Taking the leap into self-employment is a dream for many but new research has shown a stark downside to working for yourself. One third of London’s self-employed take no annual leave because they are worried about finding work on their return.

The study by cloud accountancy firm Boox, also found that almost half of UK self-employed work whist on holiday and are twice as likely to check work emails whilst on holiday.

Fifty per cent of self-employed Londoners admit they take less time off than they would if they were in permanent roles.

This news comes after statistics from the ONS has shown that the number of self-employed people in the UK and Ireland has soared to a 20 year high of 4.1 million. That’s an impressive 12% of the population.

The huge number of self-employed workers not taking holidays dwarfs the figure of 5% for permanent workers and beats the figure of 11% which represent contractors who don’t take leave.

Of those plucky self-employed UK residents that do book holiday, 20% admit they have had to cancel their plans due to hectic schedules.

“The reality is that when we are in charge of our own business the stresses and strains of securing our next contract or missing a deadline play a much greater role in our lives,” says Phillip Venn, MD of Boox.

“This makes it harder to take time out and if we do manage to get away, retreat anxiety makes it that much more difficult to switch off from our work life. The self-employed lifestyle can be very stressful.”

Despite these findings, the UK’s self-employed are not too badly done by. Just over half of respondants still believe they have a better work/life balance and 35% also agree that the ability to work in periods that suit them is a major benefit.