Industry resists improved freelance payment terms
Counter the big business offensive by lobbying to stop the freelance rip-off.
Pushback on the government's consultation on late payments and poor payment practices was inevitable.
As soon as Prime Minister Starmer said that he had the backs of sole traders – “(spending) hours chasing payments… is unfair, exhausting, and it’s holding Britain back,” he said, we knew that big business would hit back.
No doubt in the three months during which the ‘time to pay up’ consultation has been in progress, sharp-suited lobbyists have been whispering in minister’s ears. In the last few days, however, the anti-reform campaign has broken cover.
Graham Wynn of the British Retail Consortium told the Financial Times that the proposed legislation would, “likely lead to cash flow problems and the government should reconsider these proposals.”
The chief executive of retailers Monsoon, Nick Stowe, was up next - telling Radio 4’s Today programme that: “Monsoon has long payment terms because we are sourcing materials from India and China, our terms of 90 or 120 days have been in place for decades. Legislation that would end that would be hugely problematic”.
They will not be the last. And no doubt the below-the-line push from other vested interests will be more intense still.
So with the consultation closed, is there anything that freelance journalists can do? We, after all, arguably endure the most exploitative relationships with the business we supply. The evils of kill fees, payment on publication and implicit contracts are a truly toxic package, to which challenge is rendered near impossible by threatened exclusion from further commissions.
But there is hope. With the consultation closed, civil servants will now analyse responses and prepare a report for government ministers. While the door to public interventions is now shut, parliamentarians can still make known to ministers their views, and those of their constituents.
The route to such lobbying is simple. You write to your MP. It does not matter if you have never done it before, or if you pen them several letters a year. Nor is it of consequence what their politics are. All are honour-bound to represent the views of constituents to government.
Freelance journalists may face some of the worst business conditions, but we do have one ace up our sleeves. We all know how to tell stories. So, if you are penning a note to your elected member, make sure you give them the most compelling picture of the hardships you have endured through the long-established bad practices endemic in our industry.
Perhaps you have waited for months to be paid for a large piece of work, ordered by a magazine and delivered on time, but that has been held over. Did that force you to choose between paying your mortgage and taxing your car? Maybe you were forced into short-term debt. The more vivid the pictures you paint, the more arresting your argument will be.
Perhaps you were offered a derisory kill fee, after having given everything to deliver a story. Did that make you rethink a holiday or delay a visit to an ailing relative? Those are the kind of details that prompt legislators to act.
At most there is another month when representations of this kind will be effective. So if you have ever been impacted by these kinds of bad practices, act now. While you are about it, spread the message to any other freelances. Four or five constituents raising an issue with an MP makes a real impact.
Be under no illusions though; a well-oiled lobbying machine will be resisting change that benefits sole traders with all the considerable resources at their disposal. On our side, however, we have the numbers, the talents to make a case, and the imperative of achieving justice.
If we are to prevail, we will need to deploy them all.