Government’s new freelance champion: What freelancers think they should focus on
Following the initial announcement in the government’s creative industries sector plan published in June 2025, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will soon appoint a creative freelance champion to advocate for the sector’s creative freelancers within government.
We asked freelance and small business members of Bristol Creative Industries to share what they think the freelance champion should focus on.
“After 40 years as a professional voice actor, I’ve never known a threat to our industry as serious as unregulated AI. My own voice was recently cloned without permission, and the process for reporting or removing it was opaque and ineffective. A freelance champion must push for clear legal protections, mandatory consent, and enforceable penalties for misuse. AI has its place, but only when creators’ rights are respected. Freelancers deserve a framework that safeguards our livelihoods, our identities, and the integrity of the creative industries.”
Tanya Rich, voiceover artist
“Fable & Verse is an agency built on a freelance network model – senior marketers across the South West & South Wales, delivering strategic work without the overhead of a traditional agency. The freelance champion has a real opportunity to open up public sector work to networks like ours. Current procurement processes – framework agreements, insurance & turnover thresholds, lengthy pre-qualification stages – are designed around larger suppliers, which shuts out the experienced freelance talent that regional creative economies are built on. Making government contracts genuinely accessible to freelance-led businesses would strengthen the sector well beyond London.”
Georgia Mizen, Fable & Verse
“The freelance champion has the opportunity to turn years of conversation into real, practical change for creatives and freelancers across the UK. Too many talented people are still navigating inconsistent income, late payments, lack of protections and limited access to long-term support, despite being essential to the success of creative industries.
“The role must focus on listening directly to freelancers, improving financial and policy infrastructure, and ensuring freelancers are represented in wider government decision-making. There’s also a huge opportunity to champion sustainable creative careers regionally, helping independent creatives and small businesses grow with confidence, stability and clearer pathways to opportunity.”
Mustafa (Mo) Mirreh, Tell ’em Mo
“Recently the government stalled on its plans to allow AI to use creative work for learning promising further discussion around what the legislation should be. There needs to be urgent legislation around AI. How it’s used creatively but more importantly which sources are being used to train AI engines. It’s not enough for the government to remain undecided. Undecided is the same as saying AI can take our work and use it for learning. Undecided is leaving freelancers and recent graduates out of work, and increasing economic pressures. Undecided is not enough.
“In a market where freelance is growing amid increasing economic pressures, we need greater legal protections. Some of that comes from an organisational point of view. Companies dictate payment terms, ignore contracts, treat freelancers like they previously treated zero-hour contractors. There needs to be greater accountability for companies choosing freelancers and transparency over what they should be paying them and when. An awareness over how freelance rates include statutory benefits and what minimum rates should look like. Alongside awareness, there needs to be a standardised bank of resources on the government website aimed at employers explaining their responsibilities to freelancers.”
Gemma Tordoff, fractional marketer
“At MUTI Live we support a range of creative professionals from entry to leadership level with skills development. Over the past year we have supported nearly 200 freelancers through our Government funded Skills Bootcamp programmes.
“From my perspective the freelance champion should face three ways: They should directly engage with freelancers, and bodies supporting freelancers to hear exactly what is needed from the horses mouth with regards to career development. They should work closely with the creative sector, helping businesses that rely on freelance skills & expertise to understand that it is in their best interest to play an active role in initiatives for freelancers, including providing space and opportunity for career development & upskilling. They should make it clear to government that it is imperative to design well funded, consistent and innovative models for skills development to underpin sustainable careers.
“In some parts of the creative industries over 70% of the workforce are freelance. Without a robust approach to ensuring that they are able to enter and progress through their careers many will leave, taking not only the labour but the expertise with them. This would be catastrophic.”
Nick Young-Wolfe, MUTI LIVE
“It will be fantastic for the freelance community to have a strong voice in discussions around AI legislation. A lack of proper regulation is having a huge impact on freelance voice artists, in particular. Several of our voices have been illegally cloned using AI, then used commercially without our knowledge or permission. It is currently really difficult to take action against the perpetrators and/or have content removed because AI technology has outpaced our legislative ability to control it. The moral and ethical issues around AI cloning are ripe for debate but we urgently need clearer, more robust legal defences against this kind of practice. With our case studies and support, our champion could make a real case for laws to be updated so that they are clear, appropriate and properly enforceable.”
David Sheppard, broadcaster and voiceover artist
“The freelance champion should be given legal powers, like some sort of Tzar to put pressure on large (corporate) clients who drag their heels in paying little freelancers invoices on time, not adhering to 28/30 days effectively sitting on their money. As small-scale solo-preneurs etc. we don’t really have any clout to enforce the Late Payments of Commercial Debit (Interest) Act 1998! I’d like to see someone once and for all resolve this!”
Ralph Mann, Purple Heron
“The freelance champion should focus on fostering a new creative professional engagement paradigm that is rooted in existing UK intellectual property law. In the creative industries, there are those who contract with IP at the core of their business, and those who do not. People who do not deprive creators of income and make creative work unpredictable, unsafe and open to legal dispute. IP is the foundation of a functional industry and setting robust standards in the face of AI, which represents legalised IP infringement on a global scale, is vital for the future of all creators and all industries.”
Chas Rowe, voiceover artist
“Licensing of creative work for AI training should be right at the top of the new champion’s to-do list. Large publishers are already litigating and negotiating their way to licensing deals – but individual freelancers are not in a position do the same. Writers, illustrators, composers and voice artists are watching their work train the systems that now compete with them, for nothing. A freelance champion worth the title should be using their influence to secure collective licensing arrangements so freelancers actually get paid.”
Mark McGuinness, creative coach
“Companies creating content in UK need to start taking into account the emergence of Interactive content technology that TV sets are beginning to have. Foreign content producers are already working together with foreign TV platform owners to bring the next TV era. UK content creators are getting left behind. The freelance champion should raise awareness in the freelance community that they need to be aware of these new interactive content types and the opportunities they represent.”
Trevor Neal, RedSquid AI-TV
Bristol Creative Industries is the membership network that supports the region's creative sector to learn, grow and connect, driven by the common belief that we can achieve more collectively than alone.
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