Government guidance to tackle posh ‘class crisis’ in creative industries

Government guidance to tackle posh 'class crisis' in creative industries

Tom Hiddleston went to Eton with Prince William. Image: Gage Skidmore

The Government has issued guidance about how to end the posh ‘class crisis’ in the UK’s creative industries and make more jobs available for people of a working class background.

For years, the creative industries have been dominated by posh people, statistics show, but a new ‘toolkit’ aims to solve the ‘class crisis’.

According to new research, just 27 per cent of the creative industries workforce comes from a working class background, compared with 39 per cent of the wider UK workforce. For the ‘advertising & marketing’ and ‘music and performing arts sub-sectors’, the percentage of the workforce from a working class background falls to just 23 per cent.

“Disproportionate numbers of those in senior roles who attended private school or Oxbridge may also have served to perpetuate understandings of cultural ‘fit’ and accepted behavioural codes within the creative industries, presenting an additional barrier to those from low socio-economic backgrounds,” the government added.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said she will tackle the ‘class crisis’: “A working class background should never be a barrier to a successful career in the creative Industries. We want to increase access to opportunities across the board as part of our plan to level up.

“This new toolkit will help support creative firms become more inclusive and give people the chance to forge a successful career in these exciting sectors,” she added on September 29.


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Deirdre Tynan

Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.

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