growth continues, the UK will look more like southern and eastern European countries, which tend to have much larger shares of self-employed workers."

The number of self-employed in Britain has grown by more than 1.5 million in the past 13 years to 4.5 million, and now accounts for more than 15 per cent of the labour force. One of the primary driving forces behind this rise in self-employment has been the incredible growth in franchising news that is all the more poignant as we count down to weeks until National Franchise Week.

This growth parallels that experienced within the franchise industry back in late 2007 when the industry in the UK was seeking over 175,000 people to become self-employed business owners, offering the full training and support of a ‘franchisor’ company.

Franchise Development Services’ Chairman Roy Seaman CFE commented: "The career possibilities within franchising today represent a huge variety of retail, food and beverage, and business services opportunities for people with no business background to become their own boss, and the forthcoming National Franchise Week is an ideal time to start learning about the opportunities available to start your own business.

“Nevertheless, investors are advised to be extremely careful before buying into a franchise, since only around 300 of these franchisors are members of the British Franchise Association (bfa). This self-policing body is the prospective franchise investor's best possible guide to credibility, and we encourage every franchisor to sign up to the bfa's membership requirements. A recent survey of bfa members indicated their franchisees achieving a success rate of over 90 per cent. By comparison, we believe that more than 80 per cent of franchisees investing in a non-member franchise are likely to fail to reach profitability within a three year period."

Published: 14 August 2014

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