Martin Steers | Friday 20th October 2023 10:39am
Ofcom has announced that they are increasing the value that Community Radio stations can assign to their volunteer hours.
The UK Community Radio Network (UKCRN) welcomes this increase and thanks Ofcom for working with us as the trade body for Ofcom licenced Community Radio stations on making this change happen.
Martin Steers Co-founder & Director of the UK Community Radio Network said; “Volunteers are the lifeblood of Community Radio which wouldn't be able to exist without them, we thank Ofcom for hearing our concerns and working with us to increase their values. Although everyone knows volunteers are priceless, it's good the Community Radio stations can now add more of their value to their annual returns”
The UK Community Radio Network has been lobbying on this issue for several years and was the only organisation to raise it in the last Ofcom annual plan. In January last year, it also submitted a policy proposal recommending a methodology and rate that could be assigned.
The increase will see standard volunteer value increase from £9.38 an hour to £13.91 and senior volunteers from £13.13 to £15.23 per hour.
The original rate was set using European Social Fund volunteer rates from over 15 years ago, and the new rate has been based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on occupation rates of pay in similar sectors.
This new methodology was like one proposed by the UK Community Radio Network in our policy paper from January 2022, although our main proposal was to align with BBC Local salary grades.
Community Radio Stations are currently limited on the percentage of income they are allowed to generate via commercial on-air reveunes, in excess of the £15,000 'fixed revenue allowance'.
After the £15,000, not more than 50% can be from on-air advertising with the rest from other sources. Included in the percentages, stations are allowed to use up to 25% of the value of their volunteer time. So, in essence, stations only need to find 25% of 'other' income to stay within finance regulations.
The UK Community Radio Network exists to support Ofcom licenced community radio stations, and campaigning on better terms for stations is a key function, as well as supporting any individual station that might need help understanding or completing their finance returns.
The organisation is run by those involved in the day-to-day running of Community Radio stations, and our work and policy is guided by other station managers that engage with us via our events, surveys, and twice-monthly Zoom meetings.
You can read the full guidance here
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The UK Community Radio Network is a registered Community Interest Company | Company Number: 13700623
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