Future of self-employment and freelancing 

Prospect represents over 20,000 self-employed and freelance members, predominantly in the Bectu sector, in key roles across the creative industries. 

 Self-employed workers contributed £305 billion to the UK’s economic output in 2019 – 14% of GDP. In 2023, this increased to £331 billion.  

But despite their essential contribution, the self-employed and freelancers get a raw deal. They’re more exposed to the ebbs and flows of the business cycle, and lack many of the protections enjoyed by employees, such as sick pay, flexible working hours, parental rights and pensions.  

The boom-and-bust nature of much of the creative industries is leaving freelancers hugely exposed and vulnerable, so only the wealthiest can survive. 

The problem

• The pandemic highlighted how truly vulnerable freelance employment can be as hundreds of thousands of self-employed workers were considered ineligible for government support, including the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), and couldn’t access the Culture Recovery Fund.  
• Much of this is due to a lack of government understanding surrounding tax and employment status. 
• Bad practice and poor terms and conditions are often common for freelancers due to their lack of employment protections. Provisions like flexible working hours, term time working, career breaks, parental leave, job sharing, and sabbaticals are granted to employees but not to the self-employed or freelancers.  
• A lack of structural procedures and HR protections mean that the self-employed are particularly vulnerable to bullying and harassment.  
• The government has not delivered on the commitments it made on good work following the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices. In recent years, the incomes of the self-employed have fallen further behind those of employees. 
• Self-employed workers are more vulnerable than employees to loss of work altogether, as we have seen over the past year in the Bectu sector amidst industrial action in the US. The ongoing slowdown in film and TV production has continued into 2024, with a Bectu survey from February 2024 showing a shocking work drought: 68% of respondents were not currently working. Many are planning to leave the sector altogether. 
• The current work drought is pushing the film and TV workforce to breaking point – 88% are concerned about their financial security over the next six months and 75% are struggling with their mental health.

“I have never known a more dire situation in television in twenty years. Every freelancer I know is unemployed. Every freelancer I know is extremely worried about money, growing debt and the future of production. Freelancers are already living precarious lives. Now it is untenable.”
Unscripted TV producer