1. Unit 1
Awareness of employment in the
creative media sector
By John Robson

2. Types of employment
There are three types of employment
• Employed
• Self Employed
• Voluntary Work

3. Employed
• Employees have a contract which sets terms and conditions
such as hours etc. Your employer is responsible for your
income tax deductions and National Insurance
contributions through a ‘Pay as you earn’ scheme. You
don’t get taxed if you earn less than £9440 per year.

4. Self Employed
• Self employed workers are usually freelance who are subcontracted for work by
larger companies. They have to pay their own tax and national insurance
contributions. A self employed person will also have additional costs such as rent
and equipment costs etc. Also if someone starts legal action against you, you are
personally liable and will be responsible for any compensation that needs paying.

5. Voluntary work
• Voluntary workers don’t need to pay tax or national insurance as they are unpaid,
however voluntary work is good for gaining valuable experience.

6. Implications of employment status
• If you are employed you are guaranteed an income and may receive
employment benefits such as a company car or health insurance. You are
also entitled to holiday pay, maternity/paternity leave and contracted
hours.
• If you are self employed you can potentially make more money however
this isn’t guaranteed. Also there is a lot of competition for work and
working hours are governed by client needs and deadlines.

7. Types of employers
• Private – Working for other people such as weddings birthdays etc.
• Corporate – This is where you will carry out work for larger companies such as advertising,
editing etc.
• Film and TV – Work as part of a TV or Film Crew.

8. Jobs available
• Photography – Weddings, Family and special events etc.
• Corporate – Product, advertising and promotional.
• Editorial – Fashion, Catalogue, Journalism, Art, Sport etc.
• Film and TV – Documentation of production with skills, HDR and stills for Cgi graphics etc.
• Art – Private photography for as art for exhibition.