One perhaps unexpected consequence of the pandemic has been the rise of microbusinesses, which can be defined variously as those with less than nine employees and an annual turnover of £632,000 or less. A survey of 1,000 customers by the website builder GoDaddy toward the end of last year reported a 62% increase in new customers and a 14% increase in microbusinesses. Of that customer base, the survey found that 15% reported having made the leap to being in business in their own account because of job loss or furlough resulting from the pandemic.

For medium and large businesses, the transformation of former employees into self-employed microbusiness owners has not been unwelcome. As the number of people being made redundant in the UK rises at the fastest pace on record, it remains the case that medium and large business need flexible human resource and expertise as they seek to climb out of the economic calamity caused by the pandemic.