We’ll post here regularly with what’s been recently updated and added to the site.

• Added new tasks to Flightplan, and opened two new checklist stages
• Added a guide to Self-Assessment, and a guide on returning to work after taking time off
• New story from Kiana Fathi about deinfluencing freelancing
• Added “Recently Seen” links to the homepage, so you can keep up to date with news and content from across the ecosystem
• Added a calendar update for January 31st
• Added some backend updates to allow us to see who is signing up, so we can welcome them.
• Added a support guide on our Flightplan task levels

Welcome to 2025, the year of freelancing support.

Shib and I have big ambitions for 2025 - it’s the year of freelancing.support.

Our mission is simple enough: to make freelancing more simple, more supportive, and more sustainable. One of our objectives is to reduce the number of freelancers who feel overwhelmed in their first year, and to get more freelancers past their fifth year - a point at which 60% of small businesses have failed.

There is so much great information out there - but it can be hard to find, and can be hard to know what is impartial and good quality. So we’re providing navigation to the freelancing support ecosystem, along with our own resources and content to fill the gaps - on topics which get less attention than they should, such as mental health for freelancers.

For first-time-freelancers, we’ve launched Flightplan, our co-pilot to the first years of freelancing. It’s a guided programme to take you from the very first dreams of freelancing, all the way through delivering your first project, completing your tax return at the end of your financial year, and planning for the future. It’s just £99, and you may be able to access it for free via our friends and partners, or funded by your clients.

For established freelancers, we’ve got something coming for you too - but even now, our free resources library has content on a wide range of topics, which will be continually growing, powered by your questions and the freelancing community.

We’re excited to be on this journey with you.

Matthew & Shib.

Late payments = Debt

Freelancers are increasingly leaning on overdraft facilities to navigate cash flow challenges, according to data from the UK Finance Business Finance Review (Q3 2024).

The report highlights that SMEs, including freelancers, are experiencing a rise in cash flow challenges, driven by escalating costs and the persistent issue of late payments. For freelancers, reliance on overdrafts can stem from a need to bridge the gap between outgoing expenses and the delayed or overdue client payments.

When clients don’t pay on time, freelancers are left to shoulder the burden. Overdrafts can temporarily plug these gaps, but they come with their own challenges - as they’re not a long-term solution for ongoing cash flow issues. Interest rates and fees can add up quickly, turning a helpful buffer into a costly burden.

Clients paying invoices late continues to be a major challenge for many freelancers - 52% of invoices for small businesses are paid late (FSB), and 57% of freelancers say cashflow issues negatively affects their mental health (Leapers).

For freelancers, the takeaway is clear: managing cash flow is critical. Negotiating payment terms, asking for deposits upfront, and not being afraid to chase late invoices or charge penalties. Businesses hiring freelancers must also recognise their obligation to pay invoices on time.

For clients, hopefully the message is equally clear: paying your freelancers on time is not only a legal obligation, but a moral responsibility.

Are you an impactful PR freelancer?

Freelancers make up a significant part of many industries, and PR is no exception.

Around 12% of PR professionals are self-employed, according to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) — that’s over 8,000 skilled individuals delivering fantastic work, either directly for clients or by supporting other businesses.

Yet, despite their impact, freelancers often don’t get the recognition they deserve.

The Independent Impact 50, an award programme from The PR Cavalry, and Rod Cartwright Consulting, aims to change that by shining a spotlight on the often-overlooked contributions of freelance PR practitioners. Unlike traditional industry awards that primarily focus on in-house teams or agencies, The Impact 50 celebrates the incredible talent and influence of freelancers who help shape the industry every day.

Supported by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), and 72Point, The Independent Impact 50 is about celebrating those freelancers who are making a real difference. This recognition isn’t just about rewarding great campaigns; it’s about celebrating the broader contributions freelancers make - mentoring peers, promoting diversity, and raising the bar for professional standards.

