The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (Bectu) has asked the government to provide urgent support for the creative industry. Amid rapidly rising cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, theatre bookings and declining and there is growing uncertainty among freelance theatre workers over their jobs. .
Theatre and live event cancellations have increased and sales have declined in recent weeks due to the emergence of Omicron. London productions of musicals The Lion King and Hamilton are among the latest to cancel due to “ongoing OCIVD-enforced absences”.
Philippa Childs, Head of Bectu, commented: “We now face a New Year theatre crisis with a lack of leadership from government, a rising wave of Omicron cases and an anxious public. This started as a public health crisis but it could quickly become a jobs crisis as well.”
“We applauded the work the Treasury carried out last year when it declared that “nobody will be left without hope”. Yet many self-employed workers were excluded from the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and other measures provided by the government.”
The public has been urged by the government to reduce social interactions yet there has, so far, been no mention of financial support for the self-employed in the entertainment industry.
Childs added: “With the recent tightening of COVID restrictions there has been little commentary on the significant impact these will have on self-employed workers working in Theatres and Live Events. Bectu is concerned that self-employed workers again appear to be at the back of the queue when it comes to planning for any further financial disruption to our everyday lives.”
“We need to give business stability and the support for the creative industries to be open and trading safely, but we must also contemplate what happens if the government imposes restrictions that actually or effectively close them.”
Many workers in live events and the theatre are self-employed and often find it more difficult to gain extra financial support if they are out of work as a result of the pandemic. Bectu has urged the Chancellor to introduce a sector-specific furlough to ensure that self-employed and freelance workers are supported.
