Close to 30 theatres warn Bectu of redundancy plans

Nearly 30 theatres and venues have warned Bectu they are considering redundancy proceedings.

Over the last week theatres and venues across the country have been in touch with the union for workers and freelancers in the creative industries.

Bectu’s members working in theatres  including the National Theatre, Haymarket Leicester, Southport Theatre, Edinburgh Royal Lyceum and cinema and arts venue, Watershed Bristol  have warned members about the need to look at staffing.

Thousands of Bectu members are currently furloughed and these notices effectively mean that employers are preparing to lose staff as they prepare for changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and prolonged closures.

The Chancellor is widely expected to announce that from August the Treasury will only pay 60% of workers’ salaries and employers will need to contribute 20% to have access to the scheme.

Head of Bectu Philippa Childs said: “The theatre industry is facing an unprecedented crisis and employers are doing everything they can to weather the storm they are experiencing.

“The number of organisations telling us they intend to start redundancies proceedings, if they haven’t done so already, is hugely indicative of scale of the crisis the industry is facing.

“These organisations contribute significantly to their local and the national economy. The UK faces becoming a diminished global proposition in theatre without additional support from government.

“Bectu will continue lobbying government alongside employers, for the funding the industry needs, to minimise the impact of this situation on our members.”