I read an interesting piece in HR magazine recently which posed the question that if the UK were a company what should its people policy be? It’s an interesting premise and one of the points the article makes is that the UK needs first to establish what its core competencies are – innovation like the US; manufacturing like Germany; or cheap labour as can be found in emerging markets? All the evidence seems to point to skills in the service, research and – of great interest to me – the creative sectors – in other words knowledge. But if this is the case then how do we keep talent in the UK when in a world which is so highly networked it is possible to work anywhere – as long as you have an internet connection.
Happily, the Chancellor seems to have recognised this in the recent budget and it was good to see the announcements around tax relief for three UK creative industries – TV Production, animation and video games – all sectors within which Handle recruits.
In his statement he said that the tax breaks would reverse a trend of UK productions being made overseas and that they would also attract foreign companies to make their programmes in the UK. Interestingly, independent studios in Britain contribute £4.3 billion a year to the UK economy and employ almost 21000 people – this is more than the combined television divisions of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
In terms of the gaming industry, British studios generated £1.7bn in worldwide sales in 2009 but have always found it difficult to compete with countries like Canada and France which offer state supported financial aid.
This is obviously great news for the UK economy not just in terms of potential revenue streams but also for the creation of new job opportunities.
The real key to the success of the scheme will be how well the Government advertises the availability of the credits – let’s hope they do it well so that we can see more foreign investment – create more jobs and retain our talent.
David Johnston, Director, HR at Handle Recruitment
