Our campaign to save and improve Social Investment Tax Relief over the past six months has seen us spotlight many social enterprises and charities who have benefited from the flexible, patient and more affordable finance that SITR can offer to fund their plans to start-up, purchase an asset or scale-up.
East Learning CIC, The Swan in Gressenhall, Clifton Community Arts Centre, Wildgoose Rural Training, Challenge Academy and The Spotted Cow are all backing our call to Government to take action now to prevent a sunset clause retiring SITR in April 2021.
We can now add Together TV to that list. In 2016 they raised £390,000 through donations and shares, of which £128,000 was through Social Investment Tax Relief, to become the UK’s first people-owned social purpose broadcaster and continues to attract investors who wish to use the tax relief.
Listen to chief executive Alex Kann talk about how their share issue provided the working capital needed to finance their transition to a charitable community benefit society and how SITR could be improved to make it easier to claim the tax relief.
Learn more about Together TV
Together TV inspires social change through entertaining content – by showing real-life stories, activities and social issues that promote participation in national campaigns and causes. By encouraging people to get involved in causes and initiatives that offer relevant, practical and achievable things to do, the channel promotes healthier lifestyles, improved mental wellbeing and increased social connections amongst its viewers. www.togethertv.com
Together TV is on Freeview 89, Sky 194, Virgin 269 and Freesat 164, along with being streamed, on-demand on My5 and social videos on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and DailyMotion.
More about the future of SITR
Due to a sunset clause in the legislation, SITR may be retired by Government in April 2021 unless action is taken now to prevent this. Millions of pounds of investment capital will be handed back to individuals who wanted to support social enterprises like Together TV.
We are expecting to hear on future of SITR during the Chancellors forthcoming budget in Autumn 2020.