The RSA is coming to Cambridge on 28 February to hear your stories of self-employment and saving for the future. They want to hear your experiences to inform their research on what constitutes good work today.
This event will take the format of an RSA Salon. Inspired by the salons and coffeehouses of the Enlightenment, there will be a combination of presentations, plenary debates and breakout sessions to stimulate discussion. This is a participatory event; everyone is welcome and warmly encouraged to contribute.
What's it all about?
Growing self-employment and an innovative start-up culture has changed our relationship with pensions and savings. Just 17 percent of those who work for themselves make contributions to a scheme compared with 62 percent of employees. The RSA is seizing the opportunity to take action and address the growing pensions gap - join us as we work together to try and come up with solutions to this emerging problem.
The UK is fast becoming a self-employed nation with cities like Cambridge leading the way. The number of people who work for themselves has grown by 40 percent since 2000, and close to half of all jobs growth in the past decade is owed to people starting up in business. Cambridge has a unique blend of higher education excellence and an innovative entrepreneurial culture, which has led to a higher than average concentration of start-ups in the city and a £2.1 billion digital tech turnover.
- The retirement gig
The gig economy has the potential to be an easy way to supplement pension income in retirement. However, it is yet to widely be used in this way, as only 14% of gig workers are over the age of 55. Today, this may be seen more with asset-based platforms such as Airbnb, where the fastest growing demographic group is over 60s....
Click here to read more - Boosting retirement security for the self-employed: A call out for ideas
Few labour market trends have caught the public's attention like the rise in self-employment. Since 2000, an extra 1.5 million people have turned their hand to running a business. Nearly half of all jobs growth between 2008 and 2015 is owed to these self-starters, with the result that a record one in seven workers now answer to themselves.....
Click here to read more
RSA research has shown that few self-employed people are saving into a private pension, and those closest to retirement in the 55-64 year old age bracket have £89,500 saved on average, around half the amount stowed away by those in salaried work. Conversely, self-employment is making up a larger share of those in work than ever before and this figure is set to grow, making it an important issue for everyone to tackle in concert.
What's happening and when?
The RSA is coming to Cambridge to crowdsource innovative ideas from Fellows and others interested in tackling this growing issue. This event is part of our Venturing to Retire project, which has been supported by the online marketplace Etsy.
Date: Wednesday 28 February 2018
Time: 18.30-20.30
Venue: The Hauser Forum, 3 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0GT
Click here to book your place
Speakers
- Benedict Dellot Associate Director, Economy, Enterprise and Manufacturing
- Fabian Wallace-Stephens Data Research Assistant, Economy, Enterprise and Manufacturing
For more information please contact [email protected]
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ABOUT THE RSA
The mission of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) is to enrich society through ideas and action.
We believe that all human beings have creative capacities that, when understood and supported, can be mobilised to deliver a 21st century enlightenment.
Supported by our 29,000 Fellows, we share powerful ideas, carry out cutting-edge research and build networks and opportunities for people to collaborate, helping to create fulfilling lives and a flourishing society.