Employment Rights Bill

Lord Freyberg Excerpts

2nd reading
Thursday 27th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freyberg (CB)]

My Lords, I would like to add my thanks and congratulate the four maiden speakers on their excellent speeches.

This Bill marks a significant milestone in the campaign to strengthen employment rights in the UK. For many workers, the measures it contains—day-one rights, enhanced sick pay, protections from unfair dismissal—represent long-overdue reforms. However, we must also ask how these reforms serve the backbone of our cultural economy: our freelancers.

In the creative industries, over a third of the workforce is freelance. I declare my interest as a freelancer in the visual arts. In sectors such as theatre, film, publishing and design, it is more than 50%. Freelancers contribute billions to our economy and underpin the UK’s global cultural reputation, yet this legislation, while welcome, still leaves too many of them in the margins.

The Bill includes small measures—such as blacklisting protections, enhanced health and safety requirements and the right to a written contract—but otherwise offers little in the way of concrete protections for freelancers. There is no guarantee of fair pay, no enforcement on late payments and no formal route to challenge exploitative contracts or to clarify issues around single-worker status. While further consultation is welcome, it must safeguard the creative autonomy and IP rights that freelancers depend on. A blanket reclassification could cause real harm.

I support calls from across the sector—by organisations such as DACS, ALCS, BECTU, Creative UK and the Cultural Policy Unit—for the creation of a freelance commissioner. A dedicated advocate is needed to ensure freelancers are included in future reforms. Too often, they are out of scope, out of protections and out of pocket.

However, we must also maintain the balance between protecting individuals and supporting the viability of the organisations that employ and commission them. That balance is increasingly fragile. Consider the Royal Society of Arts, where a polarised dispute over pay between unionised staff and leadership has spiralled into reputational damage and a breakdown in trust; or the Tate, a DCMS-sponsored body, which cut nearly 7% of its workforce to manage deficits. The Royal Academy of Arts has warned of cuts of 18% of its staff. Many cultural organisations are operating on the brink, with commercial income still in recovery and reserves depleted.

Faced with new obligations, some employers may delay hiring, turn to long-term contractors or shift work offshore. For agencies and studios, hiring freelancers may appear less risky, potentially increasing short-term opportunities, but without protection this shift may only deepen insecurity across the sector.

This underscores the need for phased, consultative implementation and enhanced public funding mechanisms. Rights must be matched by resources. Without support, organisations may reduce opportunities—or close altogether. We must act strategically. That means sector-sensitive collective bargaining, better enforcement mechanisms and targeted support for smaller and mid-sized arts bodies.

This Bill opens a long-overdue chapter in employment rights. However, for the UK’s world-leading creative industries—and the freelance workforce on which they depend—it must not be the final word. Let us ensure that these reforms support all workers, however they work, and provide the resources needed to sustain the culture that we value.

Employment Rights Bill

Lord Freyberg Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 5th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the support of my noble friend Lord Freyberg, and the noble Lords, Lord Hendy and Lord Cashman, who unfortunately cannot be here today, and for the discussions I have had with them and other colleagues in the House, including the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Hudnall, who I see her in her place, and with relevant industry representatives. I am also grateful for the meeting that my noble friend Lord Freyberg and I had with the Minister and her team on not just this but other areas of the creative industries in relation to the Bill.

This debate has been prompted by the ongoing dispute between Equity and the casting directory resource Spotlight around the levels of charging that Spotlight makes for the inclusion of performers in its now online directory. I declare an interest as my daughter is at drama school and signed up with Spotlight. Equity believes that Spotlight charges too much for this service and is bound by both the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. Equity believes that, at the very least, Spotlight should not be charging more than it costs to maintain the directory. This dispute has resulted in a class action brought last year by Equity against Spotlight, and a High Court hearing is scheduled for next month.

I will not say anything about how the court case should or will pan out, and I am sure that the Minister will be equally as careful in her response in that respect. What I can say is that things very much came to a head in 2023, when Spotlight tried to launch its so-called “premiere service” at a time when we had only just emerged from Covid. This was widely criticised within the industry as invoking a two-tier membership which would only benefit the more privileged. To its credit, Spotlight paused this service, but there is no doubt that some damage had been done in terms of trust.

Equity says that the charges that Spotlight makes are their members’ number one concern and that, further, Spotlight is exploiting its monopoly position. However, there is a strong argument for a single, recognisable go-to platform for professional actors and other performers. This is a really important point, otherwise it could cost actors a lot more if it becomes necessary to sign up to more than one platform. This is a role that Spotlight has fulfilled for almost 100 years and continues to fulfil. I should say that, as far as I can ascertain, there is no substantial criticism of the service that Spotlight or indeed other platforms provide; this is a dispute about costs.

One potential outcome of the court case is that performers will not have to pay anything at all for inclusion in such directories. However, this raises very problematic concerns about how those moneys are made up for if that should be the case, as well as there being potentially wider implications beyond the entertainment industry.

I ask two things of the Minister. The first is very simple and modest: that the Government keep a watching brief on this. We may well return to this after the court case, and I will leave it to my noble friend Lord Freyberg to provide particular arguments about why we should have the review that the amendment itself asks for.

Secondly, and the reason for raising this issue at the present time, is that as I have tried to show, this dispute has not come out of the blue. I therefore ask the Government whether they believe that a legally enabled mechanism might have been useful in this instance and potential future instances in order to resolve such disputes and avoid court proceedings, which is always a nuclear option. In that respect, I listened with great interest to the previous debate on the group led by the noble Lord, Lord Hendy, and wonder whether the Minister has a response to that. I beg to move.

[Lord Freyberg (CB)]

My Lords, I will speak in support of Amendment 204C. I thank my noble friend Lord Clancarty for tabling the amendment and I am grateful for the constructive discussion that he, the noble Lord, Lord Hendy, the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Hudnall, and I had with colleagues, industry representatives and the Minister and her team. Like my noble friend, I do not intend to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings between Equity and Spotlight; that is rightly a matter for the courts. However, I believe that the situation that has prompted this amendment highlights an underlying tension that is worthy of review: whether the existing employment law and regulatory framework remain fit for purpose in today’s digital casting environment.

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.