news category General News created 24 March 2020
On Monday evening, the Prime Minister announced that we MUST now stay in our homes as we’re ‘facing a national emergency’. We all need to ‘join the national effort’ to protect the NHS, so it can cope with the crisis of Covid-19.
We encourage members to follow the advice and only leave your home under these circumstances:
Remember, even when following this guidance, you must keep at least a 2m distance from anyone who doesn’t live in your household. Gatherings of more than two people are now banned. Full guidance can be found here.
Police will have powers to disperse gatherings, these do include fines. These measures will be reviewed in three weeks, and may be relaxed if the evidence shows it’s working.
The government advice for work that cannot be done from home, may still take place if it’s deemed essential and follows the social distancing rules. So far, there are no specific restrictions placed on recording studios. However many have decided to close of their own accord because their services are not ‘essential’.
We fully support this approach, as we believe public health is paramount. Although being cooped up in the studio is a form of self-isolation, if you have to travel on crowded public transport to get there, you’re kind of missing the point. We appreciate this is tough for businesses and self-employed people, especially due to the lack of clarity from the UK Government regarding what compensation they might receive.
Ultimately, right now it’s up to individuals to decide whether to close, unless more stringent measures are applied by the government, because the current plan isn’t working as well as they hoped. Remote sessions for people working from home are still happening. The MPG are in constant communication with MPs & civil servants regarding the self-employed and also submitted evidence to the treasurer select committee on this matter.
We expect an announcement on the self-employed very soon.
It was announced today that the UK Government are going to provide extra protection for businesses with a ban on evictions for commercial tenants who miss rent payments. This is good news for members with studios, writing rooms, and a like, as they will not be forced out of their premises if they miss a payment in the next three months.
Please share this with your business networks.
The MPG Loss of Earnings Survey is still open until Wednesday 25th March at midnight (23:59). The more responses we get the better we can build an acurate picture of the effect on our part of the industry. If you’ve not done so already please fill in the survey now and share with anyone you know who is a music producer, recording engineer, mixer, mastering engineer or recording studio.
Click here to fill in the survey
Being housebound for prolonged periods of time will impact our mental health, so here are some tips to help you survive.
This is going to be a difficult time for a lot of our members, and the industry as a whole. Help Musicians have launched a special Covid-19 website dedicated to providing advice and support regarding financial hardship, legal issues, mental health, etc. Visit: http://www.coronamusicians.info/
We are planning to do some positive work on sharing tips for remote working and support efforts to generate work amongst our colleagues that can be done remotely. If anyone has any ideas on this, please share them on our Facebook page or drop us a line on communications@mpg.org.uk
