Physical health

To be eligible to apply for welfare support from the charity you must:

• Be aged 18 or over, living in the UK, with the right to live and work in the UK and with a UK bank account
• Not have more than £10,000 savings

You will also need to be one of the following criteria:

• A working musician with a track record of making 40% of your income from music over the past two years or longer. Exceptions apply for musicians with a long-term health condition and/​or disability that impacts your ability to earn.
• A retired musician whose principal career was in music where you earned 40% or more of your income as a musician over at least 5 years during your career

Full eligibility criteria can be found here. We strongly recommend you read these before making an application.

If you do not meet this criteria then you may still be eligible for our Emerging Musicians’ Health Scheme.

We need to ensure our help goes to those who need it most, so we will need to consider your savings and income. 

We are unable to provide financial support to people with savings of more than £10,000 (this includes your partner’s savings, if you live with one). Some exceptions to this apply.

We will ignore some savings in assessing this amount, e.g. if you have a reasonable amount set aside for your annual tax bill.

We wouldn’t normally take into account the value of pension funds, your property (if applicable), or musical instruments and equipment.

When you apply, we ask for details of your income and expenditure to help us decide the level of support we may provide.

You can apply at any stage, however we strongly recommend using the NHS prior to making an application to us.

If the treatment you require isn’t available on the NHS or has a wait time of over 3 months, then this is where our support can have the most impact. 

We are unable to provide financial support towards any medical treatment or services that have already taken place before an application has been approved and our support has been confirmed to you in writing. 

If you have a health problem that affects your ability to work, we may be able to cover the costs of an assessment with a specialist clinician from the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM).

After this assessment our team will work with BAPAM to determine how best to support you. If you meet the above eligibility criteria this may include us supporting towards the cost of medical bills if your treatment is unavailable on the NHS, or if waiting times impact your ability to work as a musician. 

Meanwhile, we may be able to provide financial welfare support to help ease the pressure while you are unable to work due to your health issue.

If you are applying for support towards surgery costs, then please apply and await our funding decision before booking the procedure.

We are unable to provide financial support towards general living costs for musicians in circumstances where there has been a downturn in work or to replace lost earnings.

To ensure we are helping as many musicians as possible, at times of high demand we prioritise those that have not received financial support from us in the past.

We may be able to support eligible musicians who are unable to work within music due to current physical or mental health issues, as well as support with certain welfare situations such as musicians of retirement age, or with long-term health issues or disabilities. 

For more information about the financial support we can offer, please visit our welfare support page.

Please note we are unable to provide financial welfare support for students and emerging musicians (see below) — this support is limited to help towards medical costs only. 

We cannot provide support in response to short-term illness (such as Covid, flu or other respiratory diseases). 

We are not able to fund healthcare treatments outside the UK or pay for any medical treatment or services that have already taken place.

If you are a student or have only just started your career in music then further exemptions apply — please see below.

We are currently unable to fund some treatments, including but not limited to:

• Ayurvedic medicine
• Crystal healing
• Kinesiology
• Homeopathy
• Naturopathy
• Neuro-linguistic programming

If you are a student or have only just started your career in music then further exemptions apply — please see below.

We can offer help through our Emerging Musicians Health Scheme providing you are either:

• a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate student within the UK, studying a course where music performance constitutes at least 50% of the course criteria

or

• able to demonstrate earnings from music within the last 6 months. This includes paid work as a DJ, sound engineer, songwriter or performer

Please find details at the bottom of this page for more information.

Yes. Our team will refer you to BAPAM for an assessment, just as they would if you had a physical illness.

You can also access an accredited counsellor who will offer emotional support, advice and information by calling our Music Minds Matter helpline on 0808 802 8008.

If you’re a music student or musician at the start of your career with a performance-related health problem, either physical or psychological, you can apply providing you are one of the following:

• A full-time undergraduate or postgraduate student within the UK, studying a course where music performance constitutes at least 50% of the course criteria

• Able to demonstrate earnings from music within the last 6 months. This includes paid work as a DJ, sound engineer, songwriter or performer 

If you apply then we will refer you to BAPAM for a free assessment. If you are subsequently told you need a short-term treatment that isn’t available promptly on the NHS, we may be able to help with up to £1,000 towards the costs. 

Please note that we can’t help towards costs for health problems not directly linked to performance, routine dental work, or which are pre-existing and need long-term treatment.

Many music colleges offer assistance to students suffering from performance-related health problems and we expect students to first access any help available from their college before applying.

If you are a music student but don’t meet the criteria above, you can still receive a free assessment from BAPAM but will not be able to apply for financial support towards treatment costs.

To apply, please arrange an appointment with a BAPAM clinician by calling 020 8167 4775.

If you are unsure whether you are eligible, please don’t hesitate to contact us via support@​helpmusicians.​org.​uk or on 020 7239 9101.