Don’t let your membership go!

You need pay no more than 1 per cent of net income

NUJ MEMBERS who are on a low income are eligible for reduced monthly contributions to their membership fee. You can apply for reduced contributions, to pay no more than one per cent of your taxable income, subject to a minimum of £5.66 per month.

You need to apply to the membership department to get reduced contributions: write to membership@nuj.org.uk. If you do this before 31 January and your application is accepted you should avoid starting automatically to pay the full monthly contributions.

If you apply before 31 March and your application is accepted you will receive backdated credits or refunding of any overpayments. If you apply later than that, you may still get a reduction but it will not be backdated.

If you are already on reduced contributions, you should have received at least one email about re-applying. Check that NUJ headquarters has your correct email address at www.bit.ly/NUJprefs.

The usual proof of the income you have in order to determine your NUJ earnings-related subs - including reduced subs - is your tax return. The annual deadline for submitting this to is also 31 January.

The membership department needs proof of your taxable income. That is, the money you have received from all sources minus business expenses that are acceptable to HMRC.

If your income was not low before April 2022 - the end of the tax year that you've just submitted - but has crashed since then, it would be a good idea also to send other evidence of your lower income from April up to now. This is, we fear, not an unusual occurrence in the current still-covid-ridden, cost-of-living-crisis economy. Examples of such evidence include