Responding to the Chancellor’s ‘Plan for Jobs to help the UK’s recovery’, Incorporated Society of Musicians Chief Executive Deborah Annetts said:
‘This latest package may help some businesses and staff in the music sector. However the VAT cut is far too small for the few live performances which are taking place largely online. The music sector needs a VAT holiday for the next 12 months while it rebuilds following the pandemic.
We are dismayed that for a second time in a week a government package has been announced that simply does not address the urgent needs of freelancers in the music sector. The vast majority of musicians are still not able to work and yet the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) runs out in August.
Musicians are facing a cliff edge of the government’s own making. We desperately need the SEISS to be extended to at least the end of the year.
If this does not happen, then we risk losing many talented musicians who simply cannot continue in the profession because of financial hardship. This would be all of our loss, as much as theirs.’