John Dean – Crime Writer

As the debate rages about the malign influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), two Freelance Champions have been appointed to speak on behalf of more than 700,000

self-employed freelancers in the shaping of future government policy.

Among the organisations welcoming the appointment of Leila D’Aronville and Lizzie Crump are the Society of Authors (SoA); many authors as well as everyone from literary agents and publicists to editors and illustrators are freelance.

Lindsay Bennett Ford, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the SoA, said: “These are appointments we have long been calling for. We welcome the Freelance Champions at a time when there are serious challenges to the viability of making a living from creative work.

“We know that many authors work on a freelance basis and, as a result, face shrinking incomes, red tape around tax, and challenges dealing with AI.”

The Freelance Champion appointees are both freelancers themselves with more than 40 years of combined experience. Leila D’Aronville is the founder of the North-East Cultural Freelancers, a network supporting freelancers and small organisations across the North-East of England, and Lizzie Crump is one of the Co-Directors of What Next? the UK’s largest free-to-access network for arts and culture, and she has worked in cultural policy for many years.

The appointees will sit on the Creative Industries Council, a joint industry and government forum that represents and gives voice to the UK’s creative industries. Their work aims to address the findings of the Good Work Review into working conditions across sectors that highlighted issues of unpaid work, limited opportunities for professional development, and difficult working environments.

More than twenty eight per cent of the 2.6 million people working in the UK’s creative industries are self-employed freelancers, almost double the rate for the wider economy.