Independent Culture Fair Work Task Force Report and Recommendations
An independent report and set of recommendations for action to further Fair Work within Scotland's cultural and creative industries.
Footnotes
1 Review of Fair Work in the creative and cultural sectors in Scotland | Creative Scotland, Creative Radar for Creative Scotland, May 2022
2 “A Culture Strategy for Scotland: Action Plan”, Scottish Government, December 2023
4 A Culture Strategy for Scotland - gov.scot, Scottish Government, updated March 2022
5 A quantitative baseline of job quality A quantitative baseline of job quality in the Creative Industries, Working Paper 1 from the Creative PEC's Good Work Review Heather Carey, Lesley Giles and Dave O’Brien February 2023
6 “Workers from ethnic minority backgrounds are also significantly more likely to be part-time because they are unable to find full-time work, as are those working in smaller firms, those that are self employed workers and Creative workers in the Devolved Nations.”, ibid, page 31
7 “Self-reported wellbeing is slightly below average in the Creative Industries and Creative workers report greater levels of anxiety than average.”, ibid, page 57,
8 “Wellbeing is lowest, and anxiety highest, amongst disabled workers and people of Black/Black British origin, ibid, page 57
9 “Women are significantly under-represented in the Creative Industries, with female representation particularly poor in IT, Architecture and Screen.”, ibid page 57
10 “There is a significant under representation of racially diverse talent outside of IT, particularly Craft; Music, performing and visual arts; and Museums, galleries and libraries.
11 “Class-based exclusion is more pronounced in the Creative Industries than any other part of the UK economy, with substantial class-based disparities evident in all Creative sub-sectors, except for Crafts.”, ibid page 57
12 National Performance Framework - gov.scot
13 Independent Review of Creative Scotland: remit - gov.scot
14 visual and performing arts, cultural education, crafts, textiles, fashion, photography, music, writing and publishing, advertising, libraries, archives, antiques, architecture, design, film and video, TV and radio, software and electronic publishing, and computer games
15 Policy Statement for the Creative Industries, Scottish Government
17 The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy - CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Sector Plan, page 35
18 Creative Industries Policy Evidence Centre - Improving economic statistics in the creative industries“ Improving economic statistics in the creative industries: Towards multi-regional creative industries satellite accounts,” S. Lyons & K. Connolly, K., April 2024
19 A quantitative baseline of Job Quality in the Creative industries, Ibid, page 14
20 Ibid, page 14
21 Ibid, page 14
22 “DCMS and DBT will improve access to official statistics, evidence and data. We will explore how to make official Creative Industries statistics easier to find in partnership with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), for example through an annual compendium publication. Additional estimates will be considered in collaboration with the ONS and other departments using data sources including UK Innovation Survey; Management and Expectations survey; Quarterly Acquisitions and Disposals of Capital Assets Survey (QCAS); Longitudinal Small Business Survey; HMRC Research and Development tax relief statistics; and data on apprenticeships.”, ibid
24 A Culture Strategy for Scotland: Action Plan - gov.scot
25 Fair Work Policy Levers in Scotland, Report for the Fair Work Convention, Patricia Findlay, Robert Stewart, Colin Lindsay, Johann McQuarrie and Jennifer Remnant, Scottish Centre for Employment Research, University of Strathclyde, February 2024
26 Developing Effective Voices, Scottish Government, 13 June 2025
27 “A Fair Work Charter for Edinburgh”, A Fair Work Charter for Edinburgh - City of Edinburgh Council - Citizen Space, City of Edinburgh Council
28 “The [European] Commission will propose an EU Artists Charter, to outline fundamental principles, guidance, and commitments for fair working conditions in the sectors, and increase compliance and accountability, particularly by recipients of EU funding for culture. It will organise an EU high-level exchange with stakeholders and social partners, and the outcomes will also contribute to the design of the charter.”, A Culture Compass for Europe, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, page 7, 12 November 2025
