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<p>The Government has set out a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and add another 1 million jobs by 2030. That includes supporting the growth of the television and film industry.</p><p>Since 2010, the Government has introduced a range of tax reliefs across the creative industries, including expanded relief for film and high-end television. Our screen sector tax relief is estimated to be worth more than £13 billion in GVA to the UK economy.</p><p>We have taken a number of additional steps to ensure that British film and television companies are able to invest in production, expand their businesses and offer opportunities for cast and crew across the UK, in spite of production disruption resulting from the pandemic and the recent strike action in the US.</p><p>This includes the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme and the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas. To build on this, and support the industry to not only survive but thrive, further government actions have been taken. This includes our support for the British Film Institute and British Film Commission, which has helped drive a near doubling of UK studio capacity, and the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, which is expanding the global reach of UK independent content. The sector also benefits from the continued success of our screen sector tax reliefs (for film, high-end TV, animation and children’s TV), which in 2021-22 provided £792 million of support for over 1000 projects.</p><p>We recognise the impact of the US strikes and cost of living crisis on the film and TV workforce. HMRC has a ‘Time to Pay’ policy which may provide some support to affected cast and crew. This policy allows 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.</p><p>In the Creative Industries Sector Vision, the Government set out an ambition to improve the job quality and working practice of the sector, including supporting the high proportion of freelancers in the sector. This includes promoting fair treatment and working practices, enhancing support networks and resources for creative freelancers through Creative UK's Redesigning Freelancing initiative. DCMS and industry will also continue to work together to produce an action plan in response to the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre’s Good Work Review, and proposals include the recent launch of the British Film Institute’s £1.5 million Good Work Programme for screen. The government will continue to work with the BFI and the newly established screen sector Skills Task Force to support a strong skills pipeline in the sector and attractive careers pathways into the industry.</p> |