Independent Culture Fair Work Task Force – Recommendations and Key Issues for a Fair Work Charter

Recommendations for Actions

#1 - Establish a Culture Fair Work Charter

82. The members of the Fair Work Delivery Group noted below should publish and endorse a Culture Fair Work Charter, drawing on the principles set out in this report (both Annex E) and review the text annually to ensure continued relevance. This review would draw on emerging research, lessons learned and after engaging in consultation.

83. It is envisaged that this Fair Work Charter should be voluntary, allowing employers to demonstrate their general commitment to Fair Work. Adopting the Fair Work Charter could be used to provide useful evidence to indicate an employer’s commitment to Fair Work First criteria in relation to public sector grants and other funding – from whatever sources.

84. However, demonstrating their actions under the Fair Work Charter would not replace or exempt any recipient of public sector funding from Fair Work conditionality requirements around the payment of at least the real Living Wage or providing appropriate channels of Effective Voice.

85. The Task Force view is that Fair Work is always in progress and should evolve as needed, as should this Fair Work Charter, informed and refined as a greater corpus of Best Practice and evidence grows to support it.

86. The intention is for employer organisations of all shapes and sizes to be recognised for their positive steps in embedding Fair Work practices and for them to be supported in demonstrating their achievement in meeting the standards set in the Fair Work Charter.

Annual Reports:

87. Following the publication of the Fair Work Charter the Delivery Group will engage regularly with stakeholders with the purpose of encouraging the adoption of the Charter, monitoring usage, encouraging the spread of Best Practice and producing Annual Reports, on lessons learned during the preceding period and any comments for future action.

88. Recognising that policy levers are both reserved and devolved, an Annual Report will be provided to Scottish Ministers – and other relevant roles (see #12 below) and another, dealing with relevant reserved issues, will be provided to the UK Government.

#2 - Form a Fair Work Delivery Group to support the implementation of the specific recommendations comprising the Culture Fair Work Charter and associated tasks related to other Recommendations.

89. This, suitably resourced, group should support the delivery and monitoring of those recommendations accepted by Scottish Ministers (plus any additional tasks assigned), with an initial focus on establishing the Culture Fair Work Charter as a resource to be used across the culture and creative industries sectors – as per Recommendation #1 above.

90. Membership of this group would include representation from across Scotland’s creative industries, with public bodies, enterprises and trade unions represented with the Scottish Government providing secretariat support. In addition the Delivery Group could support a quarterly, cross-sub-sector, Fair Work Assembly bringing together stakeholders (including trade unions and workforce forum reps), funders and freelancers to review identified, systemic issues, and lived experience of policy delivery.

91. It would also have a clear communication relationship with the UK Post of “Freelance Champion”^[1] proposed in the UK Government Creative Industries Sector Plan and the ongoing UK Good Work Programme, enabling exchanges on Best Practice, relevant research and supporting action-centred learning.

92. The group would also liaise closely with the proposed Freelance Commission (and, in due course the Freelance Commissioner) as per Recommendation 12 and the Disputes Resolution Board as per Recommendation #3.

Fair Work Sector-wide Fair Work Support Strategy:

93. In addition, the group would have responsibility for the design of a ‘Coordinated sector-wide Fair Work’ support strategy for the implementation of fair work.

94. This strategy will include the development of guidance, training and tools for aligned delivery and the maximisation of resource as suggested by Culture Radar in their Review of Fair Work report in May 2022^[2] and expanded on in Recommendation #15 and #16 - Skills Development Strategy.

95. In addition to this, and working with the wider awareness campaign expanded on in Recommendation #4, the Delivery Group will develop a Culture Fair Work ‘Stakeholder Communications Strategy’ which will allow for learning and best practices (identified under the relevant recommendations) to be shared across the creative industries and cultural sector.

96. This will include the hosting of regular ‘open and access’ dialogue across the sector on Fair work progress and best practice, as recommended by the Culture Radar ‘report.^[3]

Use of Cultural Progression Maps:

97. The Delivery Group will also develop a ‘Cultural Work Progression Map’ that identifies support for artists and creative practitioners after the 'emerging' stage.

98. Often 'emerging' artists and creative practitioners experience a conflation of their age with the work stage, which does not correlate contributing to unintended consequences. For example, an emerging artist can be any age - though assumptions are often made that they are under 35 - which limits opportunities for support and progression of all emerging artists and creative practitioners in the industry.

99. A Cultural Work Progression Map with targets for gender and care equality for work progress in the cultural sector and creative industries would address this ‘leaky pipeline’, support progression within the creative and cultural sector while minimising brain drain.

