Summarising the most important data, to understand a picture of freelancing and mental health during 2024.
45% saw their mental health decline in 2024. This is a hugely significant proportion of the group - and due to a wide set of contributing factors, not least increased cost of living, global conflict, and ongoing challenges finding work.
31% were unable to work for 3 or more days during the year due to poor mental health. Two-thirds of the group felt less able to work due to poor mental health at some point during the year, affecting productivity and income.
71.9% of our group felt isolated or lonely sometimes or frequently during 2024 - highlighting the importance of support networks, communities and connection for the self-employed. Whilst the UK is facing an epidemic of loneliness, freelancers and the self-employed seem disproportionately affected. 33% of our group reported feeling this way frequently - 3x higher than national average.
70% of freelancers don't feel they have adequate support for their mental health at work, and a similar amount don't know where they would turn to find support. A significant gap in support and awareness of support continues to exist for the self-employed, suggesting the ecosystem is not doing a good enough job of signposting to good quality resources.
Almost one-third of our group stated they hadn't chosen to work as a freelancer - but found themselves in self-employment due to circumstances outside of their control. This group of 'forced freelancers' is a symptom of large numbers of redundancies, as well as employment still not being supportive of large portions of society - such as carers, neurodiverse and disabled workers.
36% took less than 14 days of voluntary leave during the year, and 32% felt additional stress or negative impact to their mental health by taking time off. Freelancers don't have paid time off - and in a challenging commercial year, choosing not to work is a luxury for many.
72% of our group experienced ghosting this year - which seems to be on the rise. The phenomenon of clients disappearing at any stage of the process, including during a project, and after an invoice has been raised, is a major issue for freelancers - and 60% say this is negatively affecting their mental health.
71% of our group experienced late payments, and had to spend time chasing late payments. This continues to be a major issue for freelancers, and not enough work is being done to tackle the problem, a policy or education level - 55% said this had a negative impact on their mental health.
72% experienced stress from cancelled or delayed projects during 2024. Breadcrumbing, last minute cancellations and contracts being cut short are affecting a large portion of freelancers - 83.7% feel their clients are poor at communicating.
90% experienced feelings of low confidence at some point in 2024 - dispelling the idea of 'imposter syndrome' entirely, and simply highlighting this being part of the human condition. Lack of confidence in freelancing, combined with high portions of feelings of isolation, can lead to significant impacts on mental health - 44.2% felt it significantly affected their mental health at some point during 2024.
81.6% did not feel generally supported by government. Multiple changes in government, policy and ongoing challenges faced by small businesses have led to a significant feeling of lack of support from government by freelancers.
We are not seeing any improvement, over the six years of doing this research work, of levels of support for the mental health of freelancers - despite increased visibility of the topic, and more insight into where the challenges lie.
