Employment Rights Bill

Lord Freyberg Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 16th June 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Freyberg]

259: After Clause 86, insert the following new Clause—
“Unionisation and collective bargaining in the arts and cultural sector(1) The Secretary of State must by regulations establish—(a) alternative collective bargaining models for trade unions in the arts and cultural sector,(b) provisions for financial viability assessments to ensure mandatory unionisation does not place unsustainable financial burdens on smaller institutions, and(c) a dispute resolution mechanism tailored to cultural institutions.(2) The Secretary of State may by regulations define which organisations form part of the arts and cultural sector.(3) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section is subject to the negative resolution procedure.”Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment establishes a tailored unionisation framework for arts and cultural organisations that includes alternative bargaining models for freelancers, financial viability assessments, and sector-specific dispute resolution to balance worker protections with organisational sustainability.

[Lord Freyberg (CB)]

My Lords, this group of amendments addresses the arts and cultural sector. I declare my interest as an artist member of DACS. I thank the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, and the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, for their support for the various amendments I have tabled in this group. I also thank the Minister and her officials for meeting with the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and me earlier this month to discuss these amendments.

The arts and cultural sector is of national importance. Creative industries generated some £126 billion in gross value added, representing almost 6% of the economy, and supported roughly 2.4 million jobs, as of 2022. However, its workforce is highly atypical. A recent study found that a fully 32% of creative and cultural jobs are freelance, more than double the 14% of the wider UK workforce. Creative organisations tend to be small, low-margin and reliant on irregular income, such as ticket sales, grants and philanthropy. In short, a one-size-fits-all employment regime risks harming both workers and institutions. Our amendments in this group aim to strengthen protections for arts workers—especially freelancers—without inadvertently pushing theatres, galleries and arts charities over the edge. I remind the House of the earlier Amendment 16, moved by the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, regarding theatres and casual workers, as another worry.

The creative workforce is famously project-based and freelance-heavy. For example, BECTU reports that many film, TV and theatre freelancers were initially excluded from Covid support schemes. We propose sector-specific measures: flexible collective bargaining, phased implementation of new rules and targeted support, balanced by accountability measures such as impact reviews. These proposals reflect best practice abroad. For instance, new EU guidelines explicitly enable self-employed workers to engage in collective bargaining, and many countries even use cultural levies to fund arts employment. Our aim is therefore practical: to adapt the Bill’s intentions to the realities of the arts. It is a vital opportunity for the sector’s needs to be heard.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I am always happy to meet with noble Lords on these important matters.

[Lord Freyberg (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his very helpful answer and all noble Lords who have taken part in today’s very interesting and in-depth discussion that I think we have all valued and benefited from.

I will make a couple of observations. The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, made a very powerful point about the lack of government representation from freelancers when he said there was not then and there is not now any clear channel between freelancers and government. I do agree with the points made by many noble Lords about this. The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, talked about having a freelance commissioner for advocacy and driving change. We need more work on this, because it is not clear that freelancers are getting the type of direction that the Government need to give on this.

I was struck by the very powerful speech by the noble Baroness, Lady Caine, on the concerns about health and safety in the film industry. Again, a freelance commissioner would be able to look at this in more detail and drive that through. There does not seem to be the same powerful advocate without that, so I hope the Minister will consider how to strengthen that. The noble Lord, Lord Londesborough, made a powerful speech about the number of freelancers who are going to come into this area; therefore, not to have them represented in this Bill is an oversight.

When I was anticipating what the Minister would say, I had various things down: asking for a carve-out, asking for special treatment for one sector, phased implementation is a slippery slope, oversight already exists through Arts Council England and DCMS, there is not enough evidence to justify these changes and we already have a Minister for Culture. However, as others have rightly said, this is not about a carve-out or an exemption, it is about adaption. The creative workforce is structurally different, highly freelance, project-based and often dependent on public and charitable funding. Our amendments aim to ensure that employment rights can be applied fairly and effectively in this context.