#3 - Disputes Resolution Board

100. Scottish Ministers should establish a Disputes Resolution Board, separate from the Fair Work Delivery Group, which is available to act as a neutral space where both employers and workforce voice mechanisms can agree to meet and seek to broker agreement.

101. In this the Task Force recognises that, whilst any such Board would not possess formal status or powers, the principle of ‘arbitration’ and the value added by the process has long been recognised within the legal setting.^[4]

102. A necessary precursor is that the Scottish Government update its Fair Work First Guidance, and funders to update their funding criteria, to further strengthen the recognition that trade unions and staff forums are the legitimate voice of workers. Staff forums must be legitimate and an effective voice and not used as tokenistic or ceremonial forums.

103. Enabling an effective voice creates a safe and open environment where workers' views are sought, listened to, and can influence workplace decisions and improvements. This involves both individual and collective (e.g. trade unions, staff forums etc.) channels, ensuring workers can problem-solve, input into business decisions, and contribute to a fair and prosperous workplace.^[5]

104. Should such mechanisms not deliver a mutually agreeable resolution, there should then be a mechanism to refer an issue to the proposed Disputes Resolution Board.

105. The Disputes Resolution Board would be voluntary, without legal status, and would provide regular information on issues raised with it to the Fair Work Delivery Group for consideration in their Annual Reports, together with informing the Freelance Commission and the Freelance Commissioner. The Disputes Resolution Board would also provide information, suitably anonymised to the UK Government, on the key themes surrounding disputes it had been involved in which were within reserved areas, further fostering an action-centred learning approach.

106. The role of a Freelance Commissioner is explored in Recommendation #12 below and could also help in the arbitration role.

107. This recognises that no body is responsible for monitoring and, crucially, enforcing fair working practices within the sectors. The Task Force seeks to encourage awareness for workers and understanding from employers around fair working practice to create warning signs where there are lapses in fair working practices through this Fair Work Charter and a flow of information regarding where issues arise, in order to help spread lessons learned and Best Practice.

#4 - Support an awareness raising campaign to promote the benefits of Fair Work practices in Scotland’s Creative Industries and, by creating a Fair work Resource Hub, encourage cultural and creative organisations to share good practice and adaptable learning resources to support endeavours to embed fairer working practices – see #15 following - Fair Work Skills Development Platform.

108. The Scottish Government should support the planning, development and delivery of a Creative Workforce Communications and Engagement Plan including an awareness raising campaign to promote the benefits of Fair Work in Scotland’s Creative Industries.

109. The campaign must be creative and innovative and should be promoted across multiple communications channels (social media, newsletters and video content as appropriate) to ensure that it is able to effectively engage the broad spectrum of organisations and individuals working across the creative industries in all parts of Scotland including rural and island communities.

110. A co-ordinated effort should be made to identify and promote existing hubs of Fair Work-aligned resources developed by creative and cultural organisations, trade unions and public bodies of all sizes and at different stages of their Fair Work journey.

111. As an early start to the development of an online Fair Work Resource Hub (which would operate on a 'Creative Commons' license basis), the Scottish Government Creative Industries webpage could be updated to point to existing hubs, such as that of Creative Scotland (including HR advice^[6]), Museums Galleries Scotland and trade unions, pending the delivery of the Fair Work Resource Hub.

112. This recognises that the development of a Fair Work Resource Hub and associated information will take time, the effective use of existing information is key as work progresses. All resources should be appropriate to the needs of Scotland’s Creative Industries, with existing examples such as The Illustrated Guide to Fair Work for Employers^[7] or the STUC Fair Work for Freelancers Checklist^[8], already endorsed by more than 30 of Creative Scotland’s Regularly Funded Organisations.

#5 - Create positive support for change by providing a dedicated Fair Work Fund available to employers within Scotland’s creative industries to support the adoption of Fair Work practices.

113. The Scottish Government should make a dedicated fund available for creative and cultural employers outwith the public sector to support the adoption of Fair Work practices. A draft proposal for the functions of the Fund are set out in greater detail in Annex B.

114. Recognising the level of Fair Work duties already placed on public sector partners, this funding stream is intended to build capacity in the private and third sectors and drive positive support for change by finding innovative solutions to the unique challenges faced by Scotland’s creative workforce including the significant contingent of freelance workers.

115. A proposed budget envelope of between £250k - £500k per annum over five years should be built into future Scottish Government spending plans, although recognising that there would be scope to ‘front load’ the fund in earlier years, when implementation pressures are likely to be greater than once established.

