Using Standard Industrial Classification codes, (SIC) on your annual return could help the events industry be counted!
Using Standard Industrial Classification codes, (SIC) on your annual return could help the events industry be counted!
It was deemed that one of the (many) reasons that many parts of the industry were excluded from support during the pandemic by the Government, is because, as an Industry we have never used consistent SIC Codes, used by governments to determine economic activities and industry value.
From a statistics point of view, the industry is “invisible” because there is a lack of relevant SIC codes. Equally, most of us have been unaware to how important these codes are when it comes to the government analysing businesses and industries.
PLASA, #WeMakeEvents & the BVEP along with others from the EU and USA, are campaigning for some changes to these codes to make them more relevant. However, that is going to take between three to five years as they are agreed internationally.
What we need you to do…
In order to unify our industry value and create our own yardstick to self-monitor and to inform Government in the future,
we are asking every company to include at least one SIC code from the selection inidciated in the attached document for download, in addition to that which you currently use.
In the UK, you can list four codes on your annual return to Companies House, although most businesses only use one, and for many, this is not always relevant as the descriptions are not well matched. Equally, by using more than one, you can retain any existing key sector category such as manufacturing, or transport and also use the additional codes to flag your connection to the Live Events sector.
The idea is to get all companies involved in ALL aspects of the events industry to use these codes to help create the
data, visibility and demonstrate how financially significant 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 short-term, we believe a collective effort will help achieve our aim of improving data and visibility.
