Fair Work and Freelancers

‘Fair Work First’ is the Scottish Government's flagship policy for driving high-quality and fair work across Scotland by applying fair work criteria to grants, other funding and contracts. Through this approach, the Scottish Government is asking employers across all sectors to adopt fair working practices: appropriate channels for providing an effective voice, such as trade union recognition; investment in workforce development; no inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts; action to tackle the gender pay gap; to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace; and payment of the Real Living Wage. 

Creative Edinburgh is committed to a strategic priority of Fair Work and follows principles of providing respect, opportunity, fulfilment, security, and an effective voice. This means promoting fair pay, conditions, and employment opportunities across the creative sector. We believe that any progressive policies should extend to the freelance workforce and include talent development and resource access. Fair Work is pivotal for fostering innovation and collaboration in our creative community.  We are convinced that the Fair Work principles are not only beneficial to all workers (including freelancers, self-employed people, sole traders and start-ups) but are also good for businesses and the economy.

In surveys conducted by Culture Radar in 2021, employers showed a reasonable level of awareness of Fair Work. However, only 36% of freelancers surveyed were familiar with the Fair Work principles. This is a concern for Creative Edinburgh because we support the biggest community of freelance creatives in Scotland and are acutely aware of the importance of their contribution to the culture sector and the Scottish economy. We are keen to increase this awareness by empowering freelancers with the knowledge of Fair Work principles. 

In 2024 Creative Edinburgh was invited to join the Culture Fair Work Taskforce which has been convened by the Scottish Government to further implement Fair Work First across the culture sector. The Taskforce provides advice and guidance to Scottish Ministers on key strategic Fair Work issues affecting culture in Scotland. One of the hopes for this initiative is to ultimately see a shared understanding of Fair Work between employers and workers in the creative and cultural sectors.

To help the Culture Fair Work Taskforce fulfil its aspiration to include the voices of freelance workers from the culture sector we recommended two of our members to participate in a recent Taskforce session dedicated to the Fair Work principle of ‘Respect’.   

Nikki Kilburn and Stephanie Wilson share a longstanding passion for equitable workplaces and better access to policy development for freelancers, and they agreed to facilitate a practice session on ‘Respect in the Workplace’. Taskforce members were divided into groups to explore a few scenarios centred on maintaining mutual respect at work. One group focused on mental health support, while the other explored equity and accessibility. The aspiration behind this session was for groups to collaboratively identify and document practical strategies and solutions for maintaining mutual respect and enabling equitable accessibility, which can be applied to real workplace scenarios and shared across teams. The conversations which ensued were honest and open, however, they revealed that more needs to be done to protect the rights of freelancers in the culture and creative industries. 

We want to hear even more from our members on the principles regarding Fair Work. Here are a few prompts that might be good to consider:

How can we create the right settings and support structures for freelancers so that they feel confident and able to communicate their needs? What kind of well-being support for freelancers can we put in place in cultural organisations? What are the current barriers that freelancers experience in the context of the principle of effective voice? How can we ensure that freelance colleagues are aware of protocols, processes and procedures, especially regarding rates of pay, contracts and Intellectual property? And can Creative Edinburgh advocate for creative freelancers more effectively?

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Stephanie Wilson is a freelance artist, designer and consultant as a freelancer with accessible design and advocacy principles as well as working as the Director for Visible Inclusive Accessibility (CIC). A CIC she started to advocate for and address and embed accessible principles as a right not a privilege. They have currently been working delivering consultancy, training and design services.

Nikki Kilburn is the director of Zya Community, which oversees various impactful projects. These include research into the repatriation of artefacts, the Chilli Tree Network, which supports creatives of Colour and the Lemon Pickle Collective, dedicated to empowering female South Asian artists. Zya Community is also in the process of developing a training and consultancy programme.