116. Whilst the multi-year funding approach in culture, via Creative Scotland, in general is to be welcomed, the Task Force also recognises the comments from Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) regarding ‘Fairer Funding’. Whilst the comments relate specifically to Third Sector, the issues have resonance and relevance across the wider culture and creative industries sector, viz:

“To enable third sector organisations to become Fair Work employers, the Scottish Government must uphold and implement its commitment to Fairer Funding: funding which is long term, flexible, sustainable, and accessible”.^[9]

117. There would be several possible routes available to allocate funds, but at the heart of the assessment process should be the aim of supporting employers to develop their fair work policy adoption and fair work implementation. This recognises the challenges facing employers and organisations – and the supporting evidence is expanded on in Annex D.^[10]

118. Examples of aims for projects which could be funded through a proposed Fair Work in Creative Industries Fund could include the following, recognising their broad alignment to the five Fair Work Principles (in (ii) below. Suggested projects could seek:

i. To support access to specific Fair Work advice, guidance and capacity building tailored to the needs of the creative industries.

ii. To support the development and delivery of continual education and training, for example through information sessions, roadshows, demonstrations should be aligned with the dimensions of Fair Work (Effective Voice, Opportunity, Security, Fulfilment and Respect).

iii. To support the implementation of inclusive and accessible recruitment and retention practices to strengthen and diversify Scotland’s creative workforce, with specific recognition of identified and endemic gender pay gaps and an under representation of disadvantaged groups across the sector (cf. (v) below).

iv. To support pilot projects to introduce new ways of working such as flexible working or other family friendly working practices to improve workforce wellbeing and strengthen business resilience.

v. To support initiatives to increase progression opportunities in the creative industries such as mentoring programmes or specialised learning modules. These initiatives should have a particular focus on supporting disadvantaged groups who may face intersectional barriers including women, racialised minorities, disabled people, LGBTQI+ people as well as younger and older workers.

#6 - Develop metrics and approaches to monitoring and evaluation to support the Culture Fair Work Charter signatories and ongoing work on Fair Work across the culture and creative industries sector.

119. The Scottish Government should work with the Fair Work Delivery Group to establish metrics to sit alongside the Fair Work Charter and suggested approaches for organisations to evidence their Fair Work Charter status.

120. This, together with ongoing work to improve the available data and evidence, would help organisations to make data driven decisions regarding policy development and interventions, and could lead to more targeted and effective support for Scotland’s creative workforce.

121. As a shared basis, the Fair Work Delivery Group work will, in the first place, adopt the “Fair Work Measurement Framework” from the Culture Radar 2020 report, noting this itself is drawn from the Fair Work Convention Measurement Framework 2020.^[11]

122. In addition, noting the current absence of evidence indicating ‘quality’ work within much of the sector, it will also cross-refer to existing measurement frameworks for ‘Job Quality’, such as the Creative PEC ‘Six Domains of Job Quality’.^[12]

#7 - A reconsideration of self-employed artists, creatives and cultural workers’ legal status to ensure fair working conditions and pay as cultural sector workers.

123. Recognising that legal status (under both devolved and reserved legislation) is the most secure mechanism to ensure security of pay and working conditions – and thereby increase the attractiveness of the sector to new and future entrants – Scottish Ministers and the UK Government should examine how best to ensure this, cross referring to the definition of an artist discussion at paragraph 47 et seq.

#8 - The Scottish Government amend Fair Work First to include and apply to self-employed artists, creatives, and cultural sector workers

124. Recognising that the Scottish Government has commissioned an independent evaluation of Fair Work First to determine whether it has achieved its intended aim. The evaluation runs from July 2025 to July 2026.

125. The evaluation, along with the UK Government’s imminent Employment Rights Bill^[13] and the wider UK Government Make Work Pay agenda will help inform the future direction of the Scottish Government’s broad Fair Work policy, including Fair Work First.

126. This work clearly recognises the overlap with other aligned sectors such as the commitment that “the Retail Industry Leadership Group (ILG) will drive and support delivery of Fair Work across the sector^[14]” and the ongoing work around Tourism and Hospitality following the Fair Work Convention report into the Hospitality sector.^[15]

127. The Task Force welcomes the opportunity to examine lessons learned to date and recommends that the self-employed artists, creatives and cultural sector should be specifically and explicitly included in future iterations of the Fair Work First programme.

