Ban the practice of’ free pitching’ by agencies and freelancers to brands

Open for signatures 13 signatures

What the petition asks

Ban 'free pitching' in law so that brands must remunerate agencies and freelancers for pitches or use other ways of selecting whom to work with - e.g. brands could look at past work, pricing and reputation as grounds to engage them, as you would in other professions (e.g. trade).

Brands ask agencies to pitch work for free as standard in the UK Creative Industry. The process is extractive, impacting independent business the hardest. Brands with multi-million dollar budgets should not be allowed to ask agencies to embark on work for their business as part of a pitch without paying them for that service. Business intelligence and creative IP is being extracted by brands in some instances - and work that has been created “for free” is being used without engaging the agencies the ideas were stolen from.

Timeline

26 Aug 2026

Petition opened for signatures

Key facts

Signatures 13

Status Open for signatures

Department Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade

Opened 26 Aug 2026

Follow this petition