Member

Amendment 285 would provide that very small or vulnerable arts organisations could get short-term relief from immediate enforcement of certain new duties, subject to strict conditions. Again, I emphasise that no one is permanently exempted. Instead, if an organisation can demonstrate that compliance by day one would force closure or mass layoffs, it may apply for a temporary, phased implementation. This is analogous to how many regulators operate. HMRC, the Environment Agency and others routinely use graduated enforcement—warnings, reasonable compliance periods, et cetera—for small entities. We propose the same approach in the arts sector, which is highly delicate right now.