Number of self-employed workers in the UK 2000-2024
As of October 2024, there were around 4.38 million self-employed workers in the United Kingdom. During this provided time-period, self-employment in the UK has grown steadily, from a low of just 3.2 million in December 2000, to a peak of over five million at the start of 2020. After the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, however, self-employment has fallen to levels not seen since the middle of 2015 and has struggled to recover to its pre-pandemic peak.
Demographics of the self-employed
Between 1992 and 2023, there has consistently been more men self-employed than women, with recent figures showing that over 2.74 million men, and 1.62 million women were self-employed. As of 2022, the most numerous self-employed age group was those aged between 45 and 54 years old, reaching just over 1.3 million individuals, indicating that middle-aged people have the highest self-employment rates. In the same year, around 757,000 self-employed workers in the UK were based in the London region, with a further 644,000 based in South East England.
Self-employment support scheme
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK government unveiled various measures to mitigate the economic costs to businesses and individuals. For self-employed workers, this manifested itself as the Self-Employment Income-Support Scheme, which was in its third iteration, or tranche, by December 2020. During the first tranche, which ran from March to July, there were 2.7 million claims made in total, with claims to the second and third tranches numbering 2.4 million and 1.7 million respectively. As of December 13, 2020, the overall value of these claims amounted to 14.5 billion British pounds.
