Christopher BarrettThe Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP) has urged all companies operating in the live events industry to use specific Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes to better illustrate the size and scale of the industry to Government.
SIC codes are used for providing Companies House with a description of a company’s nature of business but due to the live events industry not having clear and defined SIC codes many businesses that operate in the UK’s events industry are assigned elsewhere. The lack of defined and relevant SIC codes has meant that in the eyes of the HM Treasury and Office for National Statistics (ONS), the events industry does not exist, and many parts of the industry have been excluded from support by the Government as a result.
BVEP, with its members as well as others from the EU and USA, has been campaigning for changes to these codes to make them more relevant, but it is expected that is going to take between three to five years until they are agreed internationally.
In the meantime, the organisation is calling on all businesses involved in the live events industry to include at least one code from the selection below in addition to that which they currently use.
In the UK, businesses can list four codes on their return to Companies House, although most only use one. The SIC codes are not always relevant as the descriptions are not well matched. By using more than one, a business can retain any existing key sector category such as manufacturing or transport but use the additional codes to flag a connection to the live events sector.
In a statement BVEP said, “The idea is to get all companies involved in all aspects of the events industry to use these codes – to help create data and visibility and to demonstrate how financiallysignificant the industry is.
“We are aware that the descriptions that go with these codes are unlikely to be totally accurate to many of your businesses and we are campaigning to get the descriptions made ‘wider’ but in the meantime, we believe they will help achieve our aim of improving data and visibility.
“We urge all venues, organisers, suppliers of conferences, meetings, and exhibitions – basically, anyone involved in live or recorded conferences, events, exhibitions etc – to do this.”
82301 Currently classified as: Activities of exhibition and fair organisers. This subclass includes the organisation, promotion and/or management of events, such as business and trade showsand conventions, whether or not including the management and provision of the staff to operate the facilities in which these events take place. Click here to find out more.
82302 Currently classified as: Activities of conference organisers. This subclass includes the organisation of conferences and meetings, whether or not including the management andprovision of the staff to operate the facilities in which these events take place. Click here to find out more.
90020 Currently classified as: Support activities to performing arts This subclass includes support activities to performing arts for production of live theatrical presentations, concerts and opera or dance productions and other stage productions; activities of directors, producers, stage-set designers and builders, scene shifters, lighting engineers etc.; and activities of producers or entrepreneurs of arts live events with support activities to performances or without facilities. Click here to find out more.