DTI up-front fee plans must be ‘much more radical’

Published Tuesday 29 May 2007 at 15:45 by Nuala Calvi

Campaigners have taken their fight against up-front fees to Westminster in a bid to press the government to introduce an outright ban on the practice.

Officials from Equity, Bectu, the Agents’ Association and others met with the Department of Trade and Industry last week to discuss proposed changes to the law that would see a “cooling off period” introduced, during which people could ask agents for their money back.

The government is also considering drawing up a list of reasonable charges that agents could make when signing up new talent, to make it easier for people to identify legitimate operators.

But unions say the proposals do not go far enough and that a complete ban is needed, together with the reintroduction of licensing for entertainment agents.

Bectu’s national official, Spencer MacDonald, told The Stage: “We’re really pushing the government very hard this time. We gave them an opportunity to address this before and they ballsed it up. This time, if they don’t get it right, there’s going to be hell to pay.

“The document they have issued is really weak. They’ve got to be much, much more radical than this to stop people being exploited.”

Equity reports growing concern about agencies charging exorbitant fees for nothing more than a photo session, and then finding no work for their clients.

A survey by The Stage last year also found that three-quarters of those paying money to agents up-front received no work in the following 12 months.

Christine Payne, Equity general secretary, said rogue operators were “damaging the reputation of the majority of responsible agents and taking young hopefuls for a ride”.

However, stakeholders at last week’s meeting were reportedly told there was no political will in the department to introduce across-the-board licensing.

John Thorpe, head of the DTI’s Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, said: “We’ve set out our proposals in the consultation paper and we’ve also put out a wider question calling for any other proposals from consultees that could help remedy bad practice without burdening legitimate agencies.

“What we’re doing now is considering all the representations we’ve got and we will be responding to these in July, with a view to presenting draft regulations to parliament in the autumn.”

The government consultation on the regulation of employment agencies ends on May 31.