DYCP: The story in numbers

Last year, we asked you to tell us about your experience of applying to Developing your Creative Practice (DYCP). We received thousands of responses and we want to thank everyone who took the time to share their views on what the programme does well and how it could improve.

Your answers formed part of an independent evaluation of the programme carried out by public policy experts SQW.

Today we’re publishing their findings to show how DYCP has helped freelance practitioners, contributed to our strategy Let’s Create, and the government’s Levelling Up agenda.  

Take a look at some of the key numbers that tell the story of DYCP so far.

4,000

DYCP has supported over 4,000 creative and cultural practitioners since 2018. Across the first 12 rounds we have already invested nearly £36.5 million, the fund has helped freelancers find new networks, work with new people and gain new skills. We have designed the programme to ensure that it supports individuals from all backgrounds and with a wide range of creative and cultural practices. We’re proud that in 2020/21, the success rate for applicants from diverse backgrounds remained strong – with 25% of the budget going to those from Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, 53% for female identifying and 18% for disabled identifying applicants.

£14.4 million

The pandemic has had a significant impact on the livelihoods and wellbeing of freelancers. During this time, we’ve seen applications to DYCP more than double, from around 800 per round to an average of 1,900 in round 13. To deal with the increase in demand, we added more cash to boost success rates to 23% in round 12. We know many freelancers still need this support, so we’re increasing the pot available to £14.4 million for 2022/23 – an increase of £10 million per year on pre-pandemic levels.

Coming up in 2023

We know there is always room from improvement and this evaluation has shown us there are ways we can strengthen the programme to improve our support for you in future. We want to continue to improve DYCP but also make sure that any changes we make don’t affect what already works well or the clear value DYCP shows to freelancers’ careers and to delivering Let’s Create.  

Over the next few months, we’ll be working on these changes so we can be ready to share them with you at the beginning of 2023.