Freelance Champions appointed to represent self-employed

The government has appointed two 'Freelance Champions' to represent the interests of the self-employed who comprise more than a quarter of the workforce across the UK creative industries.

Leila D’Aronville and Lizzie Crump take up the newly-created roles to advocate for the estimated 703,000 self-employed UK creative workers. The appointment will support industry’s ongoing work to address the findings of the Good Work Review, a major review into working conditions across the sectors, which highlighted issues with unpaid work, limited opportunities for professional development, and difficult working environments, as well as high levels of job satisfaction, flexibility and autonomy. Job quality for freelancers was marked as a particular concern.

In 2025, 28.5 per cent of the UK’s 2.6 million-strong creative industries workforce were self-employed, almost double the rate for the wider UK economy (14.8 per cent), according to official data.

Both appointees are freelancers themselves, bringing a combined 40 years of experience working in and representing the creative industries. Leila D’Aronville is the founder of the North East Cultural Freelancers, a network supporting freelancers and small organisations across the region. Lizzie Crump is one of the Co-Directors of What Next?, the UK’s largest free-to-access network for arts and culture, and has worked in cultural policy for many years.

They will work closely with industry, including the freelance community, to build an understanding of this section of the workforce and work to inform government thinking in this area. The appointments deliver on a commitment made in the 2025 Creative Industries Sector Plan.

More on the announcement.

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