Fair Work Statement

Panel is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, which works alongside a range of partners, collaborators and freelancers. Currently one of Creative Scotland’s Regularly Funded Organisations, our programme supports designers, artists and makers at different stages in their careers, ensuring they are appropriately supported towards specific project outcomes. Panel’s core commitment to the development of talent means that a particularly high percentage of public subsidies are passed directly to designers, artists and makers through commissioning and exhibiting opportunities. The principles of Fair Work guide this and the following areas of our programme:

Partnership and collaboration

Panel works in collaboration with a variety of organisations, institutions and venues to develop and produce our public programme. We will only work with partners with robust Fair Work policies and whose core purpose is to support artists.

Fees

All staff, and those who contribute to our programme, are paid above the Real Living Wage, with Artist fees set at the Scottish Artist Union residency rates. We commission designers, artists and makers to create detailed production cost breakdowns which include fees for production partners and freelance workers based on industry-standard rates. We no longer employ unpaid volunteers.

Staff Career Development

Panel’s employees and freelance staff team are its greatest asset. We recognise our responsibility to ensure a happy and safe working environment, proper renumeration for work and appropriate professional development opportunities. Research and development time and training opportunities are offered to all core Panel employees to ensure we remain active in developing the professional skills required to deliver our work. We aim to be a collaborative employer where the team, and all those that we work with closely, know they are supported, valued and respected.

Panel offers a range of staff benefits including: a workplace pension scheme and flexible working arrangements to balance employees’ personal circumstances with the needs of the organisation. From 2025 all Panel core staff will be offered permanent PAYE contracts and will benefit from annual salary increments. We are an accredited Living Wage Employer.

We are committed to actively promoting equality and diversity in all our work, and in our recruitment processes, and both our programme and our operations are set against the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy. We are currently working on implementing the following work in line with its five key principles:

Effective voice

  • Formalised consultation structures, including all staff surveys and individual review meetings to address issues including wellbeing, workload and productivity.
  • Leadership training opportunities.
  • Mechanisms to ensure all staff and freelancers are included in discussions around the direction of the organisation and its programme.

Security

  • Making accessible Panel’s Vision, Values and Aims for all staff and freelancers.
  • Assessment of horizontal (pro rata) pay scales within the organisation and ensuring that these are commensurate with comparable roles in the cultural sector.
  • Creation of a Pay Policy Statement.

Opportunity

  • Working towards building a Steering Committee that is more representative of the population of Scotland.
  • Working with our staff, freelancers, collaborators and participants to gather feedback and input into our annual EDI action plans.
  • Ring-fencing budget lines for training and development for both employees and freelancers, to address any skills gaps and career progression.
  • Reviewing our current recruitment and selection practice to prevent bias or other barriers to access.
  • Further removing barriers to work for those with caring responsibilities by offering flexible working on top of paid parental leave and being open to consider practices that may support further work-life balance and wellbeing.

Fulfilment

  • Reviewing the skills profile of PAYE and freelance staff to create a learning and development plan that reflects both organisational and staff development priorities and needs.
  • Offering opportunities for staff at all levels of the organisation to ‘step up’, contribute to organisational problem solving or take the lead on certain projects.

Respect

  • Creating a Health and Wellbeing Policy that outlines our responsibilities in maintaining health, safety and wellbeing standards.
  • Providing remuneration for membership of, and attendance at, advisory and steering group meetings, to support a more equitable framework for participation, in line with our EDI commitments.