Nigel Sarbutts, founder of The PR Cavalry, says: “Freelancers are not just here to deliver campaigns and disappear. They are trusted advisors who deeply care about the client’s outcomes because their reputation is on the line with every project.” He adds, “If you’re going into freelance, it’s about far more than just doing the work - it’s about creating real impact, challenging the status quo, and helping clients move towards more professional practices.”

By spotlighting these contributions, The Impact 50 challenges the old narrative that PR professionals must be either in-house or agency-based. Freelancers are a vital part of the industry’s future, and their impact deserves to be celebrated.

Why Taking Part in Awards Can Benefit Freelancers

Participating in industry awards like The Independent Impact 50 can be beneficial for your freelancing career.

Awards help boost your profile, drive visibility, and showcase your expertise to potential clients. While your work may often be award-winning, it’s rare to see a freelancer’s name on the credits — so opportunities like this are worth exploring.

Even if you don’t end up winning, the process of applying can be valuable. It helps you clearly tell a story about the impact of your work, and could become a case study or marketing content to share with clients. Plus, it’s always worthwhile recogising and celebrating your own efforts!

Bear in mind, some awards may come with an entry fee, and not all have the same level of industry reputation - so it’s always worth checking with fellow freelancers to see which awards might be worth taking part in.

If you’re a freelancer making a difference, consider participating in The Independent Impact 50.

Apply for The Independent Impact 50 or check out The PR Cavalry and Rod Cartwright Consulting for more information.

A local group for local people.

We’ve just added a list of local communties and meetings to our Communities page.

There’s just a handful right now, and everyone can help us add to this list, by submitting your own local community or meetups.

To do this, just email me, and I’ll do the rest.

Local freelancing, remote work and entrepreneurship communities are an important part of your support network, and the freelancing support ecosystem. They provide opprtunties to socialise, learn, share, collaborate, and support each other.

Day rate benchmarks are useful, but don’t paint the whole picture

As we come to the end of the year, we’re starting to see a few updated freelancing Day Rate benchmark reports.

Benchmark data is really useful to double check you’re not under-charging, but must be taken with a pinch of salt.

Day rates only show a tiny part of the picture.

Yes - some day rates in some sectors have increased, but equally, the market feels like there is less work generally, more freelancers fighting (and possibly undercutting) for the same work and project lengths are shorter.

Whilst there might be tasty looking numbers for more senior day rates, we’re also seeing briefs being pitched at more junior levels, a sort of underhanded way of reducing the day rate but getting more experienced individuals.

Equally, inflation and cost of living has exceeded the increase in day rates in most cases, and depending on which data you look at day rates across the board have declined. Day rates also don’t factor in increases in employer NIC contributions (for limited company owners), or the increased cost of running a business.

Additionally, benchmark data is often from intermediaries, rather than freelancers themselves, i.e. data comes from platforms, recruiters and agencies - all of which have a vested interest in showing inflated day rates (because they’re generally taking a percentage of the day rate).

Benchmarking data often will exclude direct to client work (which is often higher paid, but also can be wildly variable in terms of day rate). Take a look at the source of the data to understand if there are inherent biases.

Day rates also don’t reflect increasing numbers of projects which are fee-based, rather than day rates based, or touch upon retainers, longer-term contracts, inside IR35 roles, etc.

So if you’re looking at day rate data - make sure you’re factoring in the bigger picture, as well as your own personal circumstances and needs.

We mustn’t be driven by the market too much, but rather the value we know our work has, else it risks a race to the bottom.

Hello from Matthew and Shib

Born from a shared ambition to make freelancing more supportive and sustainable, our co-founders Matthew Knight and Shib Mathew have partnered to build an impartial and invaluable resource for the freelance community.

Whether you’re an established freelancer or just starting out, there’s something for you here.

We explore the myths, the surprises, the wins, the challenges, and how to prepare and make the most of independent work, via high quality resources, guides, platforms, stories from fellow freelancers, and expert opinions from across the ecosystem.

