There are two things confused here. Lots of people go contracting in the UK because
1) You can earn more. A company will pay more as it can ditch the person at the end of the contract, when it is not a core competency of the firm.
2) There are tax benefits
3) When you contract is over you get a change of scenery
Many of those always contract through an agency
What you are describing is more like someone trying to start their own agency/practice. That is quite different and sales would be a big part of that.
> Those roles traditionally aren't marketed through middlemen simply because lawyers and tax accountants generally are considered to be independent professionals.
Your point that I was answering was that the contractor is outsourcing some services to the 'middlemen', not using a middleman to find those services
You are also not exactly right about accountants and lawyers. They join partnerships and associations exactly so they can get work from the practice and use their shared admin facilities. A barrister in the UK is a tenant of his chambers and the clerks get the work and the barrister has fees deducted for this service. This is exactly so they can concentrate on their day job.
This is exactly the set of issues around the gig economy. Corporations want to treat people as self-employed to save National Insurance, holiday pay, redundancy etc. Some people kind of enjoy moving around jobs a lot. The UK government has had a number of crack-downs on this resulting in
a) a reduction in ability to avoid employment laws and exploit workers or
b) a restriction on a contractors ability to work flexibly.
depending on your point of view. Probably some of each for different people. It is too big an issue for this comments thread.
1) You can earn more. A company will pay more as it can ditch the person at the end of the contract, when it is not a core competency of the firm.
2) There are tax benefits
3) When you contract is over you get a change of scenery
Many of those always contract through an agency
What you are describing is more like someone trying to start their own agency/practice. That is quite different and sales would be a big part of that.
> Those roles traditionally aren't marketed through middlemen simply because lawyers and tax accountants generally are considered to be independent professionals.
Your point that I was answering was that the contractor is outsourcing some services to the 'middlemen', not using a middleman to find those services
You are also not exactly right about accountants and lawyers. They join partnerships and associations exactly so they can get work from the practice and use their shared admin facilities. A barrister in the UK is a tenant of his chambers and the clerks get the work and the barrister has fees deducted for this service. This is exactly so they can concentrate on their day job.