Covid-19 Coronavirus Update (22/03/20)

 

It’s been quite a week.

 

The MPG Board has spent most of this week pressuring the government to do more to support our industry, and also talking to other trade-bodies to see what more can be done, at a time where many of us are experiencing a huge drop-off in work, if not a total shutdown of our facilities, not to mention general anxiety about the situation and worries for our loved ones.

On Thursday the MPG were co-signatories on a letter to the chancellor asking for more support for our industry, particularly the self-employed. We also were happy to add our name to this open letter from the CIF, calling for income replacement for the self-employed, and we also organised this letter to the Culture Secretary, calling for recording studios to be given the same business rates holiday as the leisure and hospitality sectors.

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We had a conference call with other trade bodies and our Named Charity, Help Musicians, who have put together a resource for all Covid-19 related advice for the whole music industry, including info on available hardship funds. For more details visit: http://www.coronamusicians.info/

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On Friday, the chancellor announced a range of further measures to protect workers and jobs. The main points that may impact some of our members are:

• Income Protection for employees at risk of being laid off with the government covering 80% of salaries up to £2500/month.
• The interest-free period of the Business-Interruption Loan Scheme has been extended from 6 months to a year.
• Universal Credit has been increased by £1000 a year, and the minimum income floor for self-employed people has been suspended.
• This quarter’s VAT payments have been deferred.

More government guidance and information is available here

To read the chancellor’s full statement click here.

Unfortunately, the new measures for self-employed people fall far short of what we were pushing for and what our members need, and we will continue working with others to ensure that self-employed people get an income replacement that is comparable to what has been announced for employees. In order to keep fighting for our members, we need as many people as possible to fill in our survey, so please keep sharing this with your networks and do fill it in if you haven’t already. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BK6F79S

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Please also write to your MP, explaining how your business has been affected, why you need an income replacement similar to employees, and why Universal Credit alone will not be sufficient. Click here to write to your MP now.

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Finally, we plan to do more positive work to bring our industry together and share 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

 

Stay Safe

The MPG Team