Volunteers are vital in running local community radio stations, none more so than at Salford's very own community FM station Salford City Radio, which can be found on 94.4 on the FM dial. The station relies heavily on over 100 volunteer staff members who keep it broadcasting 24 hours a day. The station has recently moved into new studios within the Civic Centre. With these volunteers in mind the official regulator Ofcom has updated it's guidance to increase the value of volunteers that stations can use when reporting on their annual turnover. The community radio sector has very specific funding rules in place, which are set by Government. Ofcom makes sure community radio licensees adhere to these rules by assessing revenue streams in the annual returns process. The new updated guidance now allows community radio stations to attribute more value to the time that volunteers give in their annual returns. There are currently two levels of volunteer in community radio: Senior volunteer: These have responsibility for station outputs and/or the outputs of other volunteers. Typically, this will be a station manager. Standard volunteer: They have responsibility only for their own outputs. Community radio stations can now claim an hourly rate of £15.23 for senior volunteers, and £13.91 for standard volunteers. This is a significant increase from £9.38 per hour for a standard volunteer, while the hourly rate for senior volunteers has increased from £13.13. Radio stations claiming a value for volunteer inputs and generating further income from on-air commercial sources must always generate at least 25% of this remaining income from other sources – such as grants or donations. Community radio licensees will be able to use the revised rates for both standard and senior volunteers when their annual reports focused on 2023 are due for submission.
