Contribute to the High-end TV Skills Fund

When productions pay into the High-end TV Skills Fund, formerly known as the levy, they are supporting and investing in the longevity and quality of crew and talent for the UK's high-end TV industry. The fund applies to TV production costing £1 million or more per broadcast hour to produce.

The fund supports both training for new entrants and career development for those already working in high-end TV.  Contributing productions also get access to high-end TV programmes such as Trainee Finder and Make a Move.

How do I contribute to the High-end TV Skills Fund?

Once you have all the relevant information, please complete the contribution form by clicking on the link below.

If you are paying into the High-end TV Skills Fund for the first time and have any questions. please email Reuben Samra.

Contribute to the High-end TV Skills Fund

What is the High-end TV Skills Fund?

As part of the consultations with the Government to secure high-end TV tax relief in 2013, representatives of the TV drama industry agreed to start a high-end TV levy.

It was agreed that all high-end TV productions intending to take advantage of UK high-end TV tax relief would contribute to a skills levy fund, now known as the High-end TV Skills Fund, managed by ScreenSkills.

The intention was for productions benefitting from tax rebates to reinvest a portion of this into creating a sustainable skills funding legacy. 

Productions that benefit from UK tax relief for high-end TV productions contribute 0.5% of their production budget spent in the UK into the High-end TV Skills Fund. This is capped at £73,300 for productions with a budget of less than £5 million per broadcast hour and at £110,500 for those with a budget higher than £5 million per broadcast hour.

Since 2013, the High-end TV Skills Fund has collected and invested just over £35 million in skills and training for the high-end TV industry.

Productions that have contributed include Bridgerton, Line of Duty, Outlander, Sex Education, Brassic, Ted Lasso, Star Wars: Andor, All Creatures Great and Small, Killing Eve, Derry Girls, The Chelsea Detective, House of the Dragon, A Spy Among Friends, The Rig and We Are Lady Parts.

The five major broadcasters support the Skills Fund on both in-house and commissioned productions, along with streamers including Acorn Media, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Netflix, Sony and Warner Media. 

How are contributions to the fund calculated?

Eligible productions contribute 0.5% of their UK core expenditure (in sterling), up to a current maximum contribution of £73,300. For productions with budgets of more than £5m per hour, the maximum contribution is £110,500.

Productions can take out up to 60% of the value of their fund contribution from programmes offering direct return finance, e.g. Trainee Finder. This is to ensure the skills fund has income to also invest in wider skills activity that benefits UK high-end TV industry growth.

High-end TV productions can choose to pay their contribution in full on the first day of principal photography or can opt to pay in two halves, on the first and last day of principal photography.

The earlier productions commit to contributing to the skills levy, the more opportunities the production could benefit from. Paying into the fund does not have to coincide with an application for tax credit. 

What is the fund used for?

The funds are invested across the UK in skills development for crew and talent with a focus on skills shortages as well as new entrants. All investment decisions are entirely industry led via our working groups, High-end TV Council and finance committee.

Currently, this investment is providing leadership and management training for heads of departments on skills fund-contributing productions.

To find out more about the work of the fund, take a look at some of our past and current programmes for new entrants or programmes for crew and talent.  Take a look at some of our case studies from professionals who have benefited from ScreenSkills-supported training. Click the following links to download ScreenSkills' High-end TV Skills Fund booklet (PDF) or High-end television in the UK 2020 workforce research.​​

Contribute to the High-end TV Skills Fund

Industry support

Kelly Phillips – Netflix, Director of Production Finance for Original Series UK:

“I am incredibly proud to support the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund and its remit to provide the best possible opportunities to develop an inclusive and highly skilled workforce. I know first-hand how important opportunities like this are and would have loved for this kind of training to have been available to me when I was breaking into the industry. At Netflix, we believe wholeheartedly in giving back through our productions paying into the Skills Fund as this is the most efficient way of ensuring that skills shortages and gaps are addressed with training and development that meets industry needs.”

Magali Gibert, Head of Production, SISTER:

"The ScreenSkills HETV Skills Fund is working hand-in-hand with the industry to tackle skill shortages and ensure that the pipeline of talent is both diverse and inclusive. I couldn’t be more supportive of the fund and the opportunities it provides."

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