Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, What steps her Department is taking to help support individuals employed in the film and television sector in the UK from being impacted by the Writers Guild of America strike.

Strike action by the Screen Actors Guild and The Writers Guild of America is a US industrial matter. However, the film industry is a global ecosystem and the Government understands that current strike action in the US is impacting our own productions and crew here in the UK. The UK benefits from a significant volume of US investment, with investors attracted not only by our competitive tax reliefs and state of the art studio infrastructure, but by our world-class, skilled crew.

We are engaging with industry to understand the impact of continued US strike action and continuing our support for the screen industries through competitive tax reliefs, investing in studio infrastructure, supporting innovation, and promoting independent content.

Additionally, HMRC has a ‘Time to Pay’ policy which may provide some support to affected crew. This policy allows businesses and individuals experiencing temporary financial difficulty to schedule their tax debts into affordable, sustainable, and tailored instalment arrangements with no maximum repayment period. These arrangements can be applied to any tax debt and are flexible, so they can be amended if circumstances change. More information about Time to Pay can be found by calling HMRC’s dedicated helpline on 0800 024 1222.