29 “Through the Plan to Make Work Pay, the [UK] government will strengthen rights and protections to deliver good quality self-employment. This will include measures to tackle late payments, the right to a written contract, extension of health and safety and blacklisting protections, and consultation on a simpler framework for employment status.”, page 25
30 “Industry will continue to tackle bullying, harassment and discrimination, including through strong, cross-industry support for the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), which will support priority sub-sectors film and TV, music and theatre during its initial stage before rolling out more widely”, page 25
33 Independent Review of Creative Scotland: remit - gov.scot
34 Freelancers in the arts and creative sectors - House of Lords Library, 09 June 2023
35 Forging_Freelancers_Futures_Report_FINAL-.pdf, Creative UK, Amy Tarr, June 2025, page 15
36 House of Lords, ibid, para 2.1
37 House of Lords, ibid, para 1
38 freelance-and-forgotten-a-report-on-worker-exploitation-in-scotlands-creative-industries.pdf, STUC
39 Good Work Review Job quality in the Creative Industries , “Job quality in the Creative Industries. The final report from the Creative PEC’s Good Work Review”, Heather Carey, Lesley Giles and Dave O’Brien, February 2023
40 Culture Strategy Action Plan: Strengthening Culture Action 2: Develop and implement a long-term strategic approach to making improvements to the data landscape for culture, working closely with expert partners. A Culture Strategy for Scotland: Action Plan - gov.scot
41 Independent Report from the National Partnership for Culture, Independent Report from the National Partnership for Culture, page 12, March 2022
42 “Each sector definition has been designed to be the best possible measure of that individual sector. There are overlaps between DCMS sectors, whereby an industry (as defined by 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification, or SIC, codes) may be used in two sector definitions. In particular, the cultural sector is defined using SIC codes that are nearly all within the creative industries and the tourism industries and civil society overlap with other DCMS sectors. These overlaps are accounted for in the Economic Estimates series to avoid double counting in DCMS sector totals.” & Fig 1DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates Definitions - GOV.UK, updated 21 October 2025
43 Artificial intelligence: ethics, governance and regulation - POST, UK Parliament, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), Patrick Brione & Devyani Gajjar, 07 October 2024
44 Theatre Green Book |, “Theatre Green Book is an industry-wide initiative to work more sustainably in response to the climate crisis. It is a free resource for everyone in the performing arts, working in any role and at all scales, providing a framework for planning, best practice guidance, a measurement system and shared standards.”
45 Data centres: planning policy, sustainability, and resilience - House of Commons Library, Adam Clark, House of Commons Library, 03 November 2025
46 Deepfake legislation: Denmark takes action | World Economic Forum
47 Governor Newsom signs bills to protect digital likeness of performers | Governor of California
48 Ibid
49 “Best Value: Revised Statutory Guidance 2020”, Scottish Government, March 2020
50 “DCMS will appoint a creative freelance champion, to advocate for the sector’s creative freelancers within government and be a member of the Creative Industries Council. Terms of reference will be developed with industry and a freelance champion appointed in 2025. The government will continue to support the industry’s work to deliver the Good Work Review action plan, which aims to strengthen job quality across the sector, support the self-employed and focus on developing high-quality jobs.” page 35, ibid
51 Ibid, page 62
52 ibid
53 “The founding principles of [arbitration] are— (a) that the object of arbitration is to resolve disputes fairly, impartially and without unnecessary delay or expense, (b) that parties should be free to agree how to resolve disputes subject only to such safeguards as are necessary in the public interest” Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010, s. 1(a) and 1(b).
