Diversity, equity, and inclusion

The Film and TV Charity is committed to improving diversity, equality, and inclusion in the film and TV industry – making the industry a happier and fairer place for all.

In 2020 we formally adopted a new charitable object “to promote equality, diversity, and inclusion…by reducing, preventing, and discouraging discrimination and the resulting barriers in the film, television, or moving image industry.”

Not everyone in our industry starts in the same position – with equivalent advantages, resources, or opportunities. There are all sorts of barriers tied up with background and identity that have nothing to with talent and skill.

These can have an impact on career progress, and even someone’s ability to stay in the industry. And there can be significant impacts on wellbeing.

We help to improve wellbeing in two complementary ways:

1. With the support we provide to individuals, and
2. By making change across the industry that improves the working lives of our beneficiaries.

Anti-racism Action

The murder of George Floyd and the ensuing conversations among people of colour working in the industry made it clear that there was an urgent need to prioritise our anti-racism efforts.

In 2021, we were joined on secondment by Sasha Salmon, an expert in anti-racism work with an extensive background in Government and civil society. Salmon heard the testimony of more than 50 people of colour in the industry to inform her ‘Thinkpiece on Anti-Racism in the UK Film and TV Industry’ published in September 2021. Her report can be viewed below.

In May 2021, inspired by Salmon’s work, we made three new commitments:

1. Ringfencing 30% of our future grants budgets for Black, Asian and minority ethnic beneficiaries to ensure fair access to our funding.
2. A commitment to invest £1 million of the charity’s own resources in a new programme to support under-funded community leaders and groups working to tackle racism in the industry. This now has a working title of the ‘Impact Partnerships Programme’.
3. New targets to increase representation of people identifying as Black, Asian or minority ethnic on the charity’s Board of Trustees and across the team.

We will update this page to report progress against each of these three commitments:

1. Ringfencing

In May 2021 we announced that we would, going forwards, ring-fence 30% of our grants spend for Black, Asian and minority ethnic beneficiaries.

In December 2021 it was announced that we will also now ringfence 15% for disabled beneficiaries and will review whether to ringfence for other groups in future.

We have now completed the first year of the ringfence for the financial year March 2021- April 2022 and performance against our stated targets is as follows:

Background

During the first half of the 21/22 financial year, we suspended our General Grant offer during a review of our financial support. Our Emergency Grant was available during this period but fewer applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic applicants were received and approved than was required to meet the 30% target.

From October 2021 we introduced our Stop-Gap Grant, designed to cover unexpected costs during a crisis or to allow applicants to access a career opportunity when a lack of financial capital may be holding them back. While eligibility criteria are still applied, we recognised that our two target groups for ringfenced grants often face barriers to traditional routes into the industry and so we started to explore the activity and work experience of these applicants more widely to ensure that we do not perpetuate inequalities applicants from these groups already face.

The scope of the Stop-Gap Grant also grew to incorporate requests relating to access to opportunity. For example, requests were made for equipment, such as upgrades to cameras or laptops, and for travel to allow applicants to accept job opportunities they could not otherwise have afforded.

Grants for Black, Asian and minority ethnic applicants

During the financial year 21/22 we awarded more than £168,000 in Emergency and Stop-Gap Grants. Where race was known, 21% of those awards were made to Black, Asian and minority ethnic applicants with the total amount paid being £34,000 (or 22% of the total value).

This equates to an underspend of over £13,000 against our stated target of 30%. The underspend will therefore be allocated to our new Horace Ové Fund which will be open to Black, Asian and minority ethnic applicants applying for:

• Contributions towards upgrading out-of-date equipment that is creating barriers to accessing work
• Contributions towards course fees
• Contributions towards travel where wages are in arrears
• Care contributions
• Contributions towards membership and affiliation costs.

The Horace Ové fund will be launched in October 2022 with more information to be shared shortly.

Grants for Disabled applicants

During the financial year 21/22 we awarded more than £168,000 in Emergency and Stop-Gap Grants. Where Disability was known, 31% of those awards were made to Disabled applicants with the total amount paid being £48,000 (or 33% of the total value).

2. Impact Partnership Programme

In 2021, we committed to investing £1m through our Impact Partnership Programme (IPP), which will develop support, resources, and access for Black and Global Majority industry workers, contributing to the creation of an inclusive, equitable, anti-racist industry where creatives can thrive. 

We believe that the expertise, insights and lived experiences needed to drive anti-racism exists within the Black and Global Majority communities. Our best response is to work in partnership and bring together industry experts, anti-racism advocates, corporations and organisations representing Black and Global Majority industry workers and stakeholders to find the most effective way to drive sustainable change. 

We are currently recruiting a panel of 14 people, across a diverse mix of roles, levels, backgrounds, and sectors providing a balanced representation of skills and experiences from across the industry. The co-design panel will work with us and determine how best to allocate our £1m investment. Click here to find out more about this process.

3. Diversity Targets

We have set diversity targets for the Trustees and staff of the charity as follows:

Notes on the targets:

• Senior staff are defined as those at Head level or above.

• The Charity is based in London and the industry remains disproportionately within London, but we serve the whole of the UK, and our targets are reflective of this situation. Our Black, Asian and minority ethnic targets are positioned between the 2011 Census national data which showed 14% of the UK population were Black, Asian or minority ethnic, and the 2011 Census figure for London which showed that this figure rose to 40% of the population in London – and allowing for anticipated growth of both figures in the ongoing 2021 Census.

• Comparing the data in the Policy and Evidence Centre’s recent report into class in the creative industries our organisation significantly over-indexes for staff from a privileged background (76% versus 51% for the industry and 37% for the UK economy), and under-indexes for those from a working class background (10% versus 16% for the industry versus 29% for the economy as a whole). We recognise that class is an important dimension which intersects with other dimensions of diversity and will strive to improve our class profile as we also strive to improve on all other dimensions.

• Beyond this we note the need to work towards a gender balance of the Charity’s staff which currently significantly over-indexes for women (while the UK population is 51% female and the industry 38% female, 62% of the current Charity staff identifies as female). We will therefore seek to rebalance the gender profile of the Charity by 2024.

We will report on progress against the 2022 targets in early 2023.