Modelling Scams Petition

Modelling
scams can exist only if there is steady source of material for
criminals to benefit, and if protective legislation is weak. Their raw
material is the person, mainly young and female, who sees the
glamorous world of stage and screen modelling, the glitz & wealth, and
wants to be a part of it. Whether newly introduced legislation with have
the teeth to provide the protection, only timed and prosecutions will
tell.

There follows below a reply I received from Downing Street regarding
the petition I started, which has just time-expired, stating the new
legislation they have introduced to try to elminate this problem. Links are
included so that you can check the wording for yourselves.
href="http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/uksi_20073575_en_1">Legislatio
n Against Up-Front Fee Scams

The Employment Agencies Act 1973 (the Act) and the Conduct
of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003
(the Regulations) govern the operation of the private recruitment industry
in Great Britain. The Regulations lay down the minimum standards of
conduct that agencies and employment businesses are required to
adhere to and seek to protect those using the job-finding services
provided by the private recruitment industry. Details of the legislation
which is enforced by the Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform's Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate can
be found at
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employment-agencies/index.html.

Under the Conduct Regulations, employment agencies in the
entertainment and modelling sectors, that are able to charge the
work-seekers a fee for the provision of work-finding services, can only
make those charges out of the work-seeker's earnings from employment
that the agency has found them.

However, this restriction does not apply to those agencies that charge a
fee for the inclusion of the work-seeker's details in a publication. Where
the agency provides other work-finding services, this charge must not
exceed a reasonable estimate of the cost of production and circulation of
the publication attributable to the inclusion of the worker-seeker's details
in the publication. Moreover, before the agency enters into any contract
with the work-seeker to include details in the publication, it is obliged to
make a copy of the current edition of the publication available to the
work-seeker, or where it is in electronic form, have given the
work-seeker access to a current edition of the publication.

Following a consultation exercise on protecting vulnerable agency
workers last year, the Government has taken steps to increase
protection for would-be entertainers and models. The Conduct of
Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment)
Regulations 2007 were made last year, following debates in both Houses
of Parliament and will come into force on 6 April 2008. The Amendment
Regulations are available from
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/uksi_20073575_en_1.

The forthcoming Amendment Regulations seek to address the situation
where would-be models and actors are subjected to hard-sell tactics to
persuade them to pay high fees for the provision of "services" and
promises of work that never materialise. These Regulations introduce a
seven-day 'cooling off' period where fees cannot be taken so that
would-be actors, models or others can reconsider their decision if they
feel they have been pressured at a casting session or meeting to pay for
photographs or to put their details in a publication or website to get them
work.

The seven-day cooling off period applies in all cases (whether at a
casting session or in any other way), where an agency offers to place a
worker's details in a publication.

We made these changes after consulting agencies, legal experts, trade
unions (including BECTU and Equity) and a number of individual agency
workers. We think they strike a fair balance between protecting
workers, without cutting off legitimate avenues for them to seek work.

If you feel strongly about modelling scams and the new legislation, please

Write to Your MP

Modelling Scams