Last chance for freelances to put payment issues to government ministers
Freelance journalists who want to tell the government how major news organisations’ bad business practices affect them must do so by tomorrow (23 October).
It marks the close of a consultation by the Department of Business and Trade examining ways that payment policies impact sole traders and other small businesses.
The NUJ has submitted its response, detailing the vital part that freelance journalists play in today’s media, and the bad practices that impact them adversely. These include the payment of derisory ‘kill fees’ for commissioned work that is not used, ‘payment on publication’ that can delay payment for months, and ‘implicit contracts’ that use legal subterfuge to deny freelances their rights.
You can read the NUJ’s full response, including case studies, here.
You can also respond to the consultation here.
Tim Dawson, NUJ freelance organiser, said:
“This consultation provides a golden opportunity for freelances to raise issues that I hear complaints about every day of the week. Members often tell me that they have not been paid for a year, or are not paid at all for significant pieces of work that are commissioned but not used.
“Many have contract terms imposed on them without their knowledge. Any freelance journalist, NUJ member or not, should take 10 minutes to respond to the consultation, and ideally to write to their MPs as well. Once the scale of the problems is clear, I am hopeful that the government will act.”