Have Your Say on The Government’s Occupational Health Consultation

You may not have heard about the current government consultation: “Health is everyone’s business: proposal to reduce ill-health related job losses”.  The consultation seeks views on different ways in which government and employers can take action to reduce people falling out of work because of ill health.

While much of the document is focused on employers, there is a significant section in chapter 3 which includes proposals to improve access to high quality, cost-effective occupational health services for self-employed people and suggests that a direct subsidy or voucher scheme might be a solution.

Given that about 85% of the performing arts sector is freelance and 75% of artists will experience an occupational health problem, some form of subsidy could transform  the health of performers.

We’d encourage performers, performance professionals, industry organisations and anyone else interested in the health of the performing arts workforce to have a look at this consultation and respond to government to ensure that the needs of our sector are well represented. You only need to complete the bits of the survey that are relevant to you. You have until October 7^th.