Arts Council England has now published its response to the Hodge Review, and the government has published its own formal response. For arts freelancers, this matters. Some of the problems many people have been naming for years, around bureaucracy, access, precarity and who the system is really built for, are now being acknowledged much more clearly at official level.
First, it is worth reminding ourselves what the Hodge Review actually was. Published in December 2025, Baroness Margaret Hodge’s independent review looked at Arts Council England’s role, structure and effectiveness. It drew on evidence from more than 700 people and over 4,500 responses to a public call for evidence. Its conclusion was not that Arts Council England should be abolished. In fact, the review said the arm’s-length body remains vital. But it also argued strongly that serious reform is needed, particularly around trust, transparency, accessibility, bureaucracy and the way ACE supports artists and creative workers.
For freelancers, that backdrop is important. Many of the review’s criticisms will feel deeply familiar. Complex funding systems. Heavy admin. Too much unpaid time spent navigating processes that can be difficult to understand and difficult to access. Too many barriers for people without organisational backing, financial security, or enough spare time to absorb endless applications and reporting. The Hodge Review did not treat those as side issues. It recognised that if the people making the work are struggling to access support, the system itself needs to change.
The Hodge Review laid out, in black and white, what so many freelancers already know: that the system has often asked artists and creative workers to carry risk, absorb complexity and keep delivering brilliant work anyway.
That is why ACE’s response is so closely worth watching. In its official response, Arts Council England says the review is “a serious piece of work” and commits to becoming “a simpler organisation” that is easier to work with and better serves the ambitions of artists and creatives. ACE says it will create a new Service for Individuals, to be rolled out in 2027/28, combining a national funding programme with improved advice, training and support. It also says it aims to publish details of a new National Portfolio process in June 2026, with guidance to follow in September 2026, and it will develop a new strategic framework as it moves away from Let’s Create.
That could be significant for freelancers. One of the clearest themes in the Hodge Review was the need for a much stronger offer for individuals. The report recommended a new National Programme for Individuals, aimed especially at emerging and mid-career artists from low-income backgrounds, under-represented groups and under-served areas. ACE’s new Service for Individuals is not identical language, but it is clearly moving in that direction. If done well, it could mean more direct support for freelancers who currently fall between the cracks, too often expected to build careers through unpaid labour, short-term opportunities and systems that were never really designed around freelance lives.
The promise to simplify systems may be just as important as any new fund. The report was explicit that ACE needed to reduce bureaucracy and make its funding offer easier to navigate. ACE is now talking about a more intuitive online platform and a simpler way of working. That may sound technical, but freelancers know it is not. Bad systems do not just waste time. They drain energy, confidence and capacity. They shut people out. They favour those with institutional support, administrative confidence, or the ability to absorb unpaid labour. So if this reform genuinely makes access easier, it could make a real difference to who is able to apply and succeed.
There is also the question of strategy. The report was critical of the way Let’s Create had come to shape ACE’s approach, and sector reporting on ACE’s response says the organisation has accepted that the strategy could at times feel constraining or overly prescriptive. ACE now says it will create a new framework to guide investment while a longer-term replacement is developed. For freelancers, that matters because strategy is never just abstract language. It shapes what gets valued, what gets funded, how people frame their work, and whether artists feel they are being invited to create boldly or simply to fit into a system.
Alongside ACE’s response, the government has also published its own position. In its formal response, DCMS says it is accepting every recommendation made by the Hodge Review. It backs longer National Portfolio funding rounds of up to five years, says it will work with ACE on a new fund for future artists and creatives, and has committed up to £8 million to reform ACE’s application systems. It also strongly reaffirms the arm’s-length principle, saying independence over funding decisions is vital.
this moment does feel important.
That does not mean freelancers should read this as a completed fix. A response is not the same as delivery. Some of the changes being discussed are still a year or more away. Some depend on future funding choices. And some appear to involve reshaping existing support rather than bringing major new money into the system. The government’s response itself makes clear that, in a difficult fiscal climate, choices will have to be made about what gets prioritised. So there is every reason to pay attention, but also every reason to stay clear-eyed.
Still, this moment does feel important. The Hodge Review laid out, in black and white, what so many freelancers already know: that the system has often asked artists and creative workers to carry risk, absorb complexity and keep delivering brilliant work anyway. Yesterday’s responses from ACE and government suggest that, at least in principle, both now accept that things need to change. The real test is what happens next. Will funding processes become genuinely easier to access? Will support for individuals become more meaningful and more direct? Will artists have more room to make the work that matters to them? Will pressure actually reduce, rather than simply being repackaged?
At FMTW, we will be watching closely. Freelancers have heard warm words before. What matters now is whether those words turn into practical changes that people can actually feel in their working lives.
