Although the term freelancer is not defined in employment law, when people speak of freelancers, they usually mean:
- People who work a series of short fixed-term contracts where they are on PAYE terms
- People who work a series of short fixed-term contracts who are deemed to be ‘self-employed’ for tax purposes
- People who work through their own limited companies, supplying labour, services, equipment, and sometimes the services of other people
- People who are hired to provide a particular one-off service
When the term is applied to someone on a short fixed term PAYE contract, they actually has many of the employment rights of someone in full-time employment. For example, freelancers in this scenario are entitled to holiday pay and Statutory Sick Pay.
This is a complicated issue and you can check your employment status for tax purposes on the gov.uk website.
You can learn about how your status affects your employment rights here.