MU Letter to Treasury: The Government Must Invest in Musicians

Thank you to all those who filled out the latest MU Covid-19 Impact Poll on the gaps in the Government's financial assistance for musicians.

We realise that completing survey after survey can be draining and feel pointless. But your input is crucial in our continuing fight to secure help for the 38% of musicians who are still not eligible for Government support schemes.

You are making a difference

The Treasury recently claimed to have plugged most of the gaps in their support schemes, and asked for details of those MU members who still have no access to financial help. Your responses to our latest Impact Poll do just that – and we have sent them over to the Treasury and to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 

Thanks to MU lobbying, more than 50 MPs are arguing for a review of 'gaps' in the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) in Parliament. There was also a parliamentary debate last week specifically on the subject of the three million excluded. 

And thanks to your emails and letters, there have been countless examples of MPs recounting musicians’ stories. Every story of this kind makes it more and more difficult for the Treasury to continue to ignore our collective call.

No let up for Christmas

This week, more of our members in England found themselves under Tier 3 restrictions – including our members working in the West End. Members in Wales and Scotland will soon be under stricter restrictions as well.

It is simply unacceptable to continue to deny our members the support they need to survive the next few months.

We will continue to push the Government for action on behalf of those musicians who fall through the support gaps throughout the Christmas period.

To do that, we need your help once more

The MU is calling on Government to invest in musicians.

Add your voice to the call - share your story using our customisable graphic.

Simply switch out the text for your story, replace the photo with one of your own, and share across social media using the hashtag #InvestInMusicians.

You can also email your MP using our updated template letter. You may have emailed them before, but your stories are powerful and are making an impact.