Posted in Freelancer,
Freelancer, contractor, consultant, interim, independent professional. People call themselves many different things, and different industries use different words. In practice, they all describe the same thing: someone who works for themselves rather than as your employee.
I like “independent professional”, or “independents” for short. Whatever the label, it tells you very little about what the person will actually do for you.
The words for how a role is set up are just as muddled. Fractional, interim and fixed term are often used as if they mean the same thing. They don’t. I have worked with independents for about 15 years, and even we get tangled up in the terms. If we do, our clients certainly will.
There is no single agreed definition for most of these words. So this guide sets out how we use them at The Work Crowd, to help you work out what you really need.
Choosing the right model comes down to two separate questions.
Answer those two and the rest follows. Most of the confusion, and much of the risk, comes from mixing them up.
We see four shapes of help. The title describes how the work is set up, not how senior the person is.
Part time and ongoing. A fractional professional usually works one to three days a week, is part of your team and holds real responsibility, often with a title such as fractional CMO or fractional communications director.
It suits a business that needs senior expertise but not a full time role. A scale up that isn’t ready for a full time marketing director is a good example. Fractional roles can run for months or years, reviewed as your needs change.
Full time, or close to it, for a set period, holding a role. Most interim assignments run for three to twelve months, and there are three common reasons for them:
The Institute of Interim Management’s 2024 survey found the average assignment lasts around 9.5 months, and that change or transformation is the most common type of role.
A defined piece of work with clear deliverables and an end point. A brand refresh, a campaign launch or a stakeholder mapping exercise are typical examples.
The work can be full or part time, and it ends when it is delivered. You are buying an outcome rather than filling a seat.
Light touch senior counsel, perhaps a few days a month or on call. An adviser acts as a sounding board for your leadership team, for example on reputational risk, public affairs strategy or preparing for a crisis.
The difference from fractional is that an adviser guides rather than delivers. Your team, or another independent, does the work.
| Shape | Time | How long | What they do | Typical need |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional | Part time, often 1 to 3 days a week | Ongoing, months to years | Holds part of a role and leads | Senior expertise without a full time hire |
| Interim | Full time or close to it | Set period, often 3 to 12 months | Holds a whole role | A gap, an absence or a change programme |
| Project | Full or part time | Until the work is delivered | Delivers a defined outcome | A specific piece of work |
| Advisory | A few days a month or on call | Ongoing or as needed | Guides and challenges | Senior counsel and a sounding board |
These shapes overlap at the edges. Some interims work part time, and some fractional roles take up most of the week. Let the business need decide the shape, not the title.
Any of the four shapes can be set up in one of two ways.
As an independent. The person works for themselves, through their own limited company, as a sole trader or through an umbrella company. You buy their services rather than employ them. Depending on the route, IR35 or the wider employment status rules apply. Our guide to IR35 and our guide to sole traders and employment status explain how these work.
As a fixed term employee. The person joins your payroll on a contract with an end date. They are your employee, with employee rights such as holiday pay and sick pay. Fixed term is the only one of these terms with a legal definition: a contract of employment that ends on a set date or event.
| Independent | Fixed term employee | |
|---|---|---|
| Who they work for | Themselves | You |
| Who handles their tax | They do, or their umbrella | You, through your payroll |
| Employee rights | No | Yes |
| Ending the arrangement | As set out in the contract | A dismissal in law, so you need a fair reason and process once protection applies |
The Employment Rights Act 2025 makes this choice matter more. From January 2027, employees gain unfair dismissal protection after six months, and the cap on compensation is removed. Our Employment Rights Act 2025 guide has the detail.
This is where most of the confusion lies. Interim describes the role. Fixed term describes the contract.
An interim can be engaged as an independent or as a fixed term employee. Equally, a fixed term employee might be covering a role that is not interim at all. When the two get muddled, businesses get caught out: they assume they have no holiday pay or redundancy duties to someone who is in fact their employee, or they call someone an independent when, day to day, that person works just like staff.
Start with the problem you are trying to solve, not the title. A few common situations:
Needs also change over time. A project can turn into a fractional role, and an interim can help shape the permanent role they are covering. When the shape of the work changes, check that the way you engage the person still fits, including their IR35 or employment status.
If you are not sure, that is normal. Often the brief we start with is not the brief we end with, and working that out is part of what we do.
We help clients decide what shape of help they need, and how best to engage the person, before we start looking. Our network of more than 5,000 independent professionals covers fractional, interim, project and advisory work across marketing, communications, public affairs and corporate affairs, up to C-suite level.
You can run the process yourself on our platform, with our team on hand, or ask us to run a full search. And if the right answer is a permanent hire, our sister company Hanson Search can run that search while we provide interim cover.
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice.