The Stage

House of Commons to debate up-front fees legislation next week

Published Friday 2 July 2010 at 16:53 by Matthew Hemley

Draft regulations aimed at providing greater protection to performers regarding up-front fees will be debated by the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Once passed by MPs sitting in the House of Commons, the regulations will become law from October 1.

The draft regulations amend the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 and include the extension of a seven-day cooling-off period - currently enjoyed by actors, walk-ons and extras before paying a fee to be included in a publication or directory - to 30 days.

The regulations, which were laid before parliament by the previous Labour government, were approved by the House of Lords earlier this month.

Under the new legislation, there will be a complete ban on up-front charges in relation to models, while extras, walk-ons and background artists will benefit from the 30-day cooling-off.

The regulations have previously been criticised as a “shambles” by industry figures, because the proposals are not the same as the ones first announced by the Labour government in November last year.

At that time, the government said it was looking to introduce a complete ban on agencies representing walk-ons, background artists, extras, as well as models, from taking up-front fees to include clients’ details in a publication or directory.