This online webinar will introduce you to Orchestra Tax Relief, a new source of income for instrumental groups with 12 or more performers, explaining what it is and how your group can benefit from it.
You can find out more about OTR, including whether you are eligible and how to claim, in our resources:
This resource is part of our OTR Part 3 guidance: Keeping records, producing accounts and making a claim. It looks at how to keep accrual accounts for your concert production company for the purposes of claiming OTR.
Organisations claiming Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) (i.e. the concert production companies) have to prepare their financial statements under the Accruals Basis of accounting which requires that income and expense must be recognized in the accounting periods to which they relate rather than on a cash basis.
Health and Safety is one of those terms that can bring dread and derision in equal measure. With some of the stories you hear it’s easy to see why it has a bad reputation. In practical terms though, all it really means is spending a little bit of time thinking about what risks exist in a particular situation and what can be done to minimise them.
This is a template Health and Safety Policy for use by Making Music members. It is based on the template provided by the Health and Safety Executive and is designed to be a starting point for your policy:
Polices aren’t necessarily the most exciting thing to think about when you’re running a music group. But they are important and will help you run your group more efficiently and effectively. We have provided a list of the most common polices you might consider having, together with links to further resources and some template documents. But first, a quick word on why you should have polices in place.
A policy sets out your commitment to a particular area. This can:
An equal opportunities policy plays an important role in the character and culture of your group. It shows your members, potential members and the world in general that you are an open, inclusive and welcoming group.
We have developed a template Safeguarding policy for use by our member groups, consisting of the policy itself and some guidance notes to help you adapt it appropriately.
It is designed to be a starting point for you policy and can be adapted to suit your group’s circumstances. As well as the accompanying notes, we recommend you read our general Safeguarding guidance.
This is a template Conflict of Interest Policy for use by Making Music members. It includes a Conflict of Interest declaration form and a Conflict of interest register. It is designed to be a starting point for your policy and can be adapted to suit your group’s circumstances.
Potential conflicts of interests or loyalty are something that any organisation should be aware of and take steps to manage. If your music group is a charity, the regulator would expect that the trustees have spent some time thinking about how to manage conflicts of interest. However, even if your group is not a charity, we recommend you think about having a simple conflict of interest policy.
In the summer issue of Highnotes we explore the pros and cons of music strreaming for members, take a look at new Musicians' Union guidance on paying professionals and chat to Battle of the Somme composer Laura Rossi.
To download a PDF copy, click the Highnotes image below and select 'download PDF' in the bottom right-hand corner.
