✅ New award scheme recognises £457 million market of 8,000 practitioners
Corporate communications, public relations, media and management insight
Are you an independent practitioner? Enter The Independent Impact 50 and help raise the profile of the £457 million sector of the public relations industry.
The freelance or independent practitioner market is one of the UK’s least understood aspects of the public relations industry. It doesn’t receive media coverage and is often an afterthought in industry award schemes.
Yet, it is important in terms of size, revenue, and the services it provides to the industry and the broader business community.
The CIPR State of the Profession reports in 2022 and 2024, both based on self-reported data from practitioners, said that 13 per cent and six per cent of practitioners respectively, declared themselves independent.
The CIPR PR Population Report published in 2024 reported that eight per cent of practitioners identify as running a small business or are self-employed. It’s the most accurate dataset available based on 2021 Census data from England and Wales (data from Scotland and Northern Ireland is unavailable).
The 2021 PRCA census reported 99,900 practitioners are working in the UK industry. This means the independent practitioner market accounts for approximately 8,000 practitioners in the UK.
The PR Cavalry, a marketplace for freelance public practitioners, surveyed independent practitioners in the UK to understand the independent practitioner economy and market dynamics. The data collection was undertaken in Q4 2024 and had 189 responses.
We’ve had an exclusive look at the PR Cavalry dataset to see what it says about the nature of the independent and broader market for public relations services.
The headline is that practitioners earn a mean gross income of £57,249 per year. This means the estimated value of the UK public relations independent practitioner market is around £457 million. It exceeds the combined income of the UK's top five agencies: Brunswick, Weber Shandwick, Edelman, Teneo and FTI Consulting.
Rod Cartwright, an independent practitioner specialising in reputation management and issues and crisis preparedness and The PR Cavalry's Nigel Sarbutts have created The Independent Impact 50 to celebrate the work of this community. It’s a showcase for independent practitioners.
If you’re an independent practitioner or work in an agency of no more than two people, please consider entering and helping showcase and speak up for the work of this market sector. The deadline is this coming Friday, 10 January.
“The awards are all about challenging the narrative that independent practitioners are the Cinderellas of the public relations world, quietly being effective in the shadows,” said Nigel Sarbutts.
"The reaction to the scheme, as a long-overdue initiative, has been quite remarkable. However, as the deadline approaches, the volume and pace of entries hasn't quite matched that wall of enthusiasm. Even among some seriously impressive independents, we're picking up a sense of 'I'm not worthy' or 'I won't be competitive' - particularly when gender, ethnicity and age (in both directions) are factored in,” said Rod Cartwright.
We plan to revisit the PR Cavalry data over the coming weeks and share further insight and events for freelance and independent practitioners.
A final note of caution: My calculations should be interpreted critically because of the limited sample size and the assumptions I have shared. But even with these caveats, this estimate suggests that independent practitioners substantially contribute to the UK's public relations industry and that deserves recognition.
Happy New Year and have a great week.
Strategy and management
⛈️ CLIMATE CHANGE REFRAMED: In its annual analysis, World Weather Attribution has taken an interesting approach to reframing climate change. It has highlighted the threat of extreme weather events to human life, claiming that people experienced an extra six weeks of dangerous heat in 2024. Source: World Weather Attribution.
🖼 CREATIVE SECTOR GROWTH: The UK Labour government is turning to the creative industries as a key driver of economic growth. The sector grew by almost a third between 2010 and 2022 and has ranked among Britain's top three growth sectors since the financial crisis. The government's industrial strategy will strengthen regional business clusters, improve access to finance and maintain competitive tax incentives. Source: Financial Times.
Industry
🍺 ALCOHOL DILEMMA: The US Surgeon General has warned that alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the US, responsible for approximately 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths annually. It creates a dilemma for the public relations industry like the tobacco lobby in the second half of the last century. Source: US Government.
💻 NEW PRCA CEO: Sarah Waddington CBE has been appointed interim CEO of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) until June 2025. The appointment comes as the organisation undergoes modernisation, and Waddington will focus on representing the industry's interests to policymakers and enhancing member value: Source: PRCA.
🎙 END-OF-YEAR POD: Our year-end podcast reviews key public relations and management trends from 2024, highlighting major events such as the Omnicom-Interpublic merger and AI hype. We predict a focus in practice on authentic communication and human relationships, while identifying employee well-being and organisational culture and proving the value of public relations as key focus areas. Source: Wadds Inc.
Social media
🏛 CLEGG EXITS: Meta is restructuring its global policy team. Nick Clegg is stepping down and being replaced by Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff under George W. Bush. The leadership change comes as US tech companies increasingly align themselves with President-Elect Trump. Source: Semafor.
💲 OPENAI RESTRUCTURES: OpenAI plans to restructure into a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), giving its for-profit arm operations control. At the same time, its nonprofit division will retain a stake but lose oversight powers. The change will enable OpenAI to raise the necessary capital for AI development, though it faces challenges from Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who have moved to block it. Source: The Verge.
🤳 SOCIAL SHENANIGANS: X (formerly Twitter) has 22.3 million UK users but has experienced a 6.1% drop since summer. Threads has grown to 6.9 million users, and Bluesky remains small despite its strong growth. The trends suggest a gradual shift in the social media landscape, with X maintaining its position despite declining numbers. Threads emerges as the stronger challenger compared to the still-niche Bluesky platform. Source: Dan Slee.
Media
📰 SOCIAL SHIFT: Traditional news consumption has declined dramatically, with the share of adults reading news articles online falling from 70% to half since 2013. This shift is due to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, which have become dominant news sources. The move towards video-based, influencer-led content favours populist voices over establishment media, with young people particularly likely to get news from content creators rather than traditional journalists. Source: Financial Times.
💻 NEWS WEBSITE DEAD: Traditional news websites are failing as effective platforms for journalism. Issues include overwhelming user choices, privacy concerns, and unsustainable economics, which drive traffic through algorithms rather than quality content. The future lies in alternative communities, digital formats, and distribution channels. Source: Neiman Labs.
Sarah Waddington is a director of Wadds Inc. We’re grateful to The Impact 50 for supporting Socially Mobile.
Thank you to Tricia Fox, Alan Morrison, Helen Reynolds, Nigel Sarbutts and Sarah Waddington CBE, and everyone who shares and debates the stories in the newsletter via our Facebook and LinkedIn communities.