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.
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.
- A Suitable Boy
- A Very British Scandal: The Duchess of Argyll
- After Life S3
- Atlanta S3
- Chimp Empire
- Crime
- Dangerous Liaisons
- Darkness Rising
- Eurovision -The Story of Fire Saga
- Gangs of London S2
- Life After Life
- Master of None S3
- Masters of the Air
- Rules of the Game
- Showtrial
- The Amazing Mr. Blunden
- The Chelsea Detective
- The Fear Index
- The Pentaverate
- The Peripheral
- The Split S3
- The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe
- This Time with Alan Partridge S2
- A Castle For Christmas
- After Ever After
- Alex Rider S2
- All Creatures Great and Small S2
- Angela Black
- Annika
- Avenue 5 S2
- Back to Life S2
- Becoming Elizabeth
- Bloods
- Brassic S3
- Bridgerton S2
- Britannia S3
- Call The Midwife S10
- Cobra S2
- Code 404 S2
- Dalgliesh
- Danny Boy
- Death in Paradise S10
- Doctor Who S13
- Drive To Survive S3
- Enslaved
- Endeavor S8
- Extinction
- Feel Good S2
- Frank of Ireland
- Grace
- Grantchester S6
- Guilt S2
- Hanna S3
- Help
- Intelligence S2
- King Gary S2
- Landscapers
- McDonald & Dodds S2
- Motherland S3
- My Name Is Leon
- My Name Is Lizzie
- Outlander S6
- Peaky Binders S6
- Pistol
- Princess Switch 3
- Queens of Mystery S2
- Rebecca
- Ridley Road
- Roald & Beatrix
- Sex Education S3
- Shetland S6
- Silent Witness S24
- Stephen
- Strike Back S8
- Suspicion
- Ted Lasso S2
- Temple S2
- Tetris
- The Bay S3
- The Bremmer Files S4
- The Canterville Ghost
- The Essex Serpent
- The Girl Before
- The Goes Wrong Show S2
- The Long Call
- The King
- The Last Kingdom S5
- The Majorca Files S2
- The Pact
- The Princess Switch: Switched Again
- The Pursuit of Love
- The Responder
- The Rig
- The School For Good & Evil
- This Is Going To Hurt
- This Sceptered Isle
- This Way Up S2
- Three Families
- Time
- Too Close
- Trying S2
- Viewpoint
- We Are Lady Parts
- White Lines
- Wolfe
- Worzel Gummidge S2
- You Don't Know Me
- A Christmas Carol
- Ackley Bridge S3
- Ackley Bridge S4
- Adult Material
- After Life S2
- Alex Rider
- All Creatures Great and Small
- Avenue 5
- Back S2
- Baptiste S2
- Behind Her Eyes
- Belgravia
- Black Narcissus
- Bloodlands
- Bloodmoon
- Brassic S2
- Bridgerton Project
- Bulletproof S3
- Cheaters
- Clifton
- Cold Feet S9
- Criminal UK S2
- Deadwater Fell
- Death In Paradise S9
- Departure
- Des
- Domina
- Dynasties S2
- Edens
- Elizabeth Is Missing
- Endeavour S7
- FATE: The Winx Club Saga
- Feel Good S1
- Finding Alice
- Flack S2
- Flesh & Blood
- Friday Night Dinner S6
- Grantchester S5
- Guilt
- Hanna S2
- Harlots S3
- I May Destroy You
- In The Long Run S2
- Intelligence
- Intergalactic
- It's a Sin
- Jingle Jangle
- Killing Eve S3
- Last Tango In Halifax
- Liar S2
- Life
- Line of Duty S6
- Little Birds
- Majorca Files
- Marcella S3
- McDonald & Dodds
- Our Girl S4
- Outlander S5
- Pennyworth S2
- Planet Earth S3
- Project Lisbon
- Queens of Mystery
- Quiz
- Responsible Child
- Riviera S3
- Roadkill
- Save Me S2
- Sex Education S2
- Sitting In Limbo
- Small Axe
- Strike: Lethal White
- Succession S2
- Ted Lasso
- The A Word S3
- The Accident
- The Bay S2
- The Children
- The Crown S4
- The Deceived
- The Duchess
- The English Game
- The Irregulars
- The Last Kingdom S4
- The Nest
- The Nevers
- The Offenders
- The One
- The Pale Horse
- The Pembrokeshire Murders
- The Power
- The Salisbury Poisonings
- The Serpent
- The Sister
- The Spanish Princess S2
- The Watch
- The Witcher S2
- There She Goes S2
- Third Day
- Tin Star S3
- Traces
- Truth Seekers
- Trying
- Two Weeks To Live
- Unforgotten S4
- Universe
- Us
- Vera S10
- Vigil
- We Hunt Together
- Wild Bill
- Worzel Gummidge
- Zomboat
- A Confession
- ABC Murders
- After Life
- Anne
- Baghdad Central
- Bancroft S2
- Baptiste
- Beecham House
- Black Mirror S5
- Bounty Hunters S2
- Brassic
- Brexit: The Uncivil War
- Britannia S2
- Bulletproof S2
- Call The Midwife S8
- Call The Midwife S9
- Catherine The Great
- Cheat
- Chernobyl
- Click and Collect
- Clique S2
- Cobra
- Code 404
- Cursed
- Dark Money
- Dave Allen at Peace
- Death and Nightingales
- Death In Paradise S8
- Deep Water
- Defending The Guilty
- Delicious S3
- Derry Girls S2
- Devs
- Doctor Who S12
- Doctor Who, Christmas 2017
- Doctor Who, S11
- Don’t Forget The Driver
- Dracula
- Endeavour S6
- First Contact
- Fleabag S2
- Foreign Skies (Chimerica)
- Frozen Planet
- Gangs of London
- Gentleman Jack
- Giri/Haji
- Gold Digger
- Good Karma Hospital S3
- Grantchester S4
- Hanna
- Hold The Sunset S2
- Jamestown S3
- Killing Eve S2
- Krypton S2
- Les Misérables
- Life of Plants
- Line Of Duty S5
- Living The Dream S2
- MotherFatherSon
- Motherland S2
- Mrs Wilson
- Mum S3
- Noughts & Crosses
- Our Girl 17 18 19
- Peaky Blinders S5
- Pennyworth
- Poldark S5
- Pure
- Riviera S2
- Sanditon
- Seven Worlds
- Sex Education
- Shetland S5
- Sick of It S2
- Silent Witness S22
- Silent Witness S23
- Sticks & Stones
- Temple
- The Barking Murders
- The Bay
- The Capture
- The Crown S3
- The Dublin Murders
- The Durrells S4
- The End Of The F***ing World S2
- The Feed
- The Goes Wrong Show
- The Great
- The Ice King
- The Last Kingdom S3
- The Midnight Gang
- The One That Holds Everything
- The Queen and I
- The Rook
- The Singapore Grip
- The Spanish Princess
- The Split S2
- The Strangers
- The Trial Of Christine Keeler
- The Windsors Wedding Special
- This Time With Alan Partridge
- This Way Up
- Timewasters S2
- Top Boy
- Torvill and Dean
- Trigonometry
- Trust Me S2
- Turn Up Charlie
- Vera S9
- Victoria S3
- Warren
- Whitehouse Farm Murders
- Wild Bill
- World On Fire
- Year Of The Rabbit
- Years and Years
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."