128. In addition, the Fair Work Delivery Group should be extended the specific opportunity to comment upon the findings from the independent evaluation of the Fair Work First programme – together with the support to conduct appropriate engagement with the culture and creative industries sector to inform and enable this work going forward within the industries.

129. Within this post July 2026 engagement, and recognising that skills (and parity in the recognition of skills) are an essential part of ensuring Fair Work delivery, the Task Force would wish the Fair Work Delivery Group to return to the specific issue of ensuring improvement to, and enhancement of, skills provision across culture and creative industries sector once the Commission and the Delivery Groups have had a chance to examine the Fair Work evaluation.

#9 - Minimum standards are agreed that those on freelance contracts should be entitled to expect in line with the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Artist ‘… that the ‘same social and legal protection for employed and self-employed artists as that usually granted respectively to other employed and self-employed groups’

130. Recognising that roll-out through legislation and procurement conditionality will take time, the Task Force considers that the Scottish Government, and all public funding grant recipients should be early adopters of an agreed set of minimum standards, as soon as possible.

#10 – Further work on the implications for Scotland of the adoption of a Universal Basic Income for artists based on UNESCO recommendations.

131. Rather than a basic income for artists, this Task Force recommends specific work on exploring an initial pilot of Universal Basic Income for artists based on the review of previous international UBI pilots including the Irish Government’s Low Pay Commission^[16] and UNESCO research^[17] and the decision to roll out a Basic Income for the Artist in Ireland from September 2026.^[18]

132. In addition, as well as the existing resources for fair payment – such as Rate Cards, the Task Force has noted the final report by the independent Minimum Income Guarantee Expert Group.^[19] Published in June 2025, at the core of their report is the message in the foreword:

“A Minimum Income Guarantee is a simple yet transformational idea: there should be a minimum income level beneath which no one is allowed to fall.”

133. In using that message in respect of Fair Work within culture there should be an examination of further guidance, and therefore conditionality in grants - in respect of both “Minimum Income Standards” and “Real Living Hours” – such as the Living Wage Scotland^[20] guidance.

134. The Task Force recognises the direct linkage in this recommendation and the benefits of security for employer and employee (including freelance) as set out in the original Fair Work Convention report.^[21]

#11 - A Demonstrable Increase in Monitoring and Enforcement

135. Fair Work conditionality within public sector funding is an absolute requirement for ensuring both adherence and setting an example. As referred to earlier, with no one body or co-ordination mechanism for reporting and enforcement across all the sectors there must be demonstrable improvements in transparency, reporting and options for enforcement – through some mechanism - of fair work across all elements – public, private and Third Sector.

136. Recognising that the independent Review of Creative Scotland is still underway at time of drafting, the Task Force nevertheless consider that a suitably resourced Creative Scotland at present remains best placed to support and empower the sector to implement Fair Work, in line with this being one of its four identified Strategic Priorities. This includes using the sector development, funding and advocacy levers available to it across the dimensions of Fair Work, including broader ambitions for diversity in recruitment and workforce development.

137. This recognises any formal enforcement of Fair Work conditionality by Creative Scotland (as with other public bodies) through a programme of monitoring and reporting can only be applicable within their funded programmes and organisations (including Multi-Year Funded (MYF) organisations.

138. There are of course other sub-sectors which are funded through public funding – either directly by grant from the Scottish Government^[22] or indirectly by public funding through other mechanisms, public bodies and other mechanisms^[23]. Appropriate steps must also be seen to be taken by all these funding bodies to ensure that Fair Work is implemented to the standards expected across all funders.

139. This span of possible action for Creative Scotland (which has a specific remit) along with the other possible funding routes from the other bodies supporting culture and creative industries, recognises and strengthens the strong advisory and arbitration roles recommended for the Delivery Group and Dispute Resolution Board (Recommendations #2 and #3 respectively).

140. Enforcement functions, wherever housed and however constituted in the future, will not remove the original onus that individual organisations, employers and contractors in receipt of public funding already have (under conditionality requirements) to support artists and workers, and to monitor and enforce fair working practices throughout all associated activities.

141. With encouragement across all types or organisation – public, private and Third Sector and irrespective of funding/revenue sources – the value delivered by Fair Work should be made abundantly clear through the partnership work facilitated by the Fair Work Delivery Group.

#12 - Recommendation for a Freelance Commission and Freelance Commissioner for Scotland

142. The Task Force recognises that within the culture and creative industries sector within Scotland and from reports across the UK, there are a number of issues affecting freelancers.

