16 recommendations to improve working conditions in the creative
industries.
Culture Secretary has welcomed
recommendations from an independent Taskforce set up to advise on
current employment conditions in Scotland's culture and creative
industries.
Following extensive engagement with the sectors, the Culture Fair
Work Taskforce has published a total of 16 recommendations for
how Fair Work conditions in the sector could be improved, in
response to concerns raised around precarious freelance work,
unpaid internships and fair pay and conditions.
The recommendations include:
- the creation of a disputes and adjudication mechanism to
handle disputes between employers and staff
- safeguarding of creatives' work against theft from AI
misappropriation, and
- an increased role for Creative Scotland in ensuring Fair
Work.
The Culture Secretary said:
“I am very grateful to members of the independent Taskforce for
their work on this report, which identifies a number of areas for
improvement when it comes to how Fair Work is embedded in
Scotland's creative industries.
“I will take time to carefully consider the detail of the
recommendations for Scottish Government and will update
Parliament in due course on the actions we will take in response.
Given that some would intersect with reserved legislation, I will
also be writing urgently to ask my UK Government counterparts to
consider what actions they can take.”
Briana Pegado, Chair of the independent Taskforce said:
“It has been a pleasure chairing the Independent Culture Fair
Work Taskforce with colleagues from across the creative
industries and culture sector. Union representation, arts
organisations, industry membership bodies, enterprise agencies,
local authorities, creative networks, historic bodies, museums
and freelancers have all been represented. Creative Scotland has
also been represented on this task force. I am so grateful to the
Taskforce members that have contributed their time, energy and
expertise to this work.
“There has been a real commitment to crafting a set of
recommendations that speak to areas as broad as fair pay and
remuneration to the impact of AI on the cultural sector
workforce. Considerations of equity and inclusion as well as how
fair work may be enforced are all part of our recommendations. I
am confident that many of our recommendations signal radical,
innovative solutions to fair work that will help Scotland reach
its ambitions to be a Fair Work Nation by 2030. Models across the
continent have been considered and approaches across different
industries have been reviewed. I am confident that our
recommendations and draft charter prove to be a roadmap for the
future of Fair Work that demonstrates a real appetite for
systemic change can exist alongside practical solutions grounded
in deeply embedded partnership working.
“I hope the Cabinet Secretary and other Ministers take our
recommendations into consideration and I thank them for trusting
us with this piece of work. I look forward to their response.”
Background
Independent Culture Fair
Work Task Force – Recommendations and Key Issues for a Fair Work
Charter - gov.scot
The independent Culture and Fair Work Taskforce was established
In 2024. Further details on its membership are available here:
Culture Fair Work Taskforce -
gov.scot
