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What changed in the September 2026 APA crew terms?
The short answer. Three rules change on 1 September 2026. A prep day may now be booked for 8 or 10 hours, with overtime only after 10 hours worked. The overtime grade boundaries move to £458 and £697, so a rate near an old boundary can change multiplier. And base to base no longer applies to equipment hired from the crew member.
A new edition of the APA Recommended Terms for Engaging Crew on the Production of Commercials takes effect on 1 September 2026. The rate card goes up as it does every year, and we've covered the new figures separately. This article covers the part of the 2026 agreement that actually changes how your day is calculated. There are three rule changes, and if you already know the terms well, these are the only differences worth learning.
1. What changed for prep days in 2026?
From 1 September 2026, a prep day may be booked for either 8 or 10 hours. The booking is charged at your basic hourly rate, and overtime only applies after 10 hours have been worked.
Under the 2025 terms, a prep day was a fixed shape: 8 hours at your basic hourly rate, overtime after 8 hours (or after 9 if you were given a first break).
Read that carefully, because it contains a catch. The overtime trigger is 10 hours worked, not the booked length. If you're booked for an 8 hour prep day and end up working 9 or 10 hours, those extra hours are paid at your basic hourly rate, not overtime. Under the new wording, overtime on a weekday prep day does not start until you pass 10 hours worked, whatever was booked.
The old rule that a first break pushed prep overtime from 8 hours to 9 is also gone. The 2026 terms contain no break based extension for prep days.
Two things did not change:
- Recce, construction and strike days keep the old shape: 8 hours at basic hourly rate, overtime after 8.
- Weekend and holiday prep is untouched. Saturday prep is still 8 hours at 1.5 times your basic hourly rate with overtime after 8 hours, and Sunday or bank holiday prep is still 8 hours at double with overtime after 8. The new 10 hour trigger applies to ordinary weekday prep.
Practical advice: when you take a prep booking, confirm whether it's an 8 or 10 hour booking at the point of engagement, because that number now sets what you invoice for the booked day.
2. Where are the new overtime grade boundaries?
Grade I now runs to £458, Grade II from £459 to £696, and Grade III from £697 up. Weekday overtime is graded by your basic daily rate, and the coefficients are unchanged; only the boundaries between grades have shifted:
| Grade | 2025 boundaries | From 1 September 2026 | Overtime rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade I | £0 to £444 | £0 to £458 | 1.5 × basic hourly rate |
| Grade II | £445 to £676 | £459 to £696 | 1.25 × basic hourly rate |
| Grade III | £677 and above | £697 and above | 1.0 × basic hourly rate |
If your rate sits in one of the gaps this opens up, your overtime multiplier changes. A negotiated daily rate between £445 and £458 was Grade II last year and is Grade I from September, so your weekday overtime improves from 1.25 to 1.5 times. A rate between £677 and £696 moves from Grade III to Grade II, improving from 1.0 to 1.25 times. Worth checking before you send your first invoice under the new terms.
The 2026 card itself illustrates the shift. The Lighting Technician maximum is now £457, listed as Grade I with overtime at 1.5 times. Under last year's boundaries that same £457 would have been Grade II at 1.25 times. If you negotiated a rate above an old card maximum, check which side of the new lines it falls.
Saturday, Sunday and after midnight overtime are unaffected. Those have never been graded: 1.5 times on Saturdays, double on Sundays and holidays, triple after midnight.
3. Does base to base still cover your own hired kit?
No, not from 1 September 2026. The travel terms say that if production asks you to collect equipment or personnel from any address other than your home, that time counts as working time on a base to base basis.
The 2026 terms add one exclusion: base to base is not applicable to equipment hired from the crew member. In other words, if production is hiring the kit from you, driving it to set is no longer automatically working time under this clause.
The terms don't set out a replacement formula for that situation, so if you're supplying your own kit, agree the collection and delivery terms as part of the kit deal before the job starts. Collecting production's equipment from a rental house, or picking up other crew, still counts as working time base to base as before.
Did anything else change?
No. The basic working day, continuous working days, night shoots, early and late calls, weekend and holiday multipliers, break penalties, midnight triple time, time off the clock, mileage, cancellation fees and holiday pay all carry over word for word. Only the money changed, and the three rules above.
TimeMachine works out APA days, overtime and penalties automatically, and the September 2026 terms land in the current update. Open the app to price a day.
TimeMachine is an independent tool for UK film and television crew. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Advertising Producers Association (APA). It references the publicly available APA Recommended Crew Terms as a rate reference only. Figures quoted are from the September 2025 and September 2026 terms. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.