Improving financial security for UK screen industry freelancers
Published: 6 March 2025
New research reveals that innovative tax and benefits policies could dramatically improve financial security for freelancers in the UK screen industries, potentially reversing a worrying exodus of talent from the sector.
New research reveals that innovative tax and benefits policies could dramatically improve financial security for freelancers in the UK screen industries, potentially reversing a worrying exodus of talent from the sector.
The comprehensive study, Make Freelancing Pay, shows that UK governments could use targeted tax and benefits reforms to deliver substantive improvements in disposable household income for screen freelancers, helping to stem the current talent drain from this vital creative sector.
The research, led by Professor Doris Ruth Eikhof of the University of Glasgow and Dr Hannah Randolph, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde, examined how tax and benefits policies akin to those in six other countries could transform freelancers' financial stability in the UK.
Film and TV are key to the creative industries’ £124.6 billon to the UK economy, but their success depends directly on a skilled and diverse workforce. A large proportion of this workforce is self-employed or works on project-based contracts, facing high income insecurity and sometimes challenging working conditions.
Doris Eikhof, who is Professor of Cultural Economy & Policy at the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts & Humanities, said: “We are at a critical crossroads for the UK's globally leading film and TV industries. Since the pandemic, compounded by the production downturn, strikes and cost of living crisis, we’ve seen alarming numbers of skilled freelancers leaving the sector. We need fresh ideas to attract and keep the people that film and TV industries so desperately need.
"Our research offers concrete solutions that could help retain the diverse talent pool our creative industries depend on. For instance, screen-specific basic income policies or housing support for creative workers could be real game changers.”
The report finds that an Ireland-style basic income could increase freelancers’ disposable income by 50% and more. Low-earning workers, disabled workers and younger workers would have their position significantly improved.
Housing support for creative workers, which is available in South Korea, was the only policy that benefitted workers with dependent children more than workers without dependents.
French and German style policies that provide unemployment support and support with National Insurance Contributions were more beneficial for those workers who already earned more, and delivered comparatively small improvements overall.
The study used microsimulation modelling based on policies currently in place in Germany, France, South Korea, Spain, Ireland, and Sweden. Researchers modelled outcomes for six representative cases: freelancers on average, high, and low incomes; younger freelancers; disabled freelancers; and freelancers working outside of London—both with and without children.
Currently, screen industry freelancers earn approximately 80% of what workers with equivalent qualifications make in other industries while facing greater income insecurity, work-related stress, and financial pressures. According to research by Bectu and the Film + TV Charity, screen freelancers experience more income insecurity, periodic overwork, work-related stress and financial pressures than workers in permanent employment – all of which drives talent drain from the screen industries.
This project led by British Screen Forum and the Film + TV Charity, and supported with funding and advisory input by Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, BFI, Bectu, Equity, Directors UK and the Production Guild of Great Britain.
Pete Johnson, Chief Executive of British Screen Forum, said: “The pressure of income insecurity has inevitably been felt most acutely by those with the least to fall back on. This has exacerbated existing issues relating to the under-representation of certain groups of people – including disabled people, people from minoritised ethnic communities and people from working-class backgrounds. This report brings hard data to the discussion for the first time. It grounds in evidence a productive debate about how best to ensure that the UK screen sector has the workforce it needs to deliver the growth and social value we all want to see.”
Professor Chris Pearce, Vice-Principal Research & Knowledge Exchange, University of Glasgow, said: “Our university is committed to doing research that helps change the world for the better. Make Freelancing Pay does exactly that: it brings new evidence to the policy debate and puts conversations on a firm, factual footing. I am delighted to see British Screen Forum work with our new spin-out Design Otherwise, to help secure a skilled and diverse workforce for the screen industries.”
First published: 6 March 2025