Going back to salaried work - advice please

You should most certainly ask your superiors in mentioned companies for proper recommendation letters. I see no problem with that. I don't see how being a freelancer could be a negative. Freelancers are usually better organized and can handle stress and multitasking much better then ''regular'' employees. So I can say your career as a freelancer could only be a plus.

I'd try to fix the perception with someone important at the agencies that you are, in fact, (or were) freelance -- not a permie.

Once that's done, yes, I would shout from the rooftops about having two agencies on your side while you were an independent.
Any 'risk' that an employer sees of taking on a freelance (as an employee) will surely be much lower if that freelance can prove/evidence that they were a busy freelance with more than one happy client!

Also, your 'change of circumstances' having some sense of permanency about them -- you've just moved house and are now too far away from your clients, for example, might help to calm a new/prospective employer's nerves. They'll want to see something concrete from you that you're committed to working full-time for them in one of their 9-to-5 slots. Good luck!

Thank you both for the positive responses, i like the take that both of you have taken. I can certainly argue a permanent change as i have been living abroad and now coming back to the UK.

I feel much happier to proceed now. Thanks again.

Yeah, be proud of it - if your confidence comes across that will reflect well. If you're making an apology for having been freelance it will imply that you've been messing around or something.

The fact that you've had so much repeat business from those two agencies is a good thing. They've been sufficiently pleased with your work that they've continued to use you despite being under no obligation to do so. And the fact that their clients have seen you as an employee demonstrates that you've got the skills to slot straight into a team and that the agencies have trusted you to deal with those clients on their behalf.

The big concerns for an employer considering taking on someone who's been freelancing for the last however-many years will be whether they'll cope with the more rigid structure of employment, that they'll be happy having a boss again, and that in three months time they won't decide that actually they'd prefer to be back freelancing again. Some of the situation with your two agency clients will ease those concerns but just make sure you reassure your prospective employers that those concerns aren't an issue.