Up-front fee campaigners lobby for punitive action

Published Tuesday 20 May 2008 at 17:30 by Alistair Smith

Equity ARC: Central government is to come under pressure to upgrade Employment Agency Standards so that it has the power to fine rogue agents who break the law by charging up-front fees.

Equity’s Annual Representative Conference, held in London this year on May 17 and 18, unanimously passed a motion tabled by the Walk-on and Supporting Artists’ Committee calling on the union to lobby government to turn EAS into a statutory body so that it can impose fines on agencies that break the law.

Long-time up-front fees campaigner and Equity councillor Clive Hurst explained: “There has been no punitive action taken against any agency who delays payment to performers. There is no penalty against any agency for doing anything untoward towards a performer. There has never been a prosecution against an agency for taking money under false pretences. So really you’re fair game for anything and everything. Really, what we’re saying is that they are above the law.

“We want EAS to be made a statutory body. Only a statutory body can impose fines and we are calling for EAS to become a statutory body and for set fines to be imposed from, say, £100 upwards, so that there is some punitive action that will be taken against agencies who break the regulations. At the moment it is a complete waste of time having any regulation when there is no punitive action taken against an agency if they don’t work within the law.”

Equity has previously criticised revised laws introduced earlier this year, which it claims were a missed opportunity to “clean up the industry”.

The new regulations prevent agents from taking an up-front fee for including performers’ details in a publication or website. Instead, performers are now to be given a seven-day cooling-off period, during which they have the right to change their minds.

However, the union claims the new regulations from the government do not go far enough to protect vulnerable members of the public, and also argue that the new rules have not been publicised enough, leading to fears that most companies will not know the changes exist.