Fair Pay Policy

Our pay rates take into account that artists and freelancers do not receive the benefits of pension contributions, sickness or holiday pay, pay their own tax and NI and do not have the same job security as employed staff.

• We pay artists between £284.31-£387.21 per day (as of May 2026). This is benchmarked against Artists Union England guidelines and reviewed annually.
• Planning, research and evaluation days are included in contracts. Planning days paid at minimum 1:1 ratio to delivery days (e.g. 2 delivery days will mean 2 planning days).
• We will always pay full days (no half day rates).
• Rates of pay are not based solely on prior experience, but on factors such as duration and scale of project, level of responsibility, and kind of work required (e.g workshops delivery, research, planning).
• Rates of pay will be transparently discussed and agreed at the contracting stage.
• For long-term contracts (e.g. over 12 months), an annual figure may be negotiated instead of a day rate.
• Travel is considered as time working and a travel budget is provided in addition to fees.
• We share full project budgets, including income (and its source) and expenditure, with lead artists for full project transparency.
• Artists will be paid within 30 days of invoicing. Invoices must detail the days worked and any expenses (agreed in advance) that have been incurred.

• We pay freelance staff a minimum of £200 per day (as of May 2026). This is reviewed annually.
• Rates of pay will be transparently discussed and agreed at the contracting stage.
• We will always pay full days (no half day rates).
• Travel is considered as time working.
• Freelance staff will be paid within 30 days of invoicing. Invoices must detail the days worked and any expenses (agreed in advance) that have been incurred.

• We provide a travel bursary of a minimum of £10 per engagement.
• Due to the diverse nature of our projects, funding structures, and forms of engagement, we have a range of approaches to financially ruminating our participants. Whilst all our projects prioritise mutual exchange and benefit, for certain projects we provide an hourly wage to participants, based on the real Living Wage (currently £13.45 per hour as of May 2026).

• Our employees are full time, PAYE staff and we regularly benchmark salaries against industry averages to ensure fair remuneration. Subject to the agreement of the Board of Trustees, salaries are adjusted annually in April to respond to inflationary pressure.
• We review role employee development at annual reviews and identify marked increase in responsibilities which would form the basis for additional increase in salary, subject to approval by the Board of Trustees.
• Cement Fields is an accredited 4 Day Week Employer. This means all our employed staff are paid a full-time salary but are only required to work four days per week.
• For employed staff, we have core hours of 10:30 to 16:30 (including an hour for lunch), during which most meetings are scheduled. Outside of these core hours, our people are trusted to work their minimum contracted hours in a way that works for their role.
• Employed staff are entitled to 20 days of holiday per annum plus bank holidays.
• Employed staff are entitled to pension scheme membership.
• When employed staff undertake research visits, or spend time away to undertake work commitments, they are entitled to take per diems of £25/night.
• Employed staff receive an annual ‘Go See’ budget of £200 to support them to attend professional events both nationally and internationally outside the core scope of their work.
• Employed staff receive an allowance of up to £500 for use towards replacement of IT hardware equipment or repair/servicing and can be accessed every 4 years of service.
• A weekly allowance to cover internet and working from home costs is provided to employed staff. This is at the HMRC rate of £6 a full working week. Working 4 days a week for 47 weeks a year this amounts to £225.60 a year.
• We provide enhanced parental leave and benefits. We recognise the existing structural disadvantages facing mothers who take maternity leave and who return to work following a period of leave, and the limited nature of paternity leave.