Creative industries add £84bn to UK economy

The creative industries contributed £84.1billion to the UK economy in 2014, which is a rise of £7billion from 2013.

The sector grew almost twice as fast as the wider economy, according to figures released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Strong growth

The estimates used for official government statistics which measure the direct economic contribution of industries showed that creative industries now account for just over five per cent of the UK economy.

Film, TV, radio, and photography was one of the strongest areas of growth, rising by almost 14 per cent. Advertising and marketing also increased by almost 11 per cent.

The figures also revealed that the number of jobs generated by the creative industries increased by nearly 5.5 per cent to 1.8 million between 2013 and 2014.

The Creative Industries Federation said that tax breaks had helped the sector grow, stating: “The period from 2013 to 2014 saw significant growth in film, TV, video, radio and photography, which coincided with the introduction of tax reliefs for high-end television and animation in April 2013, following longstanding credits for film [implemented in 2007]. This comes after slowed growth in this sector from 2012 to 2013.”

"Impressive figures"

The Creative Industries Federation Chief Executive John Kampfner said: “These are impressive figures and we congratulate our members and the wider sector.

"This success has been built not only on their talent, but on a mix of public and private investment, from Arts Council grants to tax credits. This shows that support and investment for the creative industries is repaid many times over.”

However, Kampfner added that there were still areas of the sector that required government action in order to continue growing, primarily the provision of formal creative education to ensure a future workforce.