Organisations in the creative industries are increasingly recognising the need to address systemic workplace issues such as power imbalances, precarious employment, and the vulnerabilities of freelance workers. Against this background, the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) has introduced its Standards Framework (the Standards), establishing clear minimum expectations for behaviour across the UK’s creative industries including broadcasters, production companies, music venues, festivals and publishers.
The Standards are designed to foster safe, inclusive, and professional workplaces, with a strong focus on preventing and tackling bullying, harassment (including sexual harassment), and discrimination. While the Standards do not create new legal obligations, they represent a significant step towards greater accountability and proactive management of workplace culture, and organisations operating in this sector should take note.
What are the CIISA Standards?
CIISA is an independent body, established in 2024 to raise standards, ensure accountability and provide oversight across the creative industries. The Standards aim to provide consistency and clarity on what constitutes harmful behaviour and how it should be addressed.
Over the course of 2025 and into 2026, CIISA will be designing, testing, and rolling out a range of tools and resources to help individuals, organisations, productions, or projects embed the Standards in practice. CIISA has created a short Services guide which describes the entire range of support services it will offer and how these are intended to work. A confidential reporting service, CIISA’s first major service, is planned to be in place by the end of April 2026. Importantly, CIISA will be a free point of use for individuals, making it especially accessible to freelancers who make up a significant portion of the sector’s ecosystem.
Key Features of the Standards
- Proactivity not Reactivity. Employers are expected to take ongoing, anticipatory action to prevent harmful behaviour, rather than simply reacting to incidents when they arise. This includes regular reviews of workplace culture, risk identification, and implementation of preventative measures.
- Fostering a “Speak Up” Culture. The Standards expect employers to provide clear, accessible, and well-publicised reporting procedures, including options for anonymous reporting. Senior leaders must ensure that these mechanisms are in place and that a culture of speaking up is actively encouraged and protected.
- Leadership and Accountability. The Standards make clear that senior leaders are expected to set the “tone from the top”, model high standards of behaviour, take responsibility for workforce wellbeing, and act promptly on reports of harmful behaviour. They should set clear expectations and ensure robust training is in place for staff and, where necessary, third parties.
- Policies, Training and Support. Workplace policies and procedures should align with the Standards. Regular, meaningful training on recognising and reporting harmful behaviour is required for all staff, including freelancers. Support systems, such as safeguarding officers or wellbeing facilitators, should be accessible.
- Use of NDAs. The Standards specify that confidentiality clauses, such as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), should not be used to prevent individuals from reporting harmful behaviour or seeking appropriate support. Senior leaders should take responsibility for ensuring that such clauses do not seek to prevent disclosures about harassment, bullying and/or discrimination.
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I). Employers should take active steps to ensure the workplace is accessible and inclusive for all, going beyond legal obligations where necessary. This includes addressing barriers related to socio-economic background, class or other characteristics, even if not legally protected.
- Continuous Improvement: Every concern should be treated as a learning opportunity. Employers are encouraged to gather feedback, monitor trends, and update practices to drive ongoing improvement.
Legal and regulatory context
The Standards are intended to complement, but not replace or expand, existing legal obligations. But they arrive at a time of significant legal and regulatory changes in the UK, which are raising the bar for workplace protections more generally, and set against a challenging geopolitical environment especially for DE&I initiatives. The new statutory duty to prevent sexual harassment, which came into force on 26 October 2024, requires UK employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, including by third parties. Technical guidance issued by the equalities regulator, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, makes clear that a “tick box” approach will not suffice; employers must carry out robust risk assessments, implement effective policies, provide regular training, and continuously review the effectiveness of their actions. For further information, see our Law-Now Duty to prevent sexual harassment of workers: final guidance published.
Looking ahead, the Government’s Employment Rights Bill (ERB) is set to further strengthen these obligations, particularly in relation to prevention of sexual harassment by third parties and extension of whistleblowing protections. The ERB does not include any specific proposals on the use of NDAs or confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements, but the Government has indicated that extensions to the existing limitations on the use of NDAs will remain ‘on the agenda’. For further information, see our ERB Hub and Law-Now Employment Rights Bill – Workplace protections against harassment and Law-Now Employment Rights Bill – What’s new.
Practical implications for employers
Once CIISA’s confidential reporting service is fully operational, all individuals working in the creative industries will be able to report concerns related to potential breaches of the Standards. CIISA will support individuals, organisations, productions, or projects with advice and signposting to resources to ensure concerns are addressed. In due course, CIISA plans to introduce additional services, such as mediation and dispute resolution, but the precise scope and process for accessing these services are yet to be detailed.
Currently, CIISA’s role is advisory and supportive, with an emphasis on sector-wide learning and improvement rather than punitive action. Although CIISA does not have formal enforcement powers or legal sanctions, they set clear expectations for behaviour and workplace culture. Importantly, breaches of the Standards are likely to be reputationally damaging, particularly in a sector under intense public scrutiny. Recent high-profile controversies have demonstrated how quickly issues of workplace culture can escalate, with organisations facing significant reputational fallout even in the absence of legal proceedings.
Employers within the sector should ensure that the Standards are taken into account when shaping their internal policies and practices. A close watching brief should also be kept over which of the Standards may well be incorporated into UK legislation in the coming years, as the UK landscape for workplace protections undergoes seismic shifts.
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