143. The commitment from the UK Government towards establishing a Freelance Champion during 2025 is to be welcomed. With early reports indicating that the role aims to address systemic issues such as late payments, the provision of contracts, health and safety support, and ongoing concerns around copyright and artificial intelligence (AI), the Task Force recognises the legislative levers for addressing these are reserved.

144. At the time of drafting, the Task Force has been unable to access a definitive draft of the proposed Terms of Reference for the role, instead drawing on other published sources, viz:

“The Freelance Champion will be a role appointed by DCMS which will give freelancers a voice within government. We envisage that the role will help represent the interests of creative freelancers in areas such as the development of the Plan to Make Work Pay, the Small Business Commissioner, the Fair Work Agency, and the Department for Business and Trade’s Small Business Growth Forum.”^[24]

145. However, the Task Force note that the Freelance Champion is, at heart, a non-statutory role, drawn from within the Creative Industry Council, and will report to UK DCMS Ministers.

146. Given the essential role culture and creative industries has in Scotland – and the rapid evolution of technology in the sector – offering both opportunity and threat – the Task Force recommends the creation of a formal (i) Freelance Commissioner for Scotland and (ii) a separate Freelance Commission.

Freelance Commissioner:

147. Whilst noting proposals (including from Creative UK for a Freelance Commissioner^[25], hosted within the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) the Task Force consider that it is the Scottish Parliament that would ultimately be the best host for the intended statutory position of a Freelance Commissioner, dealing as it would with the interests of the Scottish industries.

148. This recognises the initial legislative process required to create such a statutory post and the subsequent accountability, resourcing and governance arrangements. This also recognises the potential benefits in due course for Fair Work issues in similar sectors such as retail and tourism/hospitality, which share similar proportions of freelance workers. However, this is outwith the specific scope of the Task Force.

149. The new Freelance Commissioner would enable independent oversight arrangements to ensure and promote good practice and consistent standards in respect of freelance work within the culture and creative industries sectors in Scotland.

150. The Freelance Commissioner would act as an independent representative for creative and cultural freelancers in Scotland to help ensure the health and well-being of freelancers, advocate for freelancers rights (across reserved and devolved areas), protect freelancers access to fair contractual minimum standards, monitor fair working practices, and advocate on behalf of freelancers for changing legislation with regard to freelancers working rights.

151. The Freelance Commissioner could also have final adjudication powers in disputes within the vires of the Scottish Parliament and act pending reference from the voluntary Disputes Board at #3 above, rather than respond to individual cases where breach is alleged. The Task Force notes the clear difference between the intent for the proposed Freelance Commissioner and the functions of other bodies, such as the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman^[26], and their existing role including acting as the final [our emphasis] stage for complaints about most devolved public services in Scotland including councils, the health service, prisons, water and sewerage providers, Scottish Government, universities and colleges.

Freelance Commission:

152. The Fair Work Delivery Group (as per paragraph 89 above) is intended to deal with operational delivery of the recommendations within this report.

153. The Freelance Commission would be a separate advisory group, reporting to Scottish Ministers, and act as a mechanism for examining the strategic issues impacting, in the first instance, on culture and creative industries and also impact from the overarching approach towards aligned Fair Work issues in similar sectors such as retail and tourism/hospitality.

154. The Freelance Commission would provide feedback, and highlight cross-cutting issues, helping to shape policies and process that support Fair Work in culture and creative industries as well as providing leadership in facilitating collaboration with other leadership and advisory groups seeking to ensure Fair Work, where this would create benefit.

# 13 - Ethics and Equity

155. Technology is advancing at an ever-increasing pace, and it is clear that digital technologies must be designed to enrich and enhance human creativity, not replace it. Future development and deployment of those digital technologies require explicit alignment with human rights, digital equity across society and communities and an embedded ethical standard.

156. Recognising that these issues that affect us in Scotland (such as copyright, Intellectual Property, data protection, rights and privacy responsibility for all and new approach informed consent) related to reserved issues the Task Force call upon the Scottish Government to work constructively with the UK Government on the commitment to address these issues with the UK Government Creative Industries Sector Plan.^[27]

157. Notwithstanding “the provisions [under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025] (Commencement No. 1) requiring the [UK] government to prepare a progress update and a report on copyright works and artificial intelligence systems”^[28] (under sections 135,136 and 137 of the Act) the Task Force recommends the Scottish Government commission a report on the impact of the future of AI on the creative workforce on behalf of the Culture Fair Work Delivery Group. This should be at a pace to enable findings delivered simultaneously with the current July 2026 Fair Work programme evaluation) to explore the impact of data ethics, copyright and IP ownership, consent, regulation and legislation.

