We committed in the Creative Industries Sector Plan to appoint a Freelance Champion, who will advocate for the creative sector’s freelancers within government and be a member of the Creative Industries Council. We will announce the appointment very soon.

Our priority has been that we take the time to get the role and appointment of the Freelance Champion right. As this is a new role, we have spent time working closely with the sector to develop the role’s remit, identify the priorities within that, and understand how the roleholder will engage with the sector once in post. We are working through the details and will be able to share more once the appointment has been announced.

I am happy to take that back to the department. I do not have a list of the make-up of the council, but I will take the point back and write to the noble Earl.

The noble Earl raises a very interesting point and I am genuinely not sure of the answer. If he will forgive me, I will write to him. With regard to the self-employed, the DWP is currently working with Nest Insight and other partners to test potential solutions to encourage contributions from the self-employed into pensions, including nudges and utilising digital systems that many self-employed people already use. I think that will have an impact on the creative sector, but I will write to the noble Earl on the detail of his question.

Since February 2023 HMRC have delivered three new online A1 application forms. These online forms are more accessible and provide a tailored customer journey for those applying for an A1 certificate.

In addition HMRC are adding automation to these forms, which will enable faster processing and reduce opportunities for error. HMRC expect the CA3837 used by self-employed workers in the music industry touring within the EEA, to be automated by October 2024.

I am grateful to the noble Earl for raising this issue. I reassure him that my inquiries in the Treasury have caused one or two minor waves in ensuring that this gets the priority that it needs. There has been an improvement, although I accept that it is not good enough—as HMRC also acknowledges—and that more needs to be done. I will take away his request for a meeting. Although I am of course happy to meet him, the subject is not directly within my portfolio, so it might be better if the relevant Minister met him.

My Lords, HMRC is rolling out significant improvements to the application process by allocating extra resources to help answer phone calls and deal with correspondence across all national insurance services. That includes the training and deployment of more people to process A1 applications. HMRC has also introduced new digital A1 certificate application forms and will roll out automation technology to help process customers’ applications faster.

We are moving the full A1 application process to an online service. This will improve the speed at which customers have applications processed. This digital approach will be phased in over a number of months and the print and post version that is on GOV.UK will be removed. This will hugely improve the user experience when completing the form and sending necessary supporting documents. We cannot be specific on the timescales for this change but please continue to review GOV.UK where we will publish updated information on the services we offer, for customers going to work overseas.

We do not have any plans to allow customers to apply to work overseas via the A1/S1 application process by telephone. This is due to the level of detailed information that is needed when submitting the form.

We are moving the full A1 application process to an online service. This will improve the speed at which customers have applications processed. This digital approach will be phased in over a number of months and the print and post version that is on GOV.UK will be removed. This will hugely improve the user experience when completing the form and sending necessary supporting documents. We cannot be specific on the timescales for this change but please continue to review GOV.UK where we will publish updated information on the services we offer, for customers going to work overseas.

We do not have any plans to allow customers to apply to work overseas via the A1/S1 application process by telephone. This is due to the level of detailed information that is needed when submitting the form.

The average time it is taking HMRC to process/issue A1s received online is 15 weeks as it stands today. HMRC processes 3 different applications forms (CA3822, CA3837 and CA8421) that can result in A1s being issued.

It is not possible to break it down to average processing times for each application due to the complexities of HMRC’s internal digital mail systems.

In quarter 3, HMRC plans to upskill additional colleagues to help process the backlog of CA3822s and this will include CA3837s and CA8421s which will help to reduce processing times.

HMRC intend to automate the CA3837 application process in the Autumn which will improve processing times and remove opportunities for error.

HMRC issues A1 certificates where a self-employed individual is subject to UK social security legislation whilst working in the EU. The rules for issuing certificates apply equally to HMRC and EU Member State social security authorities. The government has no plans to seek changes at this time.

In response to customer feedback, HMRC introduced a new online version of the form CA3837 in June 2023, which was designed to streamline the application process, offering a number of enhancements and providing additional guidance for more complex questions.

