Independent Culture Fair Work Task Force Report and Recommendations

Culture Fair Work Task Force Chair Foreword

Our story as a nation has always been about resilience and innovation in the face of all odds. From the days of Rome’s attempted invasion and the construction of Hadrian’s Wall, to the Scottish Enlightenment, a period that saw not only the dawn of the industrial revolution but introduced the key principles that have guided this age of political and social order.

We are at a precipice and a key moment of change in our human story, with the increasing pace of the climate crisis and fundamental disruptions in our societal and world order. We return to the old ways and ever-present frameworks of wisdom that exist around collectivism, and key questions about who maintains power in our society: do they continue to hold the authority to wield this power, and how might power be redistributed in order for us to live in a more equitable society?

The cultural sector is at the heart of these changes, representing as it does both the ancient and the modern, inviting us to model new ways of being and re-examine old models that have shaped our human existence. ‘Art for art’s’ sake is fundamental to our human existence and sets us apart from the machines that continue to integrate into our society through the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

The question of what it means to be human and how humanity has built our society has been a direct result of our drawing, our writing, and our oratory skills. We have assembled resources, built empires, and continued to construct the basic tools for our daily survival thanks to the creative minds of artists and makers.

As we transition into a new era, which is underpinned by innovations in technology and data, the creative industries maintain their position, and furthermore it is essential for the construction of our emerging world.

Scotland has always been at the forefront of this story and will maintain its position through its investment in the creative industries. That intention has been solidified by an uplift in funding for the cultural sector announced at the start of 2025. For this funding to be well allocated, a robust culture of fair work within the sector is needed.

This charter and set of recommendations outlines approaches to embedding fair work in a sector that is as diverse as it is broad. From self-employed workers to national performing companies, and from private high-growth businesses to community-led spaces, Scotland’s cultural sector touches every person in the nation and every model for work. It is within this context of the emerging trends in the world of work that fair work acts as the final piece to the puzzle of a sustainable sector.

The creative industries continues to grow. Along with the other impacts cited in Annex D, this industry’s economic impact involves a £10.2 billion turnover with £5.4 billion Approximate Gross Value Added (aGVA). This is a sector that continues to perform above its weight.

The Need for Investment in Fair Work

In order to reduce in-work poverty (and accordant levels of child poverty), to encourage opportunities for a healthier workforce which lead to a healthier nation, and support a workforce that has a high crossover of workers in other industries (like healthcare, social care, hospitality and education) we need to remember that a cultural worker is not just a member of the creative workforce; they are likely also a member of at least one other industry workforce, if not two.

There is a need for fair working practices that enable the sector to activate its expertise, develop best practice, support the rights of workers (especially self-employed workers that currently do not have adequate employee protections), and stabilise the creative workforce; one which currently thrives despite the existing structure and not because of it.

We can ensure fair minimum salary standards, progression, and routes into the creative and cultural sector through education. Cuts to arts courses in Scotland have had a massive impact on existing barriers to entry in the arts. Though investment in film and TV curricula are positive, we need to bolster existing commitments to this sector with further investment in all forms of arts and culture.

The public sector’s impact on cultural provision should not go unnoticed. With local authorities providing cultural provision through libraries, partnerships, and community-led spaces, this has been a single point of access for the population for decades. Reduction in funding for local authorities and other public bodies has had a massive impact on citizens’ fair access to the arts as a career, as an education pathway, as healthcare support, and as a space for enjoyment, leisure, and play.

For this set of recommendations to have an impact, other sectors interlinked with the cultural sector must follow suit, such as the Third Sector, hospitality and events industries. The cultural sector and creative industries can learn from the ways in which the education and healthcare sectors have embedded fair work practices.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the unions that have been fighting for fair work and fair working conditions since their inception. Their work has been the work of embedding fair working conditions and practices across the sector by representing, and fighting for, the worker. This task force came together with workers, employers, funders, public sector bodies, and the self-employed in mind. STUC and associated unions’ recent work on the experience of freelancers through their “Freelance and Forgotten: A report on worker exploitation in Scotland’s creative industries” and the associated ‘Fair Work Freelancer Checklist’ has had a substantial impact on our process of evidencing the experience of freelancers, as well as providing recommendations for support.

This is an area of continued learning and growth. The process of implementing fair work never ends, as policies, approaches, and conditions change. This is why a large part of this work and these recommendations are dependent on a Culture Fair Work Delivery Group and a Disputes Resolution Board which provides scope for the sector to maintain and support fair work standards for the sector and industry. Only through these implementation and adjudication measures will this work be effective.

We see a disruption of our institutions and our very relationship to work on the horizon. Whether this will be driven by artificial intelligence or human trends in relation to our definition of living a successful life (slow living, anti-work movements, and generational trends), the creative and cultural sector, if well-supported, will be a vehicle to help us explore these emerging futures - not by being dictated to and tasked with the exploration of these possibilities, but by being supported to guide us there naturally.

The key to our success is a framework of fair work that enables us to thrive and shift into more sustainable ways of working for all involved. This workforce will only be sustainable if education and pathways out of education encourage the next generation of this workforce to develop, whether through apprenticeships, paid internships, work placements, or work opportunities.

The enterprise and innovation space already has a clear role in the sector’s development, especially as new or different pathways for funding the sector need to be identified, cultivated, and encouraged. But the return on investment is clear, demonstrable, and plentiful. We would have no Scotland without culture, and we would have no humanity without creativity.

Briana Pegado, FRSA
Chair
Independent Culture Fair Work Task Force
November 2025