Help Musicians today announced plans to open a new financial hardship fund targeted at self-employed musicians who do not qualify for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and other unemployed musicians who are experiencing significant financial hardship.
For those who are eligible, to the extent that funds allow, the charity will offer grant payments for the period 1 June to 31 October, to top up Universal Credit payments where relevant. Where an applicant does not qualify for Universal Credit but is still experiencing significant financial hardship, an assessment will be made based on individual circumstances.
This new opportunity is launched following the charity’s first phase of financial hardship support which offered one-off grants of £500 to provide immediate short-term relief for professional musicians experiencing financial hardship. Unprecedented demand led to a total of £8.35m being distributed in just over 4 weeks to 16,700 musicians who required urgent financial assistance prior to the announcement of government support schemes.