But have they increased the fees accordingly?
Well, I think you can probably guess the answer to that one.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the freedom that freelancing brings, and I appreciate the risks that come along with it, and I am happy to embrace the rough with the smooth.
But it does not take a genius to work out that pensions are simply less appealing than perhaps other forms of saving.
I would like to see the DWP data alongside the Isa savings rates for the self-employed, for example, which provide ongoing access to your funds, even though there may be little difference in the figures.
Many of you reading this will also be self-employed, running your own businesses advising clients and I am sure you are going to be in a similar position.
There are periods of relative feast and famine in the self-employed world.
Sometimes you are so busy you do not know which way to turn and lose out on sleep having worked all night to meet a deadline. Other times you wonder how you are going to make sure you cover the bills.
Effective savings strategy needed
This is the key to all of this.
Often you do not know when your next client or piece of work is coming from, or when it will arrive.
So, forgive us if the idea of putting some money into a product that we can not access again until we reach at least 55 does not overly appeal.
That said, there is a strong argument in favour of putting that money away in a pension, not least because the government will provide tax relief at your marginal rate, giving an additional 20, 40 or even 45 per cent if you are an additional rate taxpayer.
That should not be ignored.
Yet it is such a hard sell to the self-employed who are working to make ends meet that it is difficult to see how to square the circle.
It would be useful if the government worked alongside advisers to come up with a strategy to address the shortfalls in retirement saving, especially because so many are self-employed that they have a real empathy for the position of these potential clients.
As this report has been published now, it will be interesting to see whether there are any plans in the Budget to address this particular issue.
Alison Steed is a freelance journalist
