By the end of next week we will have a new UK Government. Regardless of which political party takes office, and as its priorities emerge, the SoA’s Policy Team will re-start key conversations with politicians and civil servants on the issues that affect authors’ careers and incomes.
But before that, as candidates and campaigners canvass for votes in your area, you have an opportunity to start those conversations yourself.
While a political canvasser’s primary aim when they knock on your door is to encourage you to vote for their candidate, they are also there to listen to voters’ concerns. They can only represent you in Parliament if they understand the issues that affect you.
What will your party do about…?
We have compiled seven questions on topics that you can use to engage with campaigning parties in the run-up to the election – and with your newly-elected MP afterwards.
All seven questions are based on burning issues in our current lobbying work. They range from regulation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and legislating for fair contracts, to protecting and nurturing the environment in which you build and sustain your career.
The days preceding an election are a great time to raise these issues with political parties. Canvassers will usually have a debrief at the end of their campaigning shift where they will feed back concerns raised by voters to the candidate’s team, giving you a unique opportunity to feed directly into political discourse at a local level.
Each question includes pledges we believe the next government should make, regardless of which party secures a parliamentary majority.
By asking these questions, you will help demonstrate to candidates and their parties that these topics are important for authors and other creators. Based on the responses you get, it might also help you understand which candidates are likely to provide the greatest support for the UK’s creative sector.
Better support for the workers and institutions in the creative industries should be a priority for all parties and candidates.
And if you only get the chance to ask one question, pick the one that is most important to you from the list below.
Question 1: On artificial intelligence
How will you regulate artificial intelligence (AI) to protect creative careers?
The SoA view: The SoA advocates for the UK Government to introduce legislation to regulate AI developers, to ensure the transparency of AI systems, and that creators are credited, paid, and asked to consent before their works are used and reproduced. The technical landscape is moving rapidly, so there is no time for inaction on this legislation.
Learn more:
Question 2: On fairer contracts
Will you legislate to protect authors and other creators against unfair contract terms?
The SoA view: The SoA campaigns for the introduction of legislation to address unfair contract terms and to ensure a fair share of reward throughout the value chain.
This is in line with recommendations in ‘Creator Remuneration’, a cross-party parliamentary report by the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee published in March 2024. This report calls on Government to acknowledge and address issues around contracts and working conditions by implementing the recommendations of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ‘Good Work Review’, using the SoA’s CREATOR campaign as a basis for fair working standards. We also call for the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 to be extended to include contracts of intellectual property.
Learn more:
- Where we stand on fair contracts
- SoA welcomes cross-party parliamentary report on creator remuneration (April 2024)
Question 3: On better support for freelance creators
Will you ensure freelancers have access to statutory sick pay and parental leave?
The SoA view: The SoA calls for better Government support of freelance creators, including through the extension of statutory sick leave and parental leave to freelancers. We echo calls from ALCS for Government to appoint a Freelancer Commissioner.
Learn more:
- SoA’s written evidence to House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry ‘A creative Future’
- ALCS campaign for a Freelancer Commissioner in government
Question 4: On a tax and benefits infrastructure that supports creative professionals
Will you train Job Centre and local authority officials to understand how tax and benefits rules apply to creative professionals?
The SoA view: The current tax regime does not cater well for self-employed creative workers with portfolio careers, nor does it work for those who receive payments staggered throughout the year rather than a steady income stream.
The SoA calls on the next Government to:
- Ensure that benefits’ assessors and officers, local authority officials and other tax officials are aware of creators’ working practices and will not misapply the rules or exclude creative professionals when they claim benefits.
- Allow the averaging of income over two years when assessing applications. This will help ensure that creators are entitled to benefits in lean periods and do not become ineligible for benefits when they receive an intermittent or one-off payment, such as a publishing advance or royalty cheque.
- Review the eligibility for Universal Credit to support authors and offer financial security between contracts.
- Reinstate the three-month period for restricting job searches to one’s specific field of work.
- Calculate benefits without reference to the minimum income floor, which does not represent the true earnings of authors.
- Commit to a permanent uplift of the Universal Credit benefit.
Only with suitable financial support structures in place can we ensure that creative careers in the UK are sustainable for authors and creators from all backgrounds, not limited only to those who can afford it. It is not acceptable in 2024 that people from marginalised and minoritised backgrounds receive disproportionally lower incomes for their creative work and are therefore more likely to be excluded from working in the creative industries.
Learn more:
- Where we stand on tax and benefits
- SoA policy on inclusion, diversity and representation
- SoA’s written evidence to House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry ‘A creative future’
Question 5: On funding for arts, literacy and cultural institutions and projects
Will you ensure that public funding for arts, literacy and culture is sufficient to meet the minimum standards of pay and engagement of creators, and to ensure the survival and growth of public and school libraries?
The SoA view: Too many arts and cultural institutions are severely under-funded and unable to pay creators fairly for their work or recruit their services under appropriate conditions. The SoA calls for increased public funding of arts, literacy and cultural institutions and projects to ensure fair and appropriate working conditions for creators, whatever work they are engaged in – whether they are delivering a single illustration, translation or live reading, or writing and devising an entire creative commission.
This public cultural commitment must ensure that local authorities have sufficient and dedicated funding to support public and school libraries. A library is a vital cultural, technological and social hub, essential for promoting literacy and knowledge.
We also ask the next Government to ringfence and commit to an annual increase in the funds dedicated to the Public Lending Right (PLR). PLR payments are an essential part of many authors’ income, ensuring that they are paid for loans of their work through public libraries. We call for PLR to be extended to volunteer libraries, school libraries, prison libraries and private lending libraries. The UK PLR budget has been stagnant for years and has now fallen to half that of France and Germany.
Learn more:
Question 6: On fairer tax regimes for audiobooks
Will you zero rate Value Added Tax (VAT) on audiobooks?
The SoA view: The SoA is calling for equal VAT status to be applied to physical books, ebooks and audiobooks and to scrap the reading tax on audiobooks that currently attract VAT at 20%. Not only does this represent an inconsistent approach to taxing the same literary work across different formats, it also acts as a discriminatory barrier to reading for readers with accessibility needs.
Learn more:
Question 7: On the protection of Freedom of Expression
Will your party legislate to protect authors, journalists and others against Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)?
The SoA view: The SoA calls on the next UK Government to put forward legislation in line with the model UK Anti-SLAPP Law by the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition.
Learn more:
What can you do now?
- Bookmark this tab to have it at the ready if a candidate knocks on your door
- Share the post with your networks
- Retweet the SoA’s thread on X
- Remember to take your photo ID to vote
- Find out about your local husting in your local newspaper, announcement boards or on your local candidates’ social media
- And if you only get the chance to ask one question, pick and remember one