Creative industry 'needs to embrace employment responsibilities'

Companies in the creative industry are being asked to follow new guidelines for employing those trying to break into the sector.

Industry body Skillset and the Creative & Cultural Skills and Arts Council England have published advice which explains employers' responsibilities around volunteering, internships, work experience and apprenticeships.

The guidelines call on creative firms to limit trainees and interns' working weeks to 40 hours, cap work experience placements at no more than 160 hours and pay those on graduate internships at least the national minimum wage.

Clive Jones, Skillset chair and GMTV chairman, commented: 'Getting a job in the creative industries should be about talent and potential. Yet this can prove challenging, given the sheer numbers who want a job and how informal entry often is.'

He added that the guidelines will ensure that everyone has fair access to employment in the sector and will help to dispel the view that success in the creative field is subject to who you know rather than what you are capable of.

This month, the GBP 600,000 Creative Bursaries scheme was unveiled by prime minister Gordon Brown and culture minister Margaret Hodge, who said it will help graduates from deprived backgrounds access internships with established arts companies.