Curious how your freelance journey stacks up?

Here’s the L&D Freelancer Insight Report 2025 – packed with fresh data, and honest reflections from 77 self-employed L&D professionals. Spoiler: day rates are rising, strategic work is becoming the norm, but finding clients? Still tough.

By Kim Ellis

How do you feel about freelancing? Do you see it as a side hustle, just a bit of extra holiday money on the side of your full-time employed job? Maybe you’re embedded in a company as a day rate contractor or a fractional consultant. Do you see yourself as a small business owner, you might employ a few people too. However you do self-employment, at L&D Free Spirits – we see you. And we want you to thrive.

That’s why we run our annual report, to find out what people are doing, how they’re doing it, how much they’re charging and chat support they need.

This year’s L&D Freelancer Insight Report pulls together real reflections from 77 self-employed folk across the globe – triple the number who took part in 2024.

Here’s just a taste of what’s inside:

• Why £1,000+ day rates are becoming the norm
• The rise of strategic services like consultancy
• What freelancers really need – and where the gaps are
• Why everyone’s smashing client satisfaction, but still feeling the pinch

To get access to the full report, just fill in the form below and we’ll send it straight to your inbox.

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