Freelancing in 2025

I read the following article with interest and would love to hear how other freelancers might pursue a second career outside of TV while the industry rebuilds itself.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/07/senior-tv-producers-shelf-stacking-jobs-uk-industry-crisis?CMP=bsky_gu

Most of us don’t receive sick pay, pensions, holiday pay, or healthcare from our employers, and I think most of us accept that. Many of us have been victims of companies going under, whether due to legal issues or unscrupulous directors shutting down their businesses when their liabilities – often to the taxman – become too much. Freelancers are usually at the bottom of the pile when it comes to administrators paying a dividend, and most don’t receive a penny. Meanwhile, those directors are often back in business just a few days later, having bought the equipment and office supplies back from the administrator at a knockdown price.

Late payment has been a significant issue for some of my colleagues in the past couple of years. While most companies involved have communicated their cashflow issues to their freelancers, others, including one of the UK’s largest TV companies, regularly fail to pay within 30 days, often stretching the payments to over 60 days. If you work a lot for these companies, your cashflow is just as affected as theirs. There have also been instances of production companies bidding for contracts at vastly lower prices than their competitors, only to slash crew rates and benefits to make it work. Is it really acceptable to expect staff to start work at 3 am for several consecutive days without offering them a hotel?

Returning to the article – none of us who work in the industry want to work outside of it for any length of time, but sometimes it becomes necessary. Whenever I’ve looked into it, even considering just picking up some casual hours, it’s been impossible to make it work. Those of us who operate as Limited Companies – which many employers require – would struggle financially, as it complicates our taxation.

It would be great if the government, instead of constantly adjusting IR35 every few years – which doesn’t seem to have done much except create more administrative burden – allowed employers of casual staff to hire freelancers through their ‘service companies’. This could create a whole new workforce to fill positions, perhaps in industries like hospitality, where vacancies have been hard to fill since Brexit.

Of course, this wouldn’t solve everything, but it would help fill some of those positions, and the tax department would raise additional revenue. Win-win, surely?