Gaps in Support Highlighted by Treasury Select Committee

The report, which was published on Monday 15 June, points out that over a million people have fallen through the gaps of Government’s coronavirus support schemes. It makes recommendations to help those in need of support, and urges the Government to fulfil its promise of “doing whatever it takes” to protect people and businesses from impact of coronavirus by acting now.

The Treasury Select Committee report supports our own call on the Government to make sure that no musicians are left to fall through the cracks in the current support schemes, after our impact survey identified key gaps in the current Government Support for self-employed workers.

You can read the full Select Committee report on the UK Parliament website.

Take action now

We’re calling on the Chancellor Rishi Sunak to make sure that no-one is left behind by Government support by.

• Provide meaningful support for musicians who have been self-employed for less than a year.
• Allow musicians who are part self-employed (at less than 50% of their total annual income) to access support through the Self-employment Income Support Scheme.
• Remove the £50,000 cap in the Self-employment Income Support Scheme, as no equivalent cap exists for employed people, and pay people up to the cap.
• Support for self-employed musicians who run as limited companies and pay themselves in dividends through the Self-employment Income Support Scheme.
• Ensure that musicians who have taken time off from work for maternity / parental reasons are not discriminated against.
• Speed up the Universal Credit application process up to cover the gap until support via the Self-employment Income Support Scheme is made available in June, or put in place an alternative method of covering the income gap.

Take action now and write to Rishi using our letter template.