Creative industries worth almost £10 million an hour to economy – how will you vote?

The time to male up your mind has arrived, the referendum vote is tomorrow.  The over riding message from creative industries is that we are better in than out.  Creatives are a huge asset to the UK, and as a sector, have a powerful voice.

• UK’s Creative Industries grew by 8.9 per cent in 2014 – almost double UK economy as a whole
• UK’s Creative Industries generate nearly £9.6million per hour
• 2016 set to be another blockbuster year for UK’s music, film, video games, TV and publishing sectors

The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy, figures published reveal. British films, music, video games, crafts and publishing are taking a lead role in driving the UK’s economic recovery, according to the latest Government statistics.  The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy.

Much of the focus of UK talent is, unsurprisingly, based in London according to the latest Professional Recruitment Trends report from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo). Demand for professionals in London’s creative occupations remains exceptionally high – over a third of jobs in the sector found within the UK’s main creative hub.  Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, commented on the report saying;

“London’s creative industries are immensely important to both the city itself and the sector as a whole, contributing an estimated £35bn to the economy and providing the capital with approximately 800,000 jobs.”

When it comes to deciding which way to vote, our responsibility is great. Take a look at our article from earlier this month which outlines some of the pros and cons on both sides of the Brexit debate.

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Test your Mettle – Creative Shootout 2017!

WardWilliams Creative were judges at the inaugural Creative Shootout in January 2016 – a fantastic event that pushed the boundaries of the usual awards format, and it’s back for year two! The Creative Shootout is unlike traditional awards programmes in many ways:

• Focused purely on creative
• Teams compete against each other on a real brief from a major charity
• Done in a day
• 4 hours to work on creative, 20 minutes to pitch back that afternoon to a panel of very high profile judges and a live audience of several hundred
• Followed by cool evening after party
• This year is open to all disciplines (PR vs Advertising vs Digital etc) – from agency or in house.

Year two launches w/c 19th September 2016.  Any marketing agency or in house team can enter and eight teams will be selected for the Live Final which will takes place 19th January 2017 in London.

Watch last year’s event and take a look at our write up for an idea of what to expect.  More information can be found at www.creativeshootout.com.

A quick word about your tax return…

Remember, as a reward for getting your tax return information and documents over to us early we are able to offer you a discount on your fee.  Get in touch to find out more

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