CIISA launches open consultation of its standards
Monday 2 December 2024, London UK: The Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, CIISA, is today launching its industry consultation of ‘The CIISA Standards’ (‘the Standards’), a set of expectations that set out the minimum standards of behaviour expected across the UK’s creative industries to enable safe and inclusive working environments. This includes preventing and tackling of all forms of bullying and harassment, including bullying and harassment of a discriminatory nature.
The Standards will provide a framework for a single, unified vision of professional standards of behaviour within the creative industries. They aim to illustrate what a safe and inclusive working environment, which treats people with dignity, looks like, and are scalable to any size of organisation, production or project.
Niyi Akeju, CIISA’s Head of Standards Development says, “We are delighted to be launching our industry consultation of the CIISA Standards today. We invite our industry colleagues to review this carefully considered piece of work which we’ve compiled this year through detailed and extensive collaboration with key bodies in the film, television, theatre and music sectors, including our wonderfully supportive Standards Advisory Committee. Our consultation period runs until 10am on Monday 27 January 2025 with the final Standards launched and published in February 2025. We’ll be hosting sector-specific webinars in early December where we’ll go through the Standards and answer questions.”
Baroness Helena Kennedy, Chair, CIISA says, “We are extremely proud to be able to share the CIISA Standards with colleagues in the creative industry today and to get their input. It is really important that any standards have the endorsement of those who work in the industry so it makes this an important moment in our operational activity.”
Creative Industries Minister Sir Chris Bryant says: “Everyone in our creative industries deserves to feel safe and supported in the workplace and be treated with respect and dignity. That is why CIISA’s standards of behaviour will be so important.”
“I am delighted that CIISA already has strong backing from industry, and I welcome this open consultation which will help to put a robust set of measures in place to tackle bullying, harassment and discrimination and ensure our creative industries remain one of the best sectors in the world to work in.”
Following the outcome of the consultation, CIISA will use the Standards to benchmark how the creative industries are embedding safe and inclusive working environments against these expectations and will identify and produce industry-specific guidance based on them. This guidance will outline advice, support and good practice on how individuals, organisations, productions and projects can meet the expectations set by the Standards in practice, in a way that is tailored to the size and nature of their work.
The creative industries workforce will be able to report concerns to CIISA related to potential breaches of the Standards and, where appropriate, CIISA will support these individuals, organisations, productions or projects with appropriate advice and signposting to resources that will help them to ensure that their concerns are addressed. In due course, CIISA will look to introduce services aimed at resolving concerns where possible.
From the reports received, CIISA will begin to establish insights into the range of experiences across the creative industries. CIISA will then look at developing training and accreditation products to support professional development for individuals in the creative industries workforce in areas relevant to the Standards.Notes to editors
To take part in the CIISA Standards Consultation
CIISA Standards Consultation Webinar – Theatre
Monday 9th December 1pm-2pm
Register here
CIISA Standards Consultation Webinar – Music
Tuesday 10th December 12.30pm-1.30pm
Register here
CIISA Standards Consultation Webinar – Film & TV
Wednesday 11th December 12.30pm-1.30pm
Register here
How were the CIISA Standards developed?
The CIISA Standards were developed in collaboration with individuals and organisations across the creative industries.
Development was led by the CIISA Standards Advisory Committee who met three times between July and October 2024 and is made up of representatives in film and/or television, music or theatre with experience of:
- developing standards and/or guidance on behalf of workers (particularly freelancers);
- supporting workers (particularly freelancers) with protected characteristics on discrimination in the workplace; and
- developing and delivering behavioural standards while working with an employer/hirer in an HR capacity.
The organisations represented on the CIISA Standards Advisory Committee are:
Association of British Orchestras
Attitude is Everything
BAFTA
BBC
Bectu
Black Lives in Music
CIISA (Chair)
Freelancers Make Theatre Work
Help Musicians
ITV
Musician’s Union
National Theatre
Pact
Royal Exchange Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Company
Sony Music
The Film and TV Charity
The Production Guild of Great Britain
TV Industry Human Rights Forum
Warner Bros. Discovery
In addition to meeting with organisations and special interest groups between May and November 2024, we also held a series of workshops in October 2024 with representatives of freelancers in film and television, music, and theatre respectively, to check the relevance and relatability of the Standards.
How can individuals use the CIISA Standards?
Individuals can use the Standards to:
- Understand the minimum standards of acceptable behaviour, above and beyond any legal obligations, for anyone engaged in work with the creative industries.
- Know what they should expect from themselves and each other, in terms of preventing and tackling harmful behaviours, including as bystanders who witness such behaviour.
- Check how their own experience relates to the CIISA Standards before raising a concern with others or, where appropriate, approaching CIISA as an independent safe space where they can report experiences of harmful behaviours without fear of repercussions, knowing that their concerns will be taken seriously, and they will receive help and support on next steps.
How can organisations, productions or projects use the CIISA Standards?
Organisations, projects or productions can assess their existing policies and procedures against, or create new ones aligned with, the CIISA Standards to ensure that they are embedding the right behaviours, and that their workforce know what is expected of them. Through consistently meeting the Standards, organisations, productions and projects will ensure they are promoting the behaviours and culture within their organisation, production or project that enable their workforce to thrive.
About CIISA
Acknowledging the need for a dedicated, independent authority to combat the pervasive bullying and harassment, and bullying and harassment of a discriminatory behaviour in the creative industries, both government and leaders across the creative sector have endorsed the creation of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), which will play a crucial role in upholding and improving standards of behaviour across the creative industries. CIISA aims to provide an independent safe space where individuals can report experiences of poor workplace behaviours without fear of repercussion, knowing that their concerns will be taken seriously. CIISA will provide a place where the full picture can be given, what needs to change, and what can be done to make that happen. CIISA represents the agreed steps that leaders, individuals, and organisations from across the creative industries have asked for – and committed to taking – to ensure we collectively uphold and improve standards of behaviour through independent accountability and learning. To find out more go to: www.ciisa.org.uk.
Who is CIISA supported by?
CIISA is supported by the following organisations with many others also contributing: BBC, ITV, Sky, C4, C5, Amazon, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Paramount, BAFTA, Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Spotlight, The Personal Managers Association, PRS, PPL, Live Nation, The Royal Albert Hall, Society of London Theatres and UK Theatre, The National Theatre, The Royal Exchange, The Independent Theatre Council, BECTU, The Film and TV Charity, UK Music, The BPI, The Musician’s Union, Help Musicians, Directors UK, The Musicians Union, The Production Guild, PACT, The UK Screen Alliance the FDA, Women in Film and TV. Black Lives in Music, The Music Publishers Association, The Casting Directors’ Guild, The Featured Artists Coalition, The Music Managers Forum, with leading bodies joining all the time.
CIISA background
TIME’S UP UK, which has campaigned to improve standards of behaviour across film and TV over these last five years, called for the creation of an independent standards authority back in 2021. Since then TIME’S UP UK has spearheaded this initiative supported by the creative industries round table set up by Creative UK and the then Secretary of State, in the wake of yet further media stories about abuse in the industry. CIISA will initially cover film, television, music and theatre. To date all of the key stakeholders within these sectors have and are continuing to support this crucial intervention.
