Arts Council England has launched a new Freelancers’ Handbook to offer practical support to the significant number of people in the creative industries who work on a freelance basis. There is also a new Freelancers’ Fair Work Pledge, which it is encouraging creative organisations to embrace.

The pledge includes commitments to pay freelancers fairly and on time; to “contract well and project manage with care”; to credit freelancers for their work; and to support the inclusion and access needs of freelancers.

In a statement, ACE says it is “inviting organisations to commit to considering their current ways of working with self-employed creatives”, while also calling for “the improvement of working conditions for cultural freelancers in the employment of organisations”.

The Freelancers’ Handbook has been created in response to data and insight from the 2024 Culture Freelancers Study that ACE commissioned, and covers topics like contracts, fees, funding, tax, business development and professional wellbeing.

The Handbook and Pledge follow the UK government’s recent appointment of two freelancer champions who, among other things, will sit on the Creative Industries Council. They are Lizzie Crump and Leila D’Aronville, the latter of whom has also written a chapter of the new Handbook.