New analysis of official government data has revealed the self-employed trades in highest demand across Britain, with the fitness industry struggling most to keep up as specialist styles such as Reformer Pilates surge in popularity.
Research from business insurance provider Protectivity shows that in some of Britain’s most popular trades, customer demand is rising faster than the supply of people able to meet it, creating a widening opportunity for anyone considering starting a business this autumn, traditionally one of the busiest periods of the year for new business enquiries.
The findings come as Britain’s self-employed economy continues to grow. The number of sole traders is up 5% in the past year alone and 17% since 2010, while small businesses now employ 16.9 million people and turn over £2.8 trillion a year. Consumer search behaviour reflects the same trend, with searches for “register for self-employment” up 36% over the past quarter and searches for “work from anywhere” up 59%.
The most in demand trades
To find where demand for self-employed skills is rising fastest, Protectivity analysed official ONS job advert data across more than 400 occupations, then narrowed the list to trades where at least half the workforce is self-employed. This revealed the roles that have seen the most demand growth over the past year.
| Rank | Trade | Year-on-Year Demand Growth |
| 1 | Driving instructors | +58% |
| 2 | Market and street traders | +48% |
| 3 | Childminders | +40% |
| 4 | Bricklayers | +28% |
| 5 | Floorers and wall tilers | +20% |
| 6 | Fitness and well-being instructors | +18% |
| 7 | Hotel and accommodation managers / proprietors | +14% |
| 8 | Plasterers | +11% |
| 9 | Taxi drivers and chauffeurs | +10% |
| 10 | Florists | +9% |
Driving instructors top the list, followed by market and street traders, and childminders, as businesses scale up and consumers return to services that need self-employed specialists. Some of the sharpest rises come with real-world implications already visible to consumers, such as the DVSA’s average waiting time between booking and taking a practical driving test, which currently stands at 10.7 weeks against a 7-week target.
Fitness industry cannot keep pace
Protectivity also compared the government demand data against its own internal sales figures for new business insurance policies, using policy volumes to measure how fast supply is actually growing in each industry. The fitness sector showed the starkest contrast: job adverts for fitness and well-being instructors grew 18% over the past year, while new fitness-related business insurance policies grew just 7% over the same period, meaning demand is now rising 157% faster than supply.
Growth within fitness is not evenly spread. Some specialisms are expanding far faster than the industry average of 7%, with new Reformer Pilates policies rising 948%, alongside strong growth in martial arts (167%), kickboxing (159%), and boxercise (135%). This suggests more specialist styles of fitness training are where self-employed instructors are currently drawn to setting up new businesses. Protectivity’s data indicate the fitness industry cannot currently recruit or launch new self-employed instructors fast enough to meet consumer demand, leaving a widening opportunity for anyone considering going self-employed in the sector.
Trades insulated from AI, but not all equally
Several of the trades identified as most in demand are also among the least exposed to generative AI. A recent academic study built a task-based Generative AI Susceptibility Index (GAISI) for UK occupations, finding elementary construction occupations, covering trades such as bricklaying, plastering, and tiling, among the least exposed occupation groups in the country. By 2024, 94% of UK jobs had some exposure to generative AI, but only 13% had heavy exposure across half or more of their tasks. Not every trade on the list is equally well insulated, however. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs face little direct threat from generative AI but face a longer-term watch point in autonomous vehicles and robotaxis as the technology advances.
Building an independent business
Lana Durjava is one of a growing number of specialists building an independent business around the fitness industry’s increased demand. As founder of Quiet Progress Lab, a strength and conditioning coaching and nutritional advice business, she is also developing an app to make her training approach accessible to more people.
Durjava said: “It’s become much easier to build something independently in this industry as you don’t need your own gym or huge funding to get started anymore, and the internet means you can combine coaching, programming, and education to reach people well beyond your local area. I’ve definitely noticed growing demand for this kind of approach as lots of people want to get stronger and fitter, but they don’t have the capacity to follow a standard programme week after week. They push too hard, don’t recover properly, stop, and try again a few months later. Some just give up and assume they’re the problem, when actually the programme wasn’t right for them in the first place. There’s clearly an appetite for something that works with people’s lives and capacity, rather than against it. My advice to anyone thinking about going independent in this industry is to start with a genuine problem you want to solve, rather than just deciding you want to be your own boss. Being good at your profession and being good at running a business are two completely different things and you really have to learn both to be successful.”
Chris Trotman, Head of Sales and Underwriting at Protectivity, said: “Our research shows that there’s a genuine window of opportunity right now for people with the right skills to go it alone and find work waiting for them, across multiple industries, from bricklaying to floristry. Demand for fitness instructors in particular is growing at more than double the rate of new businesses entering the industry and in areas like Reformer Pilates, growth in new instructors setting up in the last year is outpacing almost anything we’ve seen before. The flip side is that it’s easy to get caught out when a business is scaling so quickly. If you’re taking on new equipment, moving into a new specialism, or suddenly running several classes a week instead of one, it’s worth checking your policy actually reflects that, as plenty of business owners don’t realise their cover hasn’t kept pace with how much their business has changed. Opt for a business insurer that has adaptable policies and specialist add-ons that suit the flexibility needed for scaling sole traders, and whenever your day-to-day changes significantly, flag it with your insurer so that you’re not caught out if something goes wrong.”
For more information on business insurance visit: https://www.protectivity.com/product/business-insurance/