Creative industry freelancers face perfect storm that risks sector’s sustainability

Bectu’s Big Survey highlights the perfect storm of uncertainty facing creative industry freelancers currently, with 39% out of work and just 13% feeling secure in their job. The precarity of work and state of freelancers’ finances are of particular concern.

While the sector is largely built on freelance labour, the ‘feast or famine’ nature of freelance employment, bullying and harassment, poor levels of diversity, and a lack of employment rights continue to make things incredibly challenging for the tens of thousands of freelancers who prop up the UK’s world-leading creative industries. Addressing these issues is critical to the sustainability of an industry which contributes £125bn a year to the UK economy.

The government has committed to appointing a Freelance Champion to further the interests of this group of workers. Whilst the Employment Rights Bill promises better rights for employees, the government must also address the existing issues that many freelancers face.

Precarity and long hours

Precarious work and long hours are the norm among creative industry freelancers. 82% feel their work is precarious, while less than a quarter are confident about their future in the sector (24%).

Almost four in ten (39%) freelancers are currently out of work. And when asked how many months they had been in work over the past six months, 6% had had no work at all, while 42% had worked between 1-3 months. Just a quarter had worked over the full six months.

There is huge pressure to work longer hours when work is available. Just 8% of freelancers work a standard 8-hour day, with a quarter reporting a 12-hour working day as standard (23%), 38% working 10–11 hours, 14% working 13–14-hour days and 5% reporting an average day of 15 hours or more.

One respondent described their situation: “I feel like I’m constantly gasping for air with no future in sight.”

 Poor finances and late payments

A quarter of all freelancers said that they are finding things extremely difficult financially, while 42% are finding things more difficult than normal. In the past year, 11% have struggled to pay their rent or mortgage, 16% have been unable to cover their household bills, 10% have moved back in with their parents or other family and 3% have had to use a foodbank.

This is reflected in the number of freelancers with little to no safety net. Around a third (31%) reported having no savings, and fewer than half of freelancers have a pension (48%). Working class freelancers are even more precarious – those who say they are from a working-class background are 10% less likely to have savings (45% do not have any) or to have a pension (56% do not have a pension).

As one respondent summed it up: “No work, no savings, no pension, no support. Massive anxiety about how to live and help to support my family. I am doing all I can to find work elsewhere, but this is the most awful, stressful time of my life.”

These issues are amplified by late payments, which leave freelancers particularly vulnerable. A staggering 37% say that late payments have impacted their cash flow or caused them to go into debt.

Less than half (48%) said that they are always paid on time, while in the past year, 21% said they have often waited more than 30 days for a payment.

Lack of work/life balance

Freelancing is often seen as a positive way of working due to the flexibility it grants workers; however, Bectu’s Big Survey suggests that this flexibility is one-sided.

The survey found that just 6% of freelance women in the creative industries have been offered paid leave or flexible working to allow attendance at fertility-related appointments, such as for fertility treatment, and just 22% have been able to access job shares and flexible working arrangements.

And more than a third of all freelancers (34%) said that their work has impacted their reproductive choices (e.g. choosing to have children).

Given these challenges, it is no surprise that almost a third (31%) of creative industry freelancers see themselves working in another industry in five years’ time.

One respondent said: “I’m looking to the future when I have children and feel hesitant about the industry, with no maternity help and then the hours once returning to work. I don’t want to leave the industry but being unable to plan out your year and working immense hours is something I’m beginning to struggle with.”

Bectu’s recommendations

• Real powers for the freelance champion
• Action on late payments
• Better data and tax systems to address the complexity of different “freelance” employment statuses
• Access to employment rights like sick pay and parental leave to provide a safety net
• Enforcement of existing employment rights for PAYE freelancers
• Accounting for freelancers in move to Single Worker Status

Head of Bectu Philippa Childs said:

“The creative industries are dependent on the talents, skills and dedication of freelancers – without them the sector would collapse. This is a key growth sector essential to the government’s industrial strategy, so our findings should sound alarm bells.

“The government is starting to take this issue seriously with the appointment of a freelance champion. It’s essential this role is given real and meaningful powers, to help set policy and to intervene on behalf of freelancers, to ensure it drives tangible and sustained change.

“The UK lags behind much of the world in terms of rights and protections afforded to workers in the creative industries. Our findings make clear an existential threat to the creative industries if we don’t better support those who are critical to its continued success. The government has quite rightly talked a lot about growth and fairness in work – this is an area where it has an opportunity to make a real difference on both those counts.

“Employers and engagers in the industry also have a critical role to play. Our report is clear – if you don’t properly support the people doing the bulk of the work then the industry will become unsustainable.”