Without an employer, arrange pension and health coverage yourself where you work; check local residency rules

Cost: Flexible workers pay the full pension and health-insurance contribution themselves, calculated from the local contribution base. The source describes costs of over a thousand yuan monthly. The contribution base is the reference amount used to calculate payments. This recurring expense is easy to overlook; payments must be made regularly.

In plain language: Working without an employer does not remove social-insurance responsibilities; it means no employer pays its share. Policy asks localities to relax household-registration restrictions on participation where flexible workers are employed, while allowing some very large cities to do so gradually. Freedom of work does not mean insurance can be ignored: gaps affect pension and medical reimbursement under the applicable rules.

Policy described by the source: The 2021 guidance on labour protections for new forms of employment asks localities to relax residency restrictions for flexible workers joining basic pension and medical insurance where they work. Particularly large cities unable to do so immediately may proceed gradually according to local conditions. Flexible workers not covered by employee schemes should be organized to join urban/rural resident schemes as required. Enterprises should participate in social insurance legally and guide or support workers whose arrangements do not fully establish an employment relationship to choose appropriate coverage.

The same guidance distinguishes three situations: established employment relationships require employment contracts; arrangements short of an employment relationship but involving enterprise labour management should be addressed through written agreements; independently operated platform businesses and freelance work are governed by civil law. The source describes these as nationwide policy from 2021.

Source author's evidence grade: A; not site verification or professional approval.

Notes: The policy calls for restrictions to be relaxed and leaves scope for very large cities; it does not say every residency restriction has already been abolished nationwide. Ask the city where you intend to participate. The source calls the benefit large because lost pension and medical entitlements can have substantial value, while emphasizing the real cost of fully self-funded contributions. See chapter 7, entry 18 for contribution gaps; chapter 19, entry 19 for transferring pension and medical-insurance relations; and chapter 5, entry 46 for self-funded employee pension contribution levels and break-even calculations. Document 27 of 2020 also describes circumstances where selling agricultural products or daily necessities at government-designated places and times, or providing legally unlicensed convenience services using one's skills, does not require a business licence.

Original source bibliography (titles retained as supplied): 人力资源社会保障部等八部门 (2021). 关于维护新就业形态劳动者劳动保障权益的指导意见（人社部发〔2021〕56 号，第二、八条）. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-07/23/content_5626761.htm；国务院办公厅 (2020). 关于支持多渠道灵活就业的意见（国办发〔2020〕27 号）. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2020-07/31/content_5531613.htm