Governance and finance

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.

The template comes with brief notes and some examples and you should also read our general Conflict of Interest guidance before using the policy. 

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.

This toolkit is part of our 'OTR, Part 2' guidance and explains how to set up and run a production company.

If you have not read our guidance (on what OTR is and how to claim), we suggest you read it before using this toolkit:

This toolkit is part of our 'OTR, Part 2' guidance and explains how to set up and run a production company.

If you have not read our guidance (on what OTR is and how to claim) we suggest you read it before using this toolkit:

We are currently working on creating a series of templates, guidance and services for creating records, accounts and claiming for OTR. These will be added to this page as they are finalised.

Keeping records

• OTR3.1 Guidance: Accruals basis of accounting

This guidance looks at how to keep accrual accounts for your concert production company for the purposes of claiming OTR, and includes examples to help you.

This introduction is the second of three documents on Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR). It gives you an overview of how to set up and run a production company to claim OTR.