Expect enforceable charges for late payment. Pay promptly - pay within two weeks of completion of the work.We recommend reading and implementing Society of Authors’ Guidance on rates and fees Pay fairly - 30% of freelancers felt that it is not possible to make a full-time living working in the sector.LAS strongly urges arts organisations who engage freelance workers – which given the nature of the sector is likely to be almost all of them – to act now by committing to embed the following four cornerstones of fair treatment for freelancers. Our organisational models rely on having freelancers available if we do not act now to make real changes for freelancers' working conditions and pay in the long-term, the damage to the sector will be devastating.” Cornerstones and commitments This is a systemic problem in the culture sector that needs urgent government attention. Jenny Niven continued:“When workers across Scotland are striking due to the cost-of-living crisis, freelancers working in the arts don't have that option. The report also shows that 93% of freelancers agree that the sector relies on freelancers, however the majority of freelancers (58%) do not feel valued by the sector. How can we expect to attract a diverse workforce to a career in publishing and writing when it is so undervalued? Plus, with a high proportion of disabled people working within the sector, the implications and multi-layered disadvantage is stark and unsustainable.” Our damning report confirms that literary freelancers and temporary workers in Scotland can barely earn the Living Wage. Jenny Niven, Chair of LAS, said: “Scotland trades on its reputation as a literary country however, for years we have undervalued and undermined the freelance workers in this sector at every level. This magnifies the challenges of managing workloads and career trajectories for this essential cultural workforce. The findings highlight that most juggle portfolio careers comprising multiple roles, projects, clients and job-seeking opportunities. Disappointingly, disabled, emerging freelancers working part-time are more likely to earn under £5k per annum. Many shared that they earn considerably less than this figure, with 66% making under £20k and more than a quarter (27%) earning less than £5k through freelance work in the sector. The findings reveal the average annual full-time income of a literary freelancer in Scotland in 2022 was £21,140 - just under the Living Wage*. And around one in five (19%) of the freelancers are considering leaving the sector altogether, which would cause a catastrophic skill and labour gap.Īdditionally, many freelancers reported experiencing low pay and difficulty negotiating fair day rates for the variety of skilled work they provide. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, recent budget cuts and the cost-of-living crisis are all critical factors affecting freelance workers across the arts.īased on a survey of 149 freelancers conducted last summer, the report reveals that only 11% of the freelancers were always paid fairly and 25% were never paid fairly. It shows that freelancers are withstanding an unsustainable financial and emotional level of precariousness. The report highlights a complex and challenging picture that is reflected across Scotland’s creative industries. The research, commissioned by LAS and conducted by Ruthless Research, provides a disturbing snapshot of the working patterns and conditions of Scotland’s current freelance and temporary workers in the literature, languages and publishing sector. Scotland’s largest literary network is urging arts organisations that engage freelance writers, editors, event organisers and arts administrators, proof readers, educators, publishers and programmers to value them better by offering fair and fast pay and fair working practices - or risk losing them from the sector completely. Literature Alliance Scotland (LAS) is launching a research report on the worrying state of the literary freelance workforce in Scotland that is sending them to a financial precipice. New report calls for literary freelancers to be valued with fair and fast pay
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