CIISA sets out three-year strategy and reveals key developments

The Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) today sets out its three-year strategy for 2026-29, Empowering Creativity by Protecting People, and details a number of key developments.

These include Parliamentary recognition of CIISA as an independent whistle-blowing body through ‘Prescribed Person’ status, offering important legal protections for people making relevant disclosures to CIISA, and the move to a registration model to underpin the funding for CIISA’s vital services to the creative sector.

The Rt Ian Murray MP, Creative Industries Minister said: “Everyone who works in the creative industries deserves to be treated with fairness and dignity, whether that’s on a film set, in a recording studio or on a theatre stage. For too long, too many people have faced poor treatment with nowhere to turn, and that has to change.

“CIISA’s strategy represents a huge step forward for our creative workforce. By bringing the sector together around a shared commitment to better standards, we are sending a clear message that misconduct has no place in British working life.”

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee said: “The CMS Committee has followed CIISA’s progress with interest because we remain concerned about the scale and persistence of bullying, harassment and discrimination within the creative and cultural sectors. We think CIISA has an important role to play in tackling these issues and we welcome publication of this three- year strategy and the formal recognition of CIISA as a whistle-blowing body.

“It’s clear that for CIISA to be effective it requires meaningful and committed support from both industry and Government. We urge creative sector organisations to demonstrate their commitment to driving out harmful behaviour by supporting CIISA so it can get on with delivering the positive change that is so urgently required.”

Sarah Owen MP, Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee said: “The Women and Equalities Committee welcomes the publication of CIISA’s three-year strategy and its recognition by Government as a formal whistle-blowing body. This crucial step will help more workers in the creative industries have the confidence to report harassment and discrimination, levels of which remain alarmingly high.

“As our recent committee work has shown, CIISA has a huge task to improve behaviours and raise standards in the sector, so I urge both industry and the Government to give CIISA all the support it needs to help victims and promote safe working environments for all. There should be nowhere to hide for perpetrators of bullying, harassment and discrimination in the workplace.”

Baroness Helena Kennedy KC LT, Chair of CIISA said: “Becoming an officially recognised, independent whistleblowing body marks a significant step forward for CIISA and the potential impact of this within the creative sector in identifying and preventing harm should not be underestimated. This will go some way towards removing a layer of fear that has silenced so many for so long. With thanks to colleagues across Parliament whose belief in the importance of CIISA’s work has brought this to bear.”

Jen Smith, CEO of CIISA said: “I’m proud to set out our strategic vision for the next three years, which feels particularly significant in a moment of real momentum as CIISA is recognised as an independent whistleblowing body for film, TV, music and theatre, and as we open our registration model.

“Registering with CIISA enables organisations to make a visible commitment to collectively preventing the harmful behaviours that have no place in our sector; together we will drive real change that will benefit all those who make the UK’s creative sector so extraordinary.”

Empowering Creativity by Protecting People sets out CIISA’s vision to support the UK’s world-leading creative industries through 2026-29. Aimed at supporting safe and inclusive working environments for everyone in the creative sector, the strategy details the roll-out of services through 2026/27 including an Independent Reporting Service to close accountability gaps and a data and insight function to bring greater understanding of issues the sector faces, and from 27/28 an early-intervention function to help identify patterns and deal with problems before they escalate, including the introduction of mediation and arbitration services developed specifically for the needs of the creative industries.

There are several resources immediately available to help embed the CIISA Standards across the creative sector with many more planned, designed to provide consistency of expectations around behaviour and to drive-up professional standards. Key for 2026-29 will be extensive engagement with CIISA’s users and the broader industry to ensure it is responsive to sector need.

In support of these objectives CIISA today details two important developments.

First, CIISA has been formally recognised by Parliament as an independent external whistleblowing body for people working in the film, TV, music and theatre industries, including live performance.

People will be able to raise concerns with CIISA relating to the CIISA Standards, where they do not feel able to report issues within the primary organisation concerned, or where they believe concerns have not been appropriately addressed. Reports to CIISA can be made in confidence, and CIISA will take careful steps to protect the identity of individuals who come forward.

As a ‘Prescribed Person’ people can report concerns to CIISA about experiences that may have a wider impact on others, rather than personal grievance. This includes concerns relating to harassment, discrimination, victimisation and other harmful practices, as well as other concerns connected to possible breaches of the CIISA Standards.

Becoming an officially recognised whistleblowing body also means workers who report concerns to CIISA may be entitled to additional legal protections under UK whistleblowing law, including where they may have previously signed Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). CIISA’s first-stage Reporting Service launches in September to ensure it can receive disclosures as soon as possible. This will initially focus on building a clearer picture of the behaviours and practices affecting people across the sector, rather than acting on individual cases.

In a further key development, CIISA has now moved to a Registration model to fund its activities. As an industry-backed, independent body CIISA relies on the support of the sector to fund the support it provides. This Registration model brings CIISA into line with peer Standards Authorities in other sectors, and provides greater clarity around the organisations committed to supporting CIISA. It enables registered organisations to celebrate their association and their commitment to embedding the CIISA Standards, sending a powerful message that harmful behaviour will not be tolerated.

Organisations registering with CIISA receive a ‘CIISA Registered’ mark to display, access to a range of additional materials and resources to support them to meet and exceed the CIISA Standards and will be listed in the publicly available CIISA Register (from the end of 2026).