Global, highly mobile and experienced professionals. In addition to the consulting toolkit, 59% of respondents have been working as an independent consultant for more than 5 years, and 81% would be willing to travel to a distant client location for work. Deliberate and long-term career choice; one which has not been deterred by the current pandemic, with more than 1 in 2 respondents indicating that they intend to remain working as an independent consultant for 5 years or more. Largely unaffected by the changes to off-payroll working (IR35) rules, 58% of UK-based respondents report that IR35 has had ‘limited’ or ‘no impact’ on their project decisions. Insights on key drivers and average day rates: Flexibility, autonomy and work/life balance are the top three drivers for going independent, and despite Covid, day rates have remained steady, with 77% of respondents reporting an increase or no real change to their average day rate over the past 12 months.