HMRC intend to automate the CA3837 application process in the Autumn which will improve processing times and remove opportunities for error.

The Government is well aware of the great contribution freelancers make to the creative industries, and to our society and economy more widely. We are reviewing the scope of the Creative Industries Council to ensure it has appropriate representation, and so that it can be a voice for the full range of people working in the creative industries. We will be gathering views from a wide range of relevant parties to inform this work, including creative freelancers. In addition, we are consulting freelancers on the challenges they face through the Independent Review on Job Quality in the Creative Industries.

We recognise the significant challenge the pandemic poses to our arts and creative sectors and to the many individuals and freelancers working across these industries.

DCMS officials have been engaging with HMRC, the Creative Industries Federation (CIF), Arts Council England, and leading organisations such as ‘What’s Next’ and individual freelancers within the sector to better understand the level of impact the pandemic has had on the sector and those working in it.

We have supported freelancers through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) which was extended at Budget to September 2021. Freelancers are also supported through the unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund support package, which has helped ensure the venues and organisations which support them have survived the pandemic. We were also pleased to announce Government funding via Arts Council England last December of an immediate £1.5 million emergency support for freelancers affected by the pandemic, alongside a further £1.35 million contribution from the theatre sector.

We will continue to work closely with freelancers and organisations across the sectors to see how we can best provide support to those affected.

The UK’s Points-Based Immigration System has been designed with businesses and employers given huge consideration, including the music sector.

The Visitor route includes provision for professional artists entertainers and musicians to undertake paid engagements for up to a month. We expect to treat EEA and Swiss nationals as non-visa nationals, meaning they can undertake these engagements without needing to apply for a visa in advance of travel.

As non-visa nationals, EEA citizens will be in scope for the concession for temporary creative workers looking to remain in the UK for up to three months, without the need to apply for a visa in advance, provided they first secure a certificate of sponsorship. This is a popular and generous concession available only to non-visa nationals working in the creative industries.

We will continue to engage with the creative industries as we review the routes for creatives going forward.

The UK continues to participate in EU social security coordination rules during the transition period, and the self-employed should continue to apply to HMRC for A1/E101 certificates as normal.

Self-employed individuals going to work in the EU, EEA or Switzerland on or after 1 January 2021 who remain subject to UK social security legislation will be entitled to an A1/E101 certificate if they are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU, the Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement or the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement. For those individuals not covered by these agreements, the Government published a mandate on 27 February which sets out its intention to negotiate a future EU-wide agreement on social security coordination, including on which countries’ legislation is applicable.

On 26 October, HMRC published an Agent Update which sets out some of the changes for the self-employed going to work in or coming from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland from 1 January 2021.

We understand the important points that the noble Earl has raised and we are keeping these schemes under review. To repeat what I have said, we believe that the key to this is to get people performing as quickly as possible; we have tried to do this both through the exemptions that we have achieved for rehearsals and in the direction of our funding.

There are no current plans that I am aware of to extend the self-employed scheme to that group, but the £95 million fund announced by Arts Council England is trying to maximise employment opportunities, including for those early in their careers.

The Government recognises that those who started trading more recently will not have submitted a tax return for the 2018-19 tax year, and it considered alternative approaches. HMRC would not be able to distinguish genuine self-employed individuals who started trading in 2019-20 from fake applications by fraudulent operators and organised criminal gangs seeking to exploit the SEISS.

However, those who entered self-employment after April 2019 may still be eligible for other support. For example, the self-employed can benefit from the Government’s relaxation of the earnings rules (known as the Minimum Income Floor) in Universal Credit.

My Lords, the Government have taken a number of steps to support the self-employed at this difficult time. On 26 March, the Chancellor announced the self-employed income support scheme, which will provide eligible individuals with a grant worth 80% of their normal profits for three months. The Chancellor has also announced several other policies that might benefit the self-employed. These include the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme, mortgage holidays and an income tax deferral.