APPG for Freelancers

The APPG for Freelancers was set up in 2026 to provide a dedicated parliamentary forum to reflect the realities of modern work and ensure this growing section of the labour force is properly represented.

The forum has an initial focus on the creative industries, as this allows the APPG to examine well-documented freelance models before widening its scope to other sectors.

Its inaugural general meeting was held in March 2026.

About the APPG

Established in March 2026, the APPG is a dedicated parliamentary forum to shine a spotlight on freelancing, establish why it is such a crucial part of the economy and seek facts around the barriers freelancers face to a sustainable way of working and growing the UK economy. Its inaugural general meeting was held in March 2026.

An initial focus on the creative industries allows the APPG to use available evidence from an established freelance sector, through a set of workstreams informed by expert input from a wide range of creative industry voices.

APPG Priorities

The Group’s initial priorities include:

Engaging with the Government’s Freelance Champions.

Examining employment protections for freelancers arising from the Employment Rights Act, with a focus on how proposed reforms apply to atypical, hybrid and short-term working arrangements.

Assessing how a proposed Lords Committee on Freelancers could address structural gaps in policy-making and improve long-term oversight of employment, tax and welfare issues affecting freelancers.

The group will also be aiming to host meetings and collect evidence to inform its work on the challenges for freelancers, including:

Building better support for freelancers - though identifying gaps in support, exploring how government can better engage with freelancers in times of economic shock and develop principles for quick-to-activate systems in the event of future crises.

Understanding freelancing - gaining a deeper picture of how freelance work is structured, by: mapping the different types of freelancing; examining income streams; assessing the extent to which current employment law, tax policy and welfare systems; identifying gaps in data and statistics on freelancers’ working lives, earnings and carer progression.

Financial support for freelancers - access to stability and growth. investigate barriers freelancers face in accessing mortgages, loans, credit, and insurance; review how financial institutions assess freelance income and risk, and where discrimination or systemic disadvantage exists; explore policy interventions to access financial products and identify best practice from the UK and internationally for supporting freelancers and entrepreneurship.

Facts about Freelancing

Freelancing vs Self-Employment

‘Freelancing’ is not the same as self-employment but instead refers to people working through a mixture of engagements as self-employed or employed, usually on a series of short-term contracts.

Vulnerability

Despite their essential contribution to the UK economy, 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 and parental rights.

Impact of COVID

Boom-and-bust patterns of work leave freelancers hugely exposed and vulnerable. Nowhere was this better illustrated than during the Covid-19 pandemic, when tens of thousands of freelancers fell through the gaps of Government support due to the irregular nature of their work.

The Missing Data

There is very little data available on this workforce because of irregular patterns of employment and engagement, but freelancing is a mainstream and growing subset of the working population.

Access to Financial Services

Freelancers often face difficulty accessing mortgages, loans, insurance, and pensions due to irregular income and risk assessments that do not reflect their working reality.

Breaking Point

Post-pandemic, freelancers have faced further precarity. In the screen industries, a recent survey showed more than half of the UK film and TV workforce out of work following strikes in the US, a downturn in ad revenue, and reduced commissioning. Burnout, low pay and overwork is driving the workforce out of the arts, as the 2025 Arts Pay Survey found almost 80% of culture workers report they have “seriously considered” leaving the sector.