The Stage

Crackdown on London’s rogue talent agents

Published Wednesday 18 March 2009 at 11:35 by Matthew Hemley

Government inspectors have launched a London-wide clampdown on rogue talent agents, issuing warnings to nine entertainment and modelling agencies for breaches of the law, including the charging of illegal fees.

The toughened stance comes as the government this week launches a consultation on whether there should be a total ban on work-finding services from taking any money upfront, in an attempt to prevent rogue companies from repeatedly conning models and entertainers.

The nine agencies at the centre of the government’s latest crackdown, which cannot be named for legal reasons, were targeted by Employment Agency Standards - the division of the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform that investigates complaints against agents - after it was alerted to “improper activity”.

In total, inspectors found 37 separate infringements of the law, including, in the worst cases, the charging of illegal fees. The department has vowed that “agencies that continue to disobey the law could be prosecuted, hit hard with fines or even banned from operating for up to ten years”.

Minister of state for employment relations Pat McFadden said: “There are some agencies willing to exploit models and entertainers who think they’ve got the X factor, but don’t know their rights. This behaviour is unacceptable and agencies that flout the law should get their final curtain call.”

Laws introduced last year ban casting companies and agents from taking money for including performers’ details in a publication or website immediately and instead provide performers with a seven-day cooling off period, during which they have the right to ask for their money back.

Although the EAS can issue warnings to agencies found breaking the law - as it has done to the nine agencies in question - it does not itself have any power to take punitive action and instead has to consider prosecuting repeat offenders in a magistrates’ court, following which a fine can be handed down or an agency can be banned from operating for up to ten years.

Critics have claimed this makes the EAS powerless, saying agencies feel able to continue to operate illegally because there is no immediate threat of action against them.

Equity is calling for the EAS to be made a statutory body that can impose fines directly and has said that the government’s new consultation on what more should be done to tackle rogue agents is proof that the existing legislation has failed.

Union spokesman Martin Brown added: “Equity is pleased that BERR is taking a tougher line on the small number of talent agencies that break the regulations. We have been calling for exactly such action for some time. We hope this sends a warning to agencies that they flout the regulations at their peril.

“If only the government would bring back licensing of talent agencies, the rogue operators would be put out of business overnight.”

The consultation, which is set to run from today (March 19) for ten weeks, will seek views from interested parties on whether existing laws should be tightened or if there should be a complete ban on all work-finding services imposing upfront fees.

However, as reported by The Stage last month, a complete ban would mean legitimate services could be negatively affected.

Spotlight managing partner Ben Seale has warned that the long-established publication, and others like it, could even be forced out of business by a complete ban on upfront fees.

The government has said it is aware of the fact Spotlight and similar organisations could “potentially be impacted” by law changes and said it would be discussing this with them.

McFadden added that the EAS had doubled the number of inspectors it has in an attempt to crack down on rogue agents.