Government appoints ‘Freelance Champions’ to represent self-employed creative workers
Leila D’Aronville and Lizzie Crump have been appointed to the newly created roles and will work with Government to ensure the needs of self-employed creative workers are reflected in future policy.
The Government has appointed two new ‘Freelance Champions’ to represent 703,000 self-employed workers across the UK’s creative industries.
Leila D’Aronville and Lizzie Crump have been appointed to the newly created roles and will work with Government to ensure the needs of self-employed creative workers are reflected in future policy.
The appointments aimt o deliver on a commitment made in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, with D’Aronville and Crump also set to sit on the Creative Industries Council.
In 2025, 28.5% of the UK’s 2.6 million creative industries workforce was self-employed, almost double the 14.8% rate across the wider economy.
The Freelance Champions will support work responding to the Good Work Review, which identified issues including unpaid work, limited professional development opportunities and difficult working environments among creative workers, with job quality for freelancers highlighted as a particular concern.
D’Aronville is the founder of North East Cultural Freelancers, while Crump is co-director of What Next?, a free-to-access network for arts and culture.
Together, they bring around 40 years of experience working in and representing the creative industries.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “The creative industries are built on the talent and dedication of freelancers, from runners on film sets to session musicians in recording studios.
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