Johannah Lynch
about 3 years ago by Johannah Lynch

We are delighted to share The Barton Partnership’s 2021 Independent Consulting in Review report. Between March and May this year, we surveyed 5,000 independent consultants across our global network, looking at average day rates, project lengths and key drivers for going independent. Further analysis of more than 600 projects explores how businesses across a broad range of sectors are effectively deploying independent consultants.   

Key findings:

  • 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.   

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