Pros
It's hard to find anything, really. Once upon a time the flexibility and ability to bend 'quick income' jobs to ones will and to fill the gaps was a nice bonus. I do still visit this system when I know I'm going through quiet periods, and frankly I believe it can be worthwhile, but you have to treat it very selfishly. Forget how Ocus operates and how insulting the pay is. Every now and then you get an interesting assignment available and this can mean meeting interesting people, business owners etc. and opens up further work opportunities. I've had multiple shoots off the back of a few quick Ocus shoots with restaurant owners who take their marketing seriously. It used to be a nice opportunity to visit different parts of the country, particularly when travel fees were available. And they are good at generating invoices and paying on the same day, which is pretty important where cashflow for freelancers is concerned.
Cons
Travel fees are now a distant memory, meaning you're limited to assignments in a very local area, unless you just want to go on a self-expensed road trip. Though they change their system like the weather, so I suspect with enough push back, this will return. Or simply when they realise that there aren't as many photographers in Kings Lynn as there are willing photographers with cars in London. The pay for assignments is a serious insult. No idea where this is generated but there are assignments out there that go for £33. Not worth getting out of bed for. I have no idea how these assignments actually get completed. But there are the odd 3 figure shoots dropped now and then. So again, if you can bend it to your will and get a few of those in an afternoon in one place, it's not the worst earner. It's just not a long term solution. The newest iteration of the portal online seems to be as wholly automated as you can possibly make it. Zero access to people, online chat help has gone. All a bit of a shame.