Campaigners from Can’t Buy My Silence and Pregnant Then Screwed, take part in a protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice, central London, to highlight non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) being used to gag women from making complaints about bullying and harassment at work. Photographer: Cait Sim. Date: May 14th 2024.
Can’t Buy My Silence is a campaign calling time on NDAs that silence victims of harassment, abuse, and discrimination.
The Campaign
Can’t Buy My Silence UK is a campaign working to end the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of harassment, abuse, and discrimination. Co-founded by Zelda Perkins, the first woman to publicly break an NDA with Harvey Weinstein, the campaign highlights how NDAs, originally designed to protect commercial confidentiality, are now routinely used to cover up misconduct and silence victims.
The campaign has exposed the widespread and damaging use of NDAs across many sectors, particularly affecting workers in insecure or low-paid jobs. Can’t Buy My Silence has worked with politicians across all parties to push for meaningful legislative change, backed by strong public support. Their advocacy has included government lobbying, publishing testimonies, public education through data and detail, and media campaigns, all aiming to remove NDAs as a tool for silencing abuse.
Louise Haigh MP and Zelda Perkins address MPs, Peers, and invited guests and speakers at a Parliamentary event held in May 2025. Photographer: Rocket Green. Date: May 7th 2025.
What an enormous honour for Can’t Buy My Silence to be shortlisted, especially in a category that recognises the fight of underdogs taking on entrenched systems. We’re a tiny team, but this campaign is powered by the voices and bravery of the people who’ve come forward to speak out. Being recognised by SMK is not only encouraging for us, but it shows how public pressure and persistence really can start to shift the dial on deeply rooted injustices.”
Oscar Bannock
Campaign Manager
The Change
Since launching in 2021, Can’t Buy My Silence has driven legislative change in the UK, Ireland, and Canada. In 2022, it launched a voluntary university pledge, endorsed by the Department for Education, urging institutions to stop using NDAs in cases of sexual misconduct and discrimination. Within 18 months, 67% of key institutions signed on, resulting in an amendment to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. Passed in 2023 and reinstated in 2025, it made England the first country to ban abusive NDAs in higher education.
The campaign also helped amend the 2024 Victims and Prisoners Act, confirming NDAs cannot legally prevent reporting a crime. Currently in Parliament, Labour MP Louise Haigh has championed an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill to extend these protections across all sectors.
In April 2025, over 92,000 people signed a petition in under a month. During PMQs, Layla Moran MP pressed the Prime Minister on NDAs, prompting Keir Starmer to pledge his government would act to stop their misuse.
The Future
The campaign’s goal is clear: to change legislation and regulation to ensure that the integrity of law is upheld, and legally enforceable documents cannot be used to silence anyone about harm, whether from misconduct in the workplace, malpractice (i.e. in healthcare), or faulty products. Can’t Buy My Silence will continue to work with politicians, unions, employers, and the legal sector to close this loophole for good, including securing meaningful NDA clauses in the Employment Rights Bill. Baroness Helena Kennedy has tabled an amendment, which has full cross-party support.
Who else was involved?
Breakthrough Impact, Speak Out Revolution, Zelda Perkins
