Advanced Television report on the findings of the Freelancer Report, conducted by Creative Access, ‘Data: UK TV freelance creatives demand change’. Creative Access research showed that although freelancers are broadly happy with their career path, there is a breakdown in the relationship between freelancers and employers within the creative economy, as over one in two freelancers say they ‘don’t feel supported by employers’ they work with.
“Freelancers are all too often the lifeblood of a creative organisation,” says Bibi Hilton, CEO, Creative Access. “They’re the flexible extra resource we bring in when the workload suddenly spikes and there’s no time or budget to hire to plug highly valued, and often specialist skills gaps. And yet, our survey shows, many employers are not treating their freelancers in this way. They are treating them as ‘other’ to their permanent employees; investing in training or wellbeing for everyone except their freelancers or worse, claiming to create a culture of ‘belonging’ that includes everyone except the large proportion of individuals not on permanent contracts.
“At Creative Access we’ve been at the forefront of supporting diverse talent for over a decade, it’s all part of our mission to make the creative industries reflect UK society. However, we also appreciate our own role in offering career-long support – particularly when talent is self-employed and lies outside the safety net of an organisation.”