The squeeze: Freelancers in a polycrisis economy

Many working in the cultural and creative industries are forced, by the nature of the labour market, to take short contracts in their profession while juggling multiple additional jobs and roles to support themselves between contracts. This applies particularly to those working in music, theatre, film and television and events, but is increasingly common as organisations sub-contract work to freelancers on a project-by-project basis.

There is widespread acknowledgement of the precarity this creates for these workers, but the situation is becoming increasingly critical as they are squeezed by the combined economic impact of the cost-of-living crisis, the pandemic, Brexit and the ongoing funding cuts in the cultural and creative sectors – a polycrisis.

Precarious employment status

There is no such thing as a ‘freelancer’ in current legislation or policy, so they do not have an employment status that is recognised unlike other countries such as Norway. These workers have limited autonomy to negotiate the fees, duration or working conditions of the contracts available to them unlike those who are self-employed in the traditional sense. They are recruited and employed under a contract with a company with set times to work and set fees but as the contracts are short, they are deemed self-employed for tax purposes. 

In areas such as theatre, film and events there may be multiple layers of out-sourcing to smaller companies who then hire freelancers like choreographers who are responsible for hiring other freelancers such as dancers in a cascade of precarity.

The multiplicity of contractors and organisational types, combined with weakening union powers over the last five decades, has resulted in limited opportunities for collective bargaining around fair pay and conditions. In legislative terms freelancers are left uncomfortably straddling self-employment and employment, often falling between the cracks in terms of workers’ rights and access to social security.

Decline in public investment

In a fragmented labour market with dwindling protections, pay and conditions for freelancers have steadily declined. Added to this the cultural and creative sectors operate within a complex network of interconnected relationships that link public and private organisations.

Here the sector has suffered from a steady decline in public investment in the arts. This erosion has been intensified by the current era of polycrisis. Against a backdrop of sustained cuts to arts funding, the sector has been further destabilised by the compounded impacts of Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Brexit has reduced the amount of work available to these arts-based freelancers. It is not possible to determine how much work has been lost because we do not have data on how many freelancers worked in Europe before Brexit or now. Data on freelancers, as a group that does not officially exist, is difficult to collate.

As a result, while some concessions and provisions have been made for short-term cultural activities, little is known about the loss of work and opportunities available for these workers. The impact is only reported anecdotally through workers’ experiences. The impact of Brexit does not end there.

In a recent study one freelancer reported receiving a fee reduction from the previous year because the cost of wood had increased due to Brexit and the producer no longer had enough budget to pay the performers in full. Without access to normal worker’s rights the performers had little choice and the production company reluctantly felt that the only budget line that could be lowered was labour costs.

Falling through the gaps

The impact of Covid on the sector is well documented: large areas of the sector were forced to all but shut down, freelancers fell through the gaps of government provision and theatres and venues closed permanently.

Coming out of this period many organisations and producers had less in the way of resources and / or were more risk averse which collectively reduced the amount of work available for the majority (except for a short boom in games, tv and film). Some of those without support during Covid had debts from subsisting on credit, others were forced to leave the sector altogether.

Then, there is the cost-of-living crisis which hit freelancers in every direction. As producers faced rising overheads, they often responded by cutting the only flexible expense, labour, offering reduced fees and or withdrawing previous support for expenses such as travel.

Meanwhile, freelancers are grappling with soaring household and transport costs and Covid debts with reduced fees squeezing some out of the sector entirely.

Unrecognised in policy

In a recent study even the more established freelancers were struggling stating that they sometimes worked for nothing as their fee barely covered basic costs such as materials / equipment and transport, but they took the work to maintain visibility in the sector in the hope that the situation would improve.

Although freelance work is a term used freely in the sector and government debates it is not recognised in policy terms. These workers take all the risks of costs for unpaid work, training, saving for unemployment, pensions, holiday, maternity / parental leave and sick pay. Although these elements ought to be included in fees this is rarely the case.

As a result, there is little evidence of the impact of polycrises on freelancers and little to no protection for freelance workers. Those without additional support are being squeezed out increasing inequality and preventing the sector from growing – both artistically and in terms of capacity – ultimately undermining the talent that drives the work.

The author wishes to acknowledge the generosity of those who contributed to the thinking in this piece including the many arts professionals, organisations and academics including Dr Yiluyi Zeng, Royal Holloway, London.