54 ibid
55 Supporting creative talent to thrive in Scotland, Exploring learning from the ‘HR for Creatives’ project to improve human resources across creative sectors in Scotland’, Creative Scotland, By tialt – there is an alternative, March 2025
56 The Illustrated Fair Work Guide for Employers | Creative Scotland,
57 STUC Fair Work for Freelancers Checklist | Publishing Scotland
58 “Fair Funding and Fair Work: Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and TSI Scotland Network”, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, 22 August 2023
59 ‘Employers in the sector have already been facing financial squeeze and instability over many years, and many wonder how they might be expected to fund and resource Fair Work on top of this.’ “A quantitative baseline of job quality in the Creative Industries’, Working Paper 1 from the Creative PEC's Good Work Review, ibid, page 7
60 Fair-Work-in-Scotland-Report.pdf, Fair Work In Scotland, Fair Work Convention, December 2020, page 15
61 ibid
62 Employment Rights Bill overview
63 Fair Work Action Plan: Intersectional Impacts 2025, September 2025, page 15
64 Scotland’s Hospitality Employers, Workers and Trade Unions United in Support for Fair Work in the Industry - The Fair Work Convention, Fair Work Convention, September 2024
65 Low Pay Commission, Government of Ireland, 27 January 2020
66 “Member states are invited to consider the adoption of special means of financing social security for artists, for example by resorting to new forms of financial participation either by public authorities or by business undertakings which market or which use the services or works of artists.”, ibid
67 Basic Income for the Arts (BIA)
68 “The Minimum Income Guarantee: a roadmap to dignity for all An independent report produced by the Minimum Income Guarantee Expert Group”, Scottish Government, June 2025
69 Living Hours - Living Wage Scotland
70 “Security and stability of employment allows individuals to better plan their day-to-day lives and their future. Security of income can contribute to greater individual and family stability and promote more effective financial planning, including investment in pensions. ... Predictability of work commitments, especially working hours, are also important elements of fair work.” page 38, Fair Work Framework 2016, Fair Work Convention,
71 e.g. the five National Performing Companies (NPCs) (including Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and National Theatre of Scotland), V&A Dundee, Sistema Scotland, Scottish Libraries and Information Council (SLIC)), Museums Galleries Scotland, Scottish Maritime Museum, Scottish Mining Museum, Scottish Fisheries Museum and elements of Culture & Business Scotland
72 e.g. the enterprise agencies (Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise), Visit/EventScotland, local authorities, Arm’s Lengths External Organisations (ALEOs) etc/
73 The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy - CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Sector Plan, June 2025.
74 Delivering For Freelancers Report | Creative UK, 14 August 2025
75 About us | SPSO, Our Role
76 “We are committed to protecting and empowering creativity through a world-leading copyright regime that works for creators.”, page 16, ibid
77 The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2025, SI 2025 No. 904 (c. 40) 21 July 2025
78 Volunteer Charter - Volunteer Scotland
79 A Class Act ,“A Class Act Social mobility and the creative industries”, The Sutton Trust, Erica Holt-White, Professor Dave O’Brien, Dr Orian Brook, Dr Mark Taylor November 2024, page 15
80 Making Work Pay: call for evidence on unpaid internships - GOV.UK, July 2025
81 Culture Radar, ibid
82 skills-investment-plan-for-scotlands-creative-industries-sector.pdf, Skills Investment Plan for Scotland’s Creative Sector, Skills Development Scotland
83 ibid
84 The figures for this sector are derived by aggregating estimates based at a low Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) level. Export Statistics Scotland is not designed to collect data at this level of accuracy, therefore these results should be treated as indicative.
85 Note that these data are in current prices, which means that the values have not been adjusted for inflation.
86 Employment statistics referred to here are not directly comparable with Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) employment data.
87 Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK, UK Department for Work and Pensions, March 2025
88 “This plan is rooted in the social model of disability, which disabled activists developed to provide an alternative way of thinking about, and understanding, disability….When thinking about disability in terms of the social model, the goal is to remove, reduce and mitigate barriers which negatively impact disabled people. With these barriers removed, disabled people can flourish and live the same ordinary - or extraordinary - lives as their non-disabled peers and enjoy their right to equal and active participation in society.”, Supporting documents - Disability equality plan - gov.scot Disability Equality Plan, page 4, Scottish Government, June 2025
89 The Public Service Equality Duty is a legal requirement for public authorities in Scotland. Under the duty, they must consider equality when carrying out their functions. The Scotland-specific duties have been in force since 2012, introduced in the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (as amended).
90 e.g. Access Rider Advice & Template for Disabled Musicians | Musicians' Union | The MU