Stay tuned for regular updates, and maybe even a cheeky podcast hosted by Matthew and Shib along with a few expert friends to talk about all things freelance.

Browse our resources, share your stories, ask a question about self-employment, subscribe for updates, or let your fellow freelancers know we’re here.

Together, we can make freelancing more supported.

Half of the world is not a freelancer.

When you see posts which say “almost 50% of the world is freelancing” - take it with a pinch of salt.

1/ It likely refers to World Bank data, which shows that 48% of the world’s working population is self-employed.

2/ Not everyone in self-employment is a freelancer - self-employment includes precarious employment, gig work, informal work, and in many markets includes roles in categories such as agriculture. The guy who runs your corner shop is self-employed, that’s not freelancing.

3/ Global self-employment population has actually declined since 1990

Solo-self-employment in the UK is around 4.2m, of the 33m people in our country’s total work force. That’s around 12%. Of that, roughly 50% of those are seen as “freelancers” (which is a poorly and loosely defined term at best).

So, that’s closer to 6% of the UK workforce are freelancing.

Always dig into large bold claims, especially if they’re at the start of a post trying to sell you something.

Freelancing is a fantastic way of working for many people, but it’s not the only option, it’s not the right option for everyone, and it’s not the right option for every job.

Not everyone in the future will be freelancing, nor is it suitable for everyone.

And you shouldn’t feel pressured into freelancing because of bold claims stating it’s the future of work, or that half of the world is doing it - when that’s simply not true.

Understand your own needs, options and goals - and make your decisions based upon that - rather than an idea someone online is trying to sell you (because it’s in their interest to do so).

Calling all new freelancers

If you’re new to freelancing - this might be for you.

We’re looking for a group of folk who are new to freelancing, to invite you to join our beta programme for Flightplan - your co-pilot for the first years of freelancing.

You’ll be given early access to the full Flightplan programme, the checklist (a step by step guide to getting started in freelancing), the Action Plan (a personalised plan to help you make progress), and Fellows (a community of freelancers who support each other, at a similar stage in their journey).

In return, you’ll give us feedback on our work, and help us make this the most valuable resource for freelancers.

If you’re interested, please hit Join in the navigation above, and leave your details. We’ll get in touch with any eligible members.

We’ll be sharing more about Flightplan and the broader work we’re doing over the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

The Bank of England have cut interest rates from 5% to 4.75%.

What does this mean for you as a freelancer?

It may affect a few things.

SAVINGS/EMERGENCY FUNDS

If you have any money in a business savings account, or you are running an emergency fund - you may make less interest on that now, as most accounts are tied to the BoE base rate. It might be worth shopping around business savings accounts to check you’re getting a good rate.

LATE PAYMENT INTEREST

If you’ve got terms which define your late payment rates as a specific figure, rather than based upon the BoE rate, you might want to update them to reflect the new statutory rates.

Late payment interest is 8% plus the Bank of England base rate (so that’s come down to 12.75%).

I find it’s simplest to just define it as “8% plus Bank of England base rate” in contracts, so you don’t need to change this every time. If you have an outstanding invoice, don’t worry about changing the rate - it’s based upon when you amount became overdue.

It’ll also reduce the amount of interest you’ll be charged on any late payments you make to HMRC.

Missing your tax payments is going to get more expensive

From 6 April 2025, interest on late or unpaid taxes increase by 1.5%. The new rate will be the Bank of England base rate plus 4%.

The current BoE base rate, for example is 5% which means late payment interest will be at 9%. The current rate is BoE Base Rate + 2.5%, or 7.5% during November 2024.

Freelancers often face variable income and cash flow, so it’s important to be aware of changes, as well as keeping on top of your tax liabilities. Putting aside the correct amount after each invoice, as well as completing your tax return early, and paying your taxes ahead of the deadline, are all essential ways to avoid any fines.

