The Projected Economic Impact of Covid-19 on the UK Creative Industries Report, projects that the creative sector will be hit twice as hard as the wider economy in 2020, with a projected GVA shortfall of £29 billion. Many creative sub sectors are expected to lose more than half their revenue and over half of their workforce. Despite the Job Retention Scheme, the report projects that 122,000 permanent creative workers will be made redundant by the end of the year. The impact on employment is set to be felt twice as hard by creative freelancers with 287,000 freelance roles expected to be terminated by the end of 2020. Creative Industries Federation
As parts of the arts and cultural sector start to move towards reopening some hard choices are being made. No-one has escaped the impact of the pandemic crisis and we know significant changes are still to come. We recognise the roller coaster everyone is on; closing the doors and not knowing when they’d reopen, emergency funding packages available to some but not all, getting to grips with technology, furloughing, mixed policy messages, hypervigilance, reopening guidance and so on.
This week we are going to share our thoughts about some of the realities around work insecurity, redundancies and re-organising on a mass scale. We will consider it from individual, team and organisational perspectives, including being freelance as well as PAYE. We don’t want to add to the doom and gloom but are very conscious of the seismic shifts coming and as a sector we have never in our memories had to face the employment vulnerabilities we are looking at now.
As always, we will approach these issues with compassion and integrity; we will also take a pragmatic view and feel we should not shy away from what is happening. Hard working, conscientious, committed and talented people may be about to lose their passions and their curent livelihoods. Collectively, we are going to go through another period of loss and we would like to see support and debates that are sector wide, rather than splintered into subsectors. We have to come together to support everyone impacted, particularly to address the inequalities Covid-19 has highlighted in our sector.
If you have a personal story you are willing to share, or you need support in a particular area do get in touch.
Dawn & Susan
For those currently facing restructuring as an employer or employee this article from Lewis Silkin, sets out some useful advice in terms of rights on both sides.