158. This improved data on the culture and creative industries workforce would feed into the work of both the Freelance Commission and the Culture Fair Work Delivery Group.

159. This research would also explicitly explore the impact of scraping data from individual members of the creative workforce. In particular the scale and scope on the workforce’s personal data, copyright and intellectual property to understand the impact of this practical on income earning abilities and career progression within the sector.

160. A further sub-recommendation is, as part of this initial research, the consequence of the scraping of data be explored with a view towards which regular research interventions to track the impact of AI in data in Scotland. This would include a particular view to the impact of how data is being used and the impact of AI developments on data storage and usage this service would be a government funded partnership across the third, private, and public sectors to enable research to be conducted to understand the full impact of the rapidly evolving technology.

#14 – Volunteers, interns and apprentices

Volunteers:

161. The Task Force recognises the invaluable role that volunteers provide. Whilst each volunteer is an individual, with different circumstances and motivations, the Task Force recommends that any organisation dealing with volunteers (or decisions on the use of volunteers) has adopted the Volunteer Scotland Volunteer Charter^[29].

Interns & Apprentices:

162. The Task Force recognises that language surrounding internships and apprenticeships is sometimes used interchangeably. Unpaid internships in particular are often seen as a critical route for gaining experience but as the Sutton Trust notes:

“getting to the top of the creative industries is a dream for many young people. But access to such careers, both behind the scenes and in front of an audience, is currently far from equal. For young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds in particular, there are major barriers.” ^[30]

The Task Force also recognises the current consultation by the UK Government on the topic^[31] but would reinforce that these roles - irrespective of title - should be paid. For example, as per the best practice set out in publications such as Apprenticeships_Best_Practice_Guide.PDF.

#15 – Fair Work Skills Development

163. The issue of skills is cited in the 2022 Culture Radar report^[32], and remains as relevant today as it was in 2017:

“Dating back to 2017 sector challenges to skills development (which are still relevant) were seen to include:

• The need for a wider range of business, management, planning, entrepreneurial skills and digital skills;
• Smaller organisations not prioritising or being able to resource skills development;
• A lack of awareness of available skills development opportunities.
• Inability to attract and recruit required skills;
• Limited career progression for employees, and reduced opportunity to host apprenticeships and interns due to the prevalent small scale of creative businesses and organisations.

Analysis of Higher and Further Education graduate numbers suggest that while there may be a large potential labour pool there is a need for industry, stakeholders, educators and government to work together to coordinate support and resources to attract them into the sector and retain them.”

Skills Strategy:

164. It is recommended that the Delivery Group develop an underpinning Skills Strategy to cover key investments in fair work skills development. As well as establishing a Fair Work Resources Hub (#4) and a Skills Development Platform (Recommendation #16), making best use of existing resources. The Delivery Group will consider commissioning new resources and guidance specifically addressing how to interpret and implement Fair Work when working with freelancers, creative projects and budgets, internships and volunteers, and how to work better with trade unions and other routes of effective workforce voice.

Commissioning Regular Research and new resources as required:

165. The Delivery Groups role will also include working with partners to consider commissioning of new resources and guidance specifically addressing how to

interpret and implement Fair Work – especially in light of the crucial role played by Board and Senior Leaders across all the sub-sectors.

Sector Skills, Training and Career Pathway Action Plan:

166. Building on the current work by bodies such as Skills Development Scotland^[33], the Delivery Group will also include the production of a ‘Sector skills, training and career pathway action plan’ to support sector development and leadership development for Fair Work in the culture and creative industries sector.

Fair Work Champions:

167. The Delivery Group will also examine the scope to further develop the role of ‘Fair Work Champions’, enabling individuals to advocate for fair work within their organisations or parts of the cultural sector and maximise exposure to the expanding range of support materials and skills development.

#16 – Fair Work Skills Development Platform

168. Supporting the skills strategy at Recommendation #15, the Task Force recommends a Fair Work Skills Development Platform (operating under a 'Creative Commons' license basis) that consolidates Continuous Professional Development and skills development offers from modules to workshops and courses for culture and creative industries professionals, aligned with the Fair Work Resources Hub at Recommendation #4.

169. The intention is to create one place for cultural sector professionals to access information about developing their skills in respect of fair work, fair working practices, standards and best practices. This will address the gap within the sector of fair work based knowledge, which seems to persist as a result of uneven expertise around fair work in the creative and cultural sector.