Whilst you should always be able to afford your tax (as it’s a percentage of your income), in your first year of freelancing, you may not have budgeted for additional payments like payment-on-account, so you could find yourself with a shortfall.

Make sure you’re clear on your tax obligations, and if you’re unsure, speak to an accountant.

There’s more details on Freelance Informer and Ifamagazine

Not much change for sole-traders, increased NI for limited company freelancers

The new Labour government has announced its first budget - here is our round up of what it means for freelancers.

Income Tax - No change.

No changes to Income Tax.

VAT - No change.

No changes to VAT.

Corporation Tax - No change.

No changes to Corporation Tax.

National Insurance - increased for limited company freelancers

• Employers’ National Insurance contributions will increase from 13.8% to 15% from April 2025 - this will affect limited company owners (as you pay yourself as an employee as your own employer). If you’re a single-person limited company, paying yourself a basic salary of £12,570, you’ll pay ~£1,508.40 in employers’ NICs - which is roughly £650 more than previous years.

• There’s a decrease in the threshold at which employers’ contributions are due - from £9,100 to £5,000, which means sole directors will start paying employers’ NICs on their salary from £5000.

• For sole-traders, there’s no direct effect on you, but it may lead to your clients being less keen to pay you via Umbrella or PAYE, as there’s a 1.2% increase in the employer’s contribution, or could lead to a slight decrease in day rates, if they have to factor in that cost to the overall budget.

• The Employment Allowance will increase to £10,500, which means small businesses with more than one employee (i.e. not most freelancers) are unlikely to be affected.

Capital Gains Tax - increased

Rates will increase to 18% (for the lower rate) and 24% (for the higher rate).

Business asset disposal relief - increased

Previously known as entrepreneurs’ relief - this tax will increase to 14% from 2025/26, and 18% from 2026/2027 - effectively in line with CGT. This is applicable to both sole traders and limited company freelancers if you’re looking to wrap up or sell your business.

What does this mean for freelancers?

Some small comfort for sole-traders who aren’t seeing any direct impact on upon their incomes, although no tax breaks or reductions for those who are not protected in any way.

For limited company directors, it’s a bit of a kick in the pants - as directors already pay NIC twice, and are losing most of the benefits of the business asset disposal relief, which had traditionally been a tax break rewarding value they’d created in their businesses.

As always, we recommend speaking to an accountant to understand what this means for you and your business - and if there are any changes you need to make to your business to ensure you’re compliant.

Thanks:

Huge thanks to Gopy at AR Tax Accountants for their insights on the topic.

Positive news from the UK Government overnight on tackling late payments.

The government has unveiled new measures to support small businesses and the self-employed by tackling the scourge of late payments, which is costing small businesses £22,000 a year on average and leads to 50,000 business closures a year.

I’ll be going through exactly what has been announced, and updating our guides to late payment to reflect any new changes, but here are some of the key points:

• Large businesses will need to include reporting in their annual reports on how they pay and treat small businesses
• Large companies to report their payment performance twice yearly on GOV.UK
• Introduction of a new “Fair Payment Code” later this year, which will include a set of fair payment principles that companies are required to sign up to, and that will reward businesses who pay promptly.
• Consultations around further policy measures to support small businesses on late payments

There’s more to come, and more details will be released later this year, but I’m glad to see the Labour government, the Department for Business and Trade, Gareth Thomas MP along with the support of Liz Barclay at the Office of the Small Business Commissioner, and organisations like Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) spearheading this change.

Stopping freelancing and returning to employment isn’t a failure.

There’s been a lot of posts recently I’ve seen about freelancers returning to employment, and the tone is one of “I’ve not been successful as a freelancer”.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

We need and crave different things at different times. Sometimes we need a feeling of stability, sometimes we want to focus on the work over finding the work. Sometimes we need the flexibility that some employers don’t offer. Sometimes we need a team around us.

The future of work is fluid. Longer contracts, shorter employment, a couple days here, several years there.

Design and find the models of work which work for what you need right now, and don’t see it as a failure when those needs change.

