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Recent posts
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- Theatre skills shortages at a ‘tipping point’
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- Two freelance tax developments to note
- Inflation update and the fall in real wages
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- UK independent productions, the inflation punch-in-the-mouth, and the very European remedies.
- Inflation update – August 2022 figures
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Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Inflation update and the fall in real wages | Bectu Freelance Research on Earnings growth – private sector workers outpace the public sector
- Paul Evans on Applying for a Lorimer Letter (LP10)
- George on Applying for a Lorimer Letter (LP10)
- Paul Evans on Travelling to work in the EU (updated)
- Davide on Travelling to work in the EU (updated)
Monthly Archives: June 2021
Will Biden’s stimulus package cause inflation?
The LSE blog summarises the arguments with a panel of US experts expressing their views on the likelihood of the economy ‘overheating’ and causing inflation as a result.
On streaming and the left-behind creators
“If streaming is a song economy, why is the songwriter the last and least to be paid?”@IvorsAcademy CEO @GrahamIDaviesUK explores the value of the strong in the streaming era, and what needs to change to #FixStreaming 👉 https://t.co/ytZNx7cPqp#BrokenRecord #KeepMusicAlive — … Continue reading
Understanding National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for the self-employed
Employees generally pay higher NICs than the self-employed unless they are very low paid. This is because Class 2 NICs are currently charged at a flat rate of £3.05 per week (2021-2 figures) If you are self-employed, you pay two … Continue reading
BFI launches UK skills review
From the BFI website: “The BFI is undertaking a major strategic skills review on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The review will be conducted in close collaboration with the industry-led skills body ScreenSkills, national … Continue reading
Self-employed difficulties with tenancies.
In some cases, the self-employed are finding it almost impossible to find tenancies because of fears over irregular incomes, reports The Times [£].
Posted in Freelance working, Gig economy workers, Housing costs
Tagged Housing costs, Housing market, Housing rents
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How to understand economics
…”heterodox economics” is what I call “stuff I remember learning in the 1980s”…. It is the rediscovery of old truths which were forgotten after the late 80s. Chris Dillow on ‘the great forgetting’ of economic truths.
Mandatory vaccination
Useful summary of both sides to the argument here,
TUC report on Long Covid
The TUC has published a report on workers’ experiences of Long Covid – here. “Almost three in 10 respondents (29%) had been experiencing long Covid symptoms for 12 months or more. This length of time is significant because in order … Continue reading
How Brexit could effect drama exports
More on the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) EU broadcast quotas. “Last year, EU countries agreed that 30% of offerings on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime should be European-made. The concern among some EU capitals is that currently the … Continue reading
Posted in EU & Brexit, High End TV data, Quotas, SVoD
Tagged Audiovisual Media Services, TV Without Frontiers (TVWF)
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Tit-for-tat and how to encourage co-operation
Something on direct reciprocity (I may post on ‘indirect reciprocity’ another time). When workers decide to stick together, against a powerful adversary, the ability to trust each other is very important. If two workers agree to stick to a rate … Continue reading
Posted in Game theory, Organising Skills
Tagged Direct reciprocity, Prisoner's dilemma, Trust games
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Autism awareness
A personal observation. If I could predict one of the biggest changes that we will see over the next ten years, it will be that the way we understand autism will improve and it will change the way we relate … Continue reading
“The beast of inflation”
Haldane has warned of the “beast of inflation” stalking the land once more, with booming demand, labour shortages and supply-chain disruption risking a “wage-price spiral familiar from the 1970s and 1980s”. For Haldane, that warrants action to reduce the scale … Continue reading
Rates and terms on ‘Workshop Hours’
Bectu’s SFX Branch ratecard [pdf] is worth a close look for anyone who is interested in the issue of ‘Workshop Hours’. A bit of backstory first. In Bectu’s view, our agreements should have at least two different time-matrixes:
Posted in Long hours, Major Motion Picture Agreement, TV Drama Agreement
Tagged Workshop Hours
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Pandemic impact on women’s employment
We expected women to be hardest hit jobs wise by this crisis – but we were wrong… new deep dive into the gender impact of covid out today https://t.co/NDcTQX1Kqs pic.twitter.com/hEsWzNXefz — Torsten Bell (@TorstenBell) June 14, 2021
Posted in Equality, Gender representation, Gig economy workers, Low pay
Tagged Resolution Foundation
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HSE “review” of its Enforcement Management Model
The HSE has conducted a “review” of its Enforcement Management Model in relation to Covid-19, following pressure from HSE Board members, the TUC, and unions. Particularly, there was concern over the categorisation of Covid as ‘significant’ rather than ‘serious’; and … Continue reading
Tim Davie on the future of the BBC
Tim Davie on the future of the BBC https://t.co/1isPfIVKyO | opinion — Financial Times (@FT) June 15, 2021
Long-Covid – teachers union calls for it to be treated as a disability under the Equality Act 2010
More than one million people in the UK are now living with Long Covid, with teachers and education support staff the second most likely profession to be affected, only just behind healthcare workers. The debilitating condition includes symptoms of the … Continue reading
Employers forcing workers back to the workplace – unions raise safety concerns
New TUC polling reveals that nearly 1 in 10 (9%) staff have been put under pressure by bosses to return to the workplace – a number that rises to over 1 in 6 (17 %) for disabled workers. This is … Continue reading
Has the Covid epidemic altered workers’ retirement plans?
