The campaign against abusive working conditions has taken an important step forward.

Skillset and the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), after a cross-party consultation involving PACT and BECTU, have now published new Work Experience Guidelines for the film and TV industry, which for the first time confirm what TV Wrap and BECTU have claimed from the start - that work experience placements can only legally be unpaid under certain tightly-defined circumstances; criteria which the majority of placements do not meet. Anyone who carries out work for an employer must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage (NMW). Offending employers cannot now claim that they didn’t realise they were breaking the law.

The consultation is the result of a sustained pressure campaign mounted by freelancers making repeated complaints that young people nominally on “Work Experience” placements were really working without pay.

If anyone encounters working conditions (or spots an ad for a placement) which appear to breach the Guidelines, BECTU asks them to alert the union by emailing full details to info@bectu.org.uk and putting “WORK EXPERIENCE ABUSE” in the message header. You will also find ongoing discussion on the subject in the Watercooler's 'Sweat Shop' section, where the campaign to challenge abusive working conditions continues.

The new guidelines can be found at:-

www.skillset.org/uploads/pdf/asset_9268.pdf?1