Source: http://freedomtofreelance.blogspot.com/p/press-notice.html
Timestamp: 2018-06-19 19:51:10
Document Index: 150279790

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'arts 1', 'arts 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1']

Freedom to Freelance: Press Notice
Freedom to Freelance
Freedom to Freelance - the fight against IR35 is a new book being published by Philip Ross that details the remarkable campaign fought by contractors against the Inland Revenue's IR35. It is the story of Britain's first real on-line revolution.
'The Freedom to Freelance' - the story of the PCG and the fight against IR35
A new book, 'The Freedom to Freelance' tells the story of the fight against IR35, the creation of first online trade association and the ground-breaking use of the internet to run the campaign.
The events are chronicled by Philip Ross who was one of the founder members of the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) and its first Director of External Affairs. As such he is uniquely positioned to tell the story from the inside - with the highs and the lows, the successes and failures, the conflicts and the characters.
Throughout the book, he draws parallels with other revolutions throughout history, from its brave and bold beginnings to the final stages when the revolution turned on the revolutionaries.
In the early stages, contractors banded together against a common enemy, IR35. This story dates from 1999, when discussion forums were in their infancy and technology as a means of communication was the domain of geeks and IT experts - the very people who the Government had chosen to target with IR35. Many of these contractors were at the cutting edge of technology and their communication method of choice was the internet. Their campaign and mode of operation pushed back the barriers for the innovative use of technology on an almost daily basis.
Philip tells the story of the birth of the Professional Contractors Group, (the PCG), Britain’s first online trade association, which would use the internet to mobilise thousands of contractors in a battle with the Inland Revenue over IR35 and then the Home Office over the issue of Work Permits.
win over the House of Lords who controversially reject the IR35 proposals,
raise money for the group from the internet, in one of the first examples of crowdfinancing
it would organise the first ever 'flash mob' to lobby Parliament
and then be the first to present an e-petition to Parliament,
the group would pressure the BBC’s flagship political programme Newsnight into transmitting an apology on air for getting its facts wrong,
they would take the Government all the way to the High Court and the Court of Appeal,
and grow their organisation from zero to thousands in a matter of weeks.
Philip explores the online revolution and the figures who had the vision to lead it and pursue it. As is often the case with revolutions, the group turned on itself - and those leading figures were ultimately replaced by more establishment characters as attempts were made at rewriting history.
Philip Ross said: "It is a great story that needs to be told, it is not just about the fight against IR35, but it is a story of an on-line revolution.
"It is as much a human drama as it is about anything else.
"That is part of my motivation, the other part is to put the record straight about what happened and how it happened. The founders and the early days of the PCG seemed to have been air brushed out of the history and I wanted to paint them back in again. Given all the recent news about IR35, it is interesting to note the complaint about the PCG then was that we fought too hard."
The book will be of interest to anyone in the freelancing industry; to those who continue to campaign and lobby; to IT and media students who want to know how 'it was done' first time round; to those who now lead the technological revolution to see who and how paved the way; - and maybe also to those thousands of contractors who took the first step all those years ago to join the online revolution for their 'Freedom to Freelance'.
Copies are available, price £22.50 from:http://www.lulu.com/shop/philip-ross/freedom-to-freelancethe-fight-against-ir35/paperback/product-20199987.html
There is also a blogspot with further information on: http://freedomtofreelance.blogspot.co.uk/
Notes to Editors:1. About the Author: Philip Ross was one of the founding members of the Professional Contractors Group and played a leading role in the fight against IR35. He was elected as their first external affairs director. He left the Group to stand for Parliament later returning in an executive capacity running their external affairs function. He led the PCG’s successful campaign against Fast Track Visas.
After leaving the PCG he went to run the Parliamentary office of Tony McWalter MP. He decided to return to IT contracting only to discover that he had forgotten much of his technical knowledge. In the meantime he took a part job on the tills at John Lewis. He made it back into IT as a permanent employee in Dunstable and then returned to work in London in 2006.
On the political front he became Mayor of Letchworth Garden City from 2007-9. He continues to write political articles on freelancing and small business for Progress and for freelancer news site, Shout99. He has also become an international speaker on the topic of Garden Cities.
He now works for a consultancy in London in which he is a shareholder. Though no longer a contractor he is still committed to the cause.
2. For further information contact: Philip Ross .
3. Photographs available on the blog spot
4. Trailer youtube film form blogspot or at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJx3kwKTTY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJx3kwKTTY
Printed copy : Freedom to Freelance : Beginning the fight against IR35
Part 1-3 (319 pages) - at £9.99
Beginning the fight against IR35
Parts 1-3 Available on Kindle £7.71
Printed Copies - Freedom to Freelance
The on-line revolution and the fight against IR35
Parts 1-8 (523 pages) at £22.50
Click book and then select preview to see inside
Some news links
The On-line Revolution
On-line Revolution
Philip with his book
Philip Ross is a British freelance agile business analyst based in London. He was one of the founders of IPSE the UK’s biggest freelancers' association in 1999. He was co-author of the report ‘Not Alone – trade union and co-operative solutions for the self employed’. As a part of his portfolio of work he is an associate of Co-operatives (UK) and their policy lead and ambassador on self employment and WorkerTech. His brief is to do analysis for defining an open-technology platform\eco system that different applications and systems could connect with, so that they can support self employed workers. For Freelancers’ week he organised a meeting at the UK Parliament, alongside the USA Freelancers’ Union to discuss creating a ‘Freelancing Isn’t Free Act’ for the UK.
Did you help campaign for the PCG in the early days, by helping to found the group, write to your MP or lobby Parliament?
Taster version
Part 1 available for £1.53
Download Part 1 as PDF
Read Part 1 for free in PDF
Shout99.com
ITContractor