The British workforce is quietly transforming into a nation of independent workers, as freelancing and side hustling emerge as crucial safety nets for the recently unemployed and financially strained. This shift reveals a resilient and adaptable workforce, with many professionals acquiring specialist and business skills outside traditional education.
Freelancing: The New Safety Net?
While many professionals actively choose the freelance lifestyle for its flexibility and autonomy, the growth of self-employment is increasingly linked to turbulence in the traditional job market. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) notes that ‘solo’ self-employment—comprising sole traders and limited company directors without employees—has risen dramatically in the UK since the 1970s.
IFS research reveals that solo self-employed workers are more likely than traditional employees to have recently experienced unemployment or economic inactivity. This suggests that for some, self-employment becomes “a path taken in the absence of better alternatives.”
A growing segment of the population now turns to freelancing to generate income when struggling to secure permanent roles. This trend mirrors patterns in other economies, particularly the United States, as previously reported by The Freelance Informer.
Recent US survey data shows contractors highly value training and skill-building opportunities, viewing them as direct pathways to permanent employment. Some 30% of assignment-based workers named professional development as their top priority, rating it amongst their top 10 priorities.
The Rise of the Self-Starter
Self-taught individuals are propelling the freelance sector forward, opting to use digital platforms to gain proficiency in skills ranging from web design and AI architecture to content creation.
A Fiverr annual survey of 3,500 freelancers found that 40% are teaching themselves without formal training, learning their craft through online content and resources, whilst building businesses from scratch without degrees or professional qualifications.
The same survey revealed that 76% of freelancers use AI tools, with 64% reporting increased productivity as a result.
Popular Freelancer Learning Platforms for Upskilling:
Policy Implications and Support Needs
The growing movement towards self-employment—whether as first choice or fallback—demands greater governmental and institutional support. Policy analysts increasingly stress the need for better frameworks to support this unique economic workforce.
Dave Chaplin, CEO of ContractorCalculator and creator of the Freelance Manifesto for Growth, has stated that self-employed people have been the “backbone of our economy, but poor government policy-making has let them down and damaged their livelihoods.”
This growing consensus points to the necessity of simplifying tax rules, ensuring fair contract legislation, and offering tailored support to help new freelancers succeed in their self-directed careers.
The Fair Work Agency
The ability of a large workforce segment to rapidly acquire skills and establish careers without formal certification highlights strong national capacity for resilience and self-reliance—qualities that policymakers must now recognise and actively support.
This support could come under the stewardship of the newly formed Fair Work Agency (FWA), set to launch in April 2026. The FWA is being hailed as a major win for small business owners and honest, highly skilled freelancers, despite its core mission to tackle traditional and gig worker exploitation.
Matthew Taylor CBE, who previously authored the influential Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, has been appointed as the agency’s inaugural chair. Experts suggest his appointment signals Westminster’s determined effort to create a simpler, fairer system that protects legitimate businesses as much as vulnerable workers.
One sided-flexibility
Chaplin urges that the FWA’s enforcement “must target exploitation, which has euphemistically been rebadged as ‘one-sided flexibility’.”
Examples of one-sided flexibility include unreasonable requirements around workers’ availability, unpredictability that makes it difficult for workers to manage finances, and an overarching fear of losing future work if concerns are raised or hours turned down.
In a previous interview with The Freelance Informer, Chaplin warned: “We don’t want ‘one-sided enforcement’ that removes the rights of people who have freely chosen to be their own boss as self-employed.”
