Amid accusations of broken election promises, the Chancellor has now been set upon by entrepreneurs, tax advisers and even his own backbenchers. So what has the Chancellor done, and how will this affect the self-employed, who currently represent 15% of the UK’s workforce and have accounted for 45% of all employment growth since the financial crisis?

In short, the main rate of Class 4 national insurance contributions (NICs) for self-employed people will increase from 9% to 10% from April 2018, with a further increase to 11% in April 2019. This will compare with the current 12% paid by employees, and follows the previous decision to abolish the Class 2 flat rate £2.80 a week on earnings above £5,965 from April 2018.