What if there were no freelancers? A new research white paper posed the question in Bicester

A new research whitepaper has launched in Bicester, exploring the impact freelancers have on the economy. 

Authored by startup and small business experts, Town Square Spaces Ltd (TownSq) the paper looks at the current landscape for freelancers, what rights and support are available for them and what can be done to promote freelancing as a positive career choice.

The paper was launched as part of an event at the Perch Eco Business Centre in Bicester, which is operated by TownSq on behalf of Cherwell District Council and saw local freelancers, businesses and community organisations come together to discuss and celebrate the role that freelancers play in Oxfordshire.

There are 1.86 million freelancers in the UK, making it a workforce larger than the UK’s biggest employer, the NHS (1.3m). Together they contribute approximately £140 billion to the UK economy each year.

Freelancers are a distinct sub-group of the self-employed population and differ from small businesses or side hustles/gig economies. Although the number of freelancers grows every year, there is still a huge element of risk, with no access to sick leave or paternity/maternity support. There are now also additional barriers such as the cost-of-living crisis and recent contractor reforms imposed by HMRC (IR35), all of which make it more difficult for freelancers to operate.

Nick Aldworth is the Founder of Risk to Resolution, based at Perch and featured as a case study in the paper. Nick is a former national co-ordinator for UK counter-terrorism policing and now works as a freelancer providing threat, risk and security consultation to governments and organisations across the UK.

Nick said: “I’ve been working as a freelancer since 2019. My clients don’t invest in the business - they invest in me. The lot of the freelancer is bouncing between tasks. It’s challenging but the benefit is cross-pollination: you see solutions and are always meeting interesting people.

“I set up my business just before the pandemic. I was a legitimate freelancer, but existing outside of any government support. We’re more vulnerable than established businesses. Freelancing can be a great professional career choice, but I don’t have holidays anymore.”

Gareth Jones, CEO of TownSq, said that he hoped the paper would inspire greater discussion about how to support freelancers in the future.

Gareth said: “The idea for the paper came from hearing an unsympathetic quip from a Special Adviser in Whitehall after the 2020 COVID furlough and emergency loan schemes for employees and businesses offered no support for many self-employed workers. They said ‘Can’t all these freelancers just go and get jobs?’.

“At first, it just seemed out of touch, but it got us thinking - the role that freelancers play in our economy is often undervalued, underappreciated, and for some governments and large organisations, seemingly invisible.

“While there are millions of freelancers in the UK, the sheer diversity of skills and focus means that it can be difficult to represent them all, which perhaps is why this form of self-employment tends to be so overlooked. However, it’s the individual stories, like Nick’s, that help showcase the personal insights of this unique way of working.

“We hope that, through this paper and the discussion it might raise, we can start a dialogue with the policymakers, educators and enterprises to see how we can collectively do more to support freelance entrepreneurship and help it flourish as the viable and respected career choice that it is.”

TownSq operates business hubs in North Wales, Oxfordshire, Cardiff, West Sussex, Devon, Hereford and London, and can support people from an idea right through to founding, investment and growth. It runs Startup Club, an after-work support programme to help people who want to start a business but are unable to quit their job, as well as TownSq Accelerator, to fast-track businesses that are aiming to grow quickly.

Perch Eco Business Centre in North West Bicester has been developed by Cherwell District Council and is supported by European Regional Development Funding. The building comprises a mix of coworking space and serviced offices over three floors and has been sensitively designed to be distinctive, eco-friendly and sustainable.