Employment Rights Bill

Baroness Caine of Kentish Town Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 16th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Colville of Culross (CB)]

My Lords, I apologise for being unable to here at the beginning of this debate despite having added my name to Amendment 287. I was stuck on the motorway for the last three hours. I absolutely support the amendment; it is an incredibly good measure. I hope that the Minister will listen kindly to my noble friend’s amendment and speech.

[Baroness Caine of Kentish Town (Lab)]

My Lords, I support Amendment 287 tabled by the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, which provides an opportunity to address a long-standing gap in protection for freelance workers. To illuminate that, I will focus on one area of specific concern: health and safety.

At least 70% of the production workforce in film and TV operates on non-permanent contracts. Technically classified as “self-employed”, they do not meet the standard definition of autonomous self-employment. Current laws surrounding health and safety at work are often open to interpretation by those on productions who hire them, and, in some productions, a culture of minimum compliance becomes compounded by an industry that tends to self-regulate. Freelancers often do not raise safety concerns or request reasonable adjustments to the work they are doing, as they fear gaining a reputation for being difficult in highly networked industries where word of mouth is a powerful currency.

To illuminate that further, let me turn to a tragedy raised in this place last February by my noble friend Lady Smith of Basildon—the now Leader of the House—while in opposition, during a very well received debate led by my noble friend Lord Bragg on the contribution of the arts to the UK economy and society. She referenced the work of the Mark Milsome Foundation, a campaign established following the tragic workplace death of this highly respected and experienced camera operator on a film set in 2017. At the inquest on Mark’s death, the coroner concluded that, on that set,

“the risk of Mr Milsome being harmed or fatally injured was not effectively recognised, assessed, communicated or managed”.

Despite these findings, no one has ever been held accountable, suggesting a gap or flaw in the law that needs to be filled or rectified, affording freelance employees the same safety rights, benefits and policies as others in employment.