Commenting on the Government’s new White Paper on Immigration, Chief Executive of the SoA Nicola Solomon said:

“If implemented these proposals will do real damage to the UK’s creative industries. The proposed salary threshold of £30,000 completely ignores the reality of earnings across the creative sector, and seems to have been designed with the aim of keeping creative talent out of the country rather than welcoming it in.

“Furthermore the White Paper contains little scope for freelancers from abroad to come and work in the UK. This would be a hammer blow to the creative industries given that 35% of creative workers – including most authors - are self-employed.

“The proposals will now go out to consultation and we will be making our views known alongside other representatives in the creative sector. There needs to be a major rethink from Government if it wants the success of the UK’s world-leading creative industries to be retained.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• You can read the Government’s White Paper on Immigration here.
• You can read the Creative Industries Federation’s response to the White Paper here.
• For more information please contact Tim Gallagher – tgallagher@societyofauthors.org