Skills Investment Fund becomes mandatory
2008 will be an exciting year for Skillset. As well as the recent launch of the Creative Economy Strategy, a major development for skills in the film industry is the launch of a Film Industry Training Board (FITB) which will involve the current voluntary Skills Investment Fund (SIF), a training levy for the film industry, becoming mandatory. Following a recent article about the levy I wanted to explain how the levy fits into ‘A Bigger Future', the UK film skills strategy, and how it impacts on the industry.
The SIF was introduced in 1999 following a major review of the competitive position of the UK film industry, called ‘A Bigger Picture'. The review considered different areas of the business, including tax breaks and, given that 90% of the film production workforce is freelance, training to support its development. The levy was set at 0.5% of the production budget for all film productions based in the UK or in receipt of UK public funding, and capped at £39,500, and its purpose is to build on the UK film industry's world-beating reputation for creative excellence by ensuring that we have a ready supply of world class skills and talent.
Following the introduction of the SIF the industry saw the benefit of a combined approach to investment in skills. So in 2004 Skillset worked in partnership with the UK Film Council and the industry to launch ‘A Bigger Future', the UK film skills strategy. We consulted the industry on training priorities, and created a five year strategy laying out investment priorities so that we are able to spend the money where it's needed, addressing skills shortages and matching supply with demand. The strategy is funded through our Film Skills Fund made up of money collected from the SIF as well as National Lottery money delegated to Skillset via the UK Film Council, in total about £7.2million per year, and is still the only strategy of its kind for any film industry in the world.
We have funded a wide range of fantastic schemes, including: bursaries for individuals towards the cost of training; subsidised courses to help the existing workforce as well as new entrants breaking into the industry in priority areas; free business consultancy to support independent film companies; a Network of Skillset Screen Academies around the UK.
Specifically for filmmakers such as the Howard brothers featured in the recent article in these pages, we fund schemes such as Film London's ‘Microwave', an innovative scheme providing practical learning through making micro budget features.
Up until now about 65% of all productions in scope have paid the SIF. On average this brings in about £700,000 per year, and in total over £5million since 1999. Following the launch of ‘A Bigger Future' the SIF advisory board decided to revisit its status. Skillset received positive responses to informal soundings from the industry in 2003, and so government launched a formal consultation in 2005 on moving the SIF from voluntary to mandatory, which again showed industry support. There was a prolonged timescale for this to move through Parliament and therefore there has been an unavoidable gap between the consultation, and the mandatory levy coming into effect. It is our responsibility to make sure that the industry and our stakeholders understand the scope and purpose of the SIF and how it will benefit the industry.
With the new mandatory levy, the voting board members of the FITB will be Producers who will set the levy and oversee the collection of the SIF. There is general consensus that the current model works, and so there is no expectation that the Board will introduce major changes. However it is likely there will be an exclusion threshold, below which productions will not have to pay the SIF. The chair of the FITB, who has to have significant industry experience, will be announced imminently, and the mandatory levy will come into effect late 2008.
Four years into ‘A Bigger Future' and the British film industry is certainly looking to be in better shape, with British films and filmmakers attracting audiences and winning awards around the world. And British films enjoyed a 28% share of the market in 2007, a big increase from 16% in 2003. We cannot claim credit for this, but we think that our investment in training and development has contributed to this success and is making a difference.
Talent is the industry's lifeblood - and developing that talent makes sound business and creative sense. The quality of the UK film production workforce really is the envy of the global industry. Our industry should be applauded for this bold, visionary move to share responsibility for investing in our industry's future and the talent that will deliver it, such as the Howard brothers.
Dinah Caine, CEO, Skillset