Nothing crystallises the need for film and TV businesses to get serious about workplace safeguarding quite like the news we’ve all woken up to this week. The conviction and sentencing of Russell Brand, alongside the allegations published against David Walliams, which he denies, have landed in the same fortnight that the Employment Rights Act’s new harassment duties finally bit. That timing is not a coincidence the government is going to let pass quietly.
BBC Newsnight has reported that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is preparing to tell industry leaders at a round-table meeting next week that if the sector’s response to recent events isn’t robust enough, she is prepared to force broader participation in the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) which is currently voluntary. Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson has separately signalled the government wants to go further on restricting the use of NDAs, so that they cannot be used to stop women raising concerns about misconduct.
For media organisations and businesses operating across film and TV, this creates two converging pressures worth understanding properly: a statutory harassment regime that’s already in force, and a sector-specific standards body that the government is now openly threatening to make compulsory. Getting ahead of both is considerably more comfortable than being dragged into line by either.
Where CIISA currently sits
CIISA was established to set a single, unified standard of behaviour across the creative industries, initially covering film, television, music and theatre. Its framework is built around four Standards: safe working environments, inclusive working environments, open and accountable reporting mechanisms, and a responsive learning culture. The Standards themselves were developed through an extensive consultation with the sector, including a formal eight-week process that drew engagement from more than 700 individuals and organisations.
What’s notable, and relevant to the current political pressure, is how broadly CIISA defines the workforce it’s trying to protect. The “Creative Industries Workforce” isn’t limited to employees. It expressly includes the self-employed, freelancers, contractors, sub-contractors, suppliers, ancillary workers such as catering and security staff, interns and volunteers. The “working environment” is defined just as broadly: not just a studio or set, but travel, work-related social gatherings, industry events and online spaces, including social media. A concern raised about a wrap party, a location shoot, or conduct online falls squarely within scope.
CIISA’s funding, though, has relied on voluntary buy-in from broadcasters and production companies, with support to date including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky, alongside an open letter from high-profile industry figures calling for wider financial commitment. Nandy’s comments this week suggest the government has run out of patience with that voluntary model being enough on its own.
How this sits alongside the new statutory duties
Since 30 October, employers are required to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment at work – a meaningfully stricter test than the old “reasonable steps” standard – and can now face liability for harassment of their staff by third parties. The application of this could have far reaching implications across a variety of differing scenarios, such as vox pops on the street, transport to and from set, or conduct at a wrap party involving people with no formal connection to the production.
CIISA’s Standards were never designed as a statutory compliance checklist, but they map onto this new legal landscape with real precision. The Standards’ emphasis on open reporting mechanisms without fear of retaliation, on not misusing confidentiality clauses or NDAs to silence people, and on senior leaders taking ownership of risk assessment and prevention, reads almost like a practical companion to what “all reasonable steps” is likely to require evidentially. If a tribunal is going to ask what more you could have done, having actively adopted and embedded a recognised industry standard is a considerably stronger answer than having a harassment policy or training programme that hasn’t been looked at since 2019.
Put simply: the statutory duty tells businesses what the legal bar is, without any real clarity about what it means. The CIISA Standards on the other hand potentially provide a basis, in a sector-built way, to evidence that you have cleared it. If Nandy follows through with this threat, these standards may in any event no longer be voluntary.
What businesses should be doing now
Given where the political and legal pressure both currently sit, we would encourage any business operating in film, television or the wider screen sector to treat the current moment as the point to act, rather than waiting to find out whether CIISA participation becomes mandatory. Here are some of the things we would recommend:
- Benchmark existing policies, codes of conduct and training against the CIISA Standards now, rather than waiting for a compulsory regime to force the exercise;
- Revisit how confidentiality clauses and settlement agreements are used, given that the direction of travel on NDAs is now unmistakably toward further restriction, not less;
- Extend thinking on “all reasonable steps” beyond the production itself, to genuinely assess risk around travel, social events and third-party interactions, the exact scenarios industry bodies are currently flagging as unclear;
- Build a proper evidence trail: risk assessments, training records, and a documented, accessible reporting process that covers freelancers and ancillary staff, not just permanent employees; and
- Keep a close eye on next week’s round-table and CIISA’s own funding position. A shift from voluntary to mandatory participation, if it comes, is unlikely to arrive with a long lead-in time given the current climate.
Of course, none of this will guarantee that a media business will avoid every risk. But a demonstrable, proactive approach – one that goes beyond a policy sitting unread in a drawer – is exactly what both the statutory duty and CIISA’s Standards are now asking for. Businesses that can show they were already moving in that direction will be in a far better position than those scrambling to catch up once the government decides voluntary has run its course.
If you’d like to talk through what any of this means in practice for your business, please do get in touch.