The FT is reporting that, as a result of Covid-19, nearly 1/3rd of workers over 50 (who aren’t already retired) either delayed their expected retirement date (by an average of three years) or given up altogether trying to second guess … Continue reading
Posted in Coronavirus, Economics, Pensions, Wealth inequality
Tagged Retirement, Triple lock
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ESM4130 – Particular Occupations: Entertainment Industry: TV and Radio Presenters (IR35)
HMRC have published new tax guidance for TV and Radio presenters – ESM4130. This concept will be familiar to many Bectu members who are covered (or not, as the case may be) by ESM4118 covering ‘behind the camera’ crew.
Posted in BBC, ESM4118, IR35
Tagged ESM4130, Kaye Adams, Radio Presenters, TV Presenters
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Housing market update
Today’s news about inflation topping the 2% target (driven by consumer spending and rising fuel costs) opens up the question of a possible rise in interest rates. and House prices are still soaring (thanks to the Stamp Duty holiday among … Continue reading
Posted in Housing costs
Tagged Evictions, First time buyers, Housing market, Housing rents, Mortgage rates, Rentier capitalism
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Streaming channels investing largely in European production
Alex Barker at the FT[££] is reporting on the tide of investment in local content that SVOD is generating. in 2020, more than 60% of Netflix’s exclusive TV/films were made outside the English-speaking world and recent research has more than … Continue reading
Reminder: Current status of HMG is that there are no plans to change EU-consistent workers rights
“In a sign of the political problems associated with scrapping existing rules — many of them EU regulations written into the UK statute book ….. business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng finally told ITV News: “The review is no longer happening within … Continue reading
Posted in Employment Law and Rights, EU & Brexit
Tagged Holiday pay, Working time regulations
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TUC calls for furlough to be extended to match lockdown extensions
Frances O’Grady: “Government must delay asking businesses to make contributions to the furlough scheme in July and extend the scheme as long as needed.”
Unions co-ordinating globally to challenge Amazon
Amazon workers from Italy to India are uniting to form a global movement that may have found Jeff Bezos’s Achilles heel.
Upward pressures on low-pay casual wages
This, from the US. It will be interesting to see how the same thing plays out in the UK, with the added spice of Brexit and migration. In the US, one in four workers thinking of leaving their jobs, according … Continue reading
Film & TV Production Restart Scheme (Covid)
There is a Film & TV Production Restart Scheme that is designed to cover some of the Covid-related risks to productions including crew-related costs and other costs resulting from actions of the civil authorities (i.e. lockdowns etc). This Scheme has … Continue reading
“For most people, becoming self-employed is a bad idea.”
So said Danny Blanchflower (the economist, not the footballer) back in 2011. “…there is also little evidence that countries with higher self-employment rates are more successful on any outcome measure. The problem with self-employment is that failure rates are high … Continue reading
Posted in Employment, Freelance working, Gig economy workers, Ownership & Control
Tagged Danny Blanchflower
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Is IR35 having a significant impact on self-employment?
More from The Resolution Foundation – two posts in one day! Rick has noticed a pronounced change. Lots to chew on in @resfoundation Labour Market Outlook. Overall employment rate down but an increase in full-time employees. Male self-employment seems to … Continue reading
Is “Supply supply supply” not the housing policy fix people think it is?
With property prices being one of the biggest drivers of inequality, this thread (lots of tweets, lots of arguments) challenges idea that we just need to build more homes. Why SupplySupplySupply won’t solve the #housing affordability problem #1 ‘we are … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Equality, Wealth inequality
Tagged Housing costs, Property prices
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Low-paid most likely to be unemployed when furlough ends.
Low-paid workers face the highest risk of losing their jobs when the UK government’s furlough scheme ends in September, according to analysis by the Resolution Foundation.
Posted in CJRS & SEISS, Coronavirus, Employment, Wealth inequality
Tagged Furlough, Unemployment
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