Written by Chris Braithwaite, Liberty Hive Commercial Director | November 4th, 2026

So as I’m a bit of a phrase geek, I looked up the origin of ‘freelancer’.

A freelance was just that, a “free lance”: a soldier with a lance who wasn’t sworn to any particular lord.

Now the feudal system in the UK is apparently over, the new age of the freelancer is here.

At Liberty Hive, we are seeing some significant market shifts. So far this year, over half our placements have been on non-permanent contracts (‘freelance’) , and then even more interestingly 40% of those contracts have later become permanent .

No doubting freelancers have a traditional attraction. Both to the employer (filling a gap quickly with an experienced head who hits the ground running, easier for an HR officer to get sign off as no long term commitment in the CFO’s numbers) and the employee (life change, flexibility , diversifying their experience etc). And all these attractions can be enhanced by macros issues in the market .

But the significant change is the amount turning permanent .

We’d never disrespect our hive members by promoting any ‘buy before you try’ messaging, but with the change in employment laws in January moving to full worker protection at 6 months versus the current two years, it makes even more sense to be 100% sure about any permanent hire than ever before. Hiring on a freelance contract would be one potential lever, and we might be starting to see that in our stats .

We are neutral : we believe in permanent hires, we believe in freelance hires. We will advise accordingly because every role deserves that , but its useful to have a different string to the bow (or lance).

Try us via chris@libertyhive.com