Failure would be ignoring that things change.

Even before the outbreak of racist action on the streets of the UK in recent days, the topic of racism and exclusionary practises within freelancing has been a topic of interest for me.

Last week, I posted a poll on LinkedIn to ask where people found their work as a freelancer - with the top answer by a country mile, being “via existing networks”.

Where recruitment processes in employment need to nagivate any potentially discriminatory practises, hiring freelancers is often still very much a game of “who you know”, with personal connections often being the route to finding work above all else.

Yet, even on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, where networks should matter less, there seem to be bias too, as demonstrated in this paper from Northeastern University.

Diversity and inclusion has been a hot-topic in employment circles for a number of years - and despite many initiatives not lasting very long, and budget cutbacks seeming to affect any DEI projects and roles first, there are some checks and balances in place - such as reporting.

Firms which are listed on the London Stock Exchange are expected to disclose information on their diversity policies, public bodies are required to publish information on their compliance with the Equality Act, there’s gender pay gap reporting for organisations over 250 people. It’s not enough, but many companies also voluntarily report on their board and employee diversity figures.

Diversity isn’t really the goal here, but rather inclusive culture - an integrated diverse workforce which feels welcomed and well-supported, not just performative actions to make a board “look” different.

Yet - freelancing is rarely subject to any of this reporting or hiring process. There are no checks and balances, and hiring (or choosing not to hire) individuals is more often than not, entirely subjective, and subject to the conscious and unconscious biases of those making the decisions.

Do platforms like YunoJuno, Upwork and Fiverr need to do more to address the issue? Does there need to be reporting on supply-chain diversity? What can be done to reduce the power of the “personal network”, and highlight talent who don’t have access?

I don’t have the answers - and no single individual will be able to solve the challenges, but anti-racism demands that we take an active approach to tackling the issue, of which I’ll ensure we’re designing into this platform.

“Move fast and break things.” “When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel.”

There’s always been lots of talk about how it’s okay to fail, in pursuit of success - but when you’re self-employed, the idea of embracing failure is a little harder to swallow, than when you’re an employee with a company that’s got your back.

Whilst learning from failures is invaluable, actively leaning in to risky experiments can feel much harder when your personal livelihood is on the line.

So, a useful framework from my innovation days is the “70:20:10” rule.

70% of your time spent on business as usual, 20% of your time pushing into new spaces, and 10% of your time can go on more risky outlandish bets.

When freelancing - perhaps this means building a portfolio of offerings, some which are core to what you already do, and some are stepping into new areas. Perhaps it means spreading your approach to new business. Perhaps it means trying new things when it comes to engaging with clients.

But the central idea of a proportion of your time being spent on trying new things is crucial. What works today might not work tomorrow, and continually learning and growing helps you develop as a freelancer.

Do you have an ‘innovation mindset’ for your approach to freelancing?

https://www.itonics-innovation.com/blog/702010-rule-of-innovation

Do we need to rebrand freelancing?

Self-employment as a term is misused. Sole-trader means something legally but is used freely to mean people working on their own. There are so many interchangable and poorly defined terms that are all often used badly. I keep reading about the difference between freelancing and running a business – which is just plain wrong.

And there are so many connotations around freelancing, positive and negative, which are so often misleading.

Is it time to reposition and rebrand? Which agency would do a good job? Or should we use freelancers? ;)

Is this the future of tackling latepayments?

WeTransfer have just launched functionality to support “pay before you download” using their platform. Rather than hitting that link to grab the zip file of assets, and then chasing an invoice - the payment happens before your client gets the work.

Such a small but powerful shift in the workflow of many freelancers.

“I’ll share my work with you on screen, you tell me you’re happy with it, but you’re not getting any of it until I’ve been paid”.

Too many freelancers have their work taken, and then run the gauntlet of chasing down invoices or in many cases, not receiving payment at all.

This doesn’t work for all freelancers - many of us aren’t providing assets and outputs that can be behind a paywall like this, but there are probably similar shifts in how we share work and deliver work which can also be put in place.

For instance, those of us in strategy will almost always present our work on screen or face to face, and then provide a longer form write-up which can be shared and built upon across teams internally.

Personally, I’ve built a tool which prevents proposal ghosting, that forces the client to respond or reject a proposal, saving me time and effort in chasing and wondering what’s next.

There are going to be lots of subtle but smart redesigns of how freelancers work with clients that we’ll see in the coming years, which rebalance the power dynamic and I’m all for it.

See more

• WeTransfer’s Sell Files Get Paid
• Alexandar Vassilev on why this matters

In 2017, NYC enacted new laws to protect freelancers, namely the right to a clear contract in writing; the right to be paid on or before the invoice due date; and rights to sue their client in the case of non-compliance.

It echoes some of our laws in the UK around commercial debts (the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 is what we have to protect us against late payments, and allows us to surcharge and apply interest fees).

Some year on, a review went to show it had improved payment practices, and the stronger legal protections were welcomed - although enforcing the act, and awareness of the act by both freelancers and clients remains low, along with some retailation to freelancers acting upon their rights.

I’m interested in what learnings came from the NYC act, and what improvements we’d like to see in the UK to further support freelancers to acting upon late payments.

I see similar issues here around a low awareness of freelancers rights in terms of dealing with late payments, plus the emotional posture of many freelancers being almost apologetic in asking for the money which is owed of them.

Labour’s manifesto and new Business and Trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds have spoken to improving legislation around late payments, but despite legislation already in place, we still see around half of SME invoices being paid late.

The NYC act allows them to sue for twice the amount owed - do we need to look at more significant penalties in the UK? Do we need to have a channel to chase payments which are arbitrated away from the freelancer, so the non-paying business faces the wrath of an independent party, rather than an individual freelancer?

And what can we do to improve the visibility and understanding of the current laws, and support organisations like the Office of the Small Business Comissioner and the work which Liz Barclay and team are doing?

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/workers/DCWP-Freelance-Isnt-Free-Act-Five-YearReport-2023.pdf

When businesses are struggling to retain their best people and 25% of people in the UK have a side hustle - do businesses need to embrace their people having more than one job and one focus?

Rather than just working with freelancers as external resources to augment our internal teams - should we also be looking at how we support our internal teams to build their own businesses too?

Imagine …. if every microbusiness had the support of a parent business for access to resources, financing, tools, collaborators - would we see more success? And the benefit to the parent business - an equity share in a hundred small businesses, which could go on to be the next Apple, Amazon or Google.

This white paper from Henley Business School is fascinating, and prompts some interesting questions on what modern work needs to look like.

https://assets.henley.ac.uk/defaultUploads/PDFs/news/Journalists-Regatta-Henley_Business_School_whitepaper_DIGITAL.pdf

Does #SethGodin’s advice for freelancers to charge 2.5x what they’d expect to make in full-time employment still make for good maths?

It’s ten years old as a blogpost, but I still see references to it.

I’m interested in what people think, does the algorithm still work for 2024?

https://seths.blog/2015/03/double-and-half-freelancer-math/

I missed this when it was first published - LSE’s report into the pressures of the self-employed market post-covid, lower incomes and a feeling of being “trapped” within self-employment, authored by Maria Ventura et al.

Makes for a harrowing read, but also clearly a number of core themes which a) the support ecosystem could work together to tackle b) a number of areas for the new incoming The Labour Party government, Jonathan Reynolds and team, to think about how and where the self-employed can be better supported and c) for freelancers to be aware of the risks before taking the leap.

As this data shows, even before the election, ,there was a shift from the Tories being the party of small business, to Labour (36% say they would vote Labour in a general election), and of the 5.5M SME in the UK, that’s a sizeable portion of people the new government need to engage and support.

https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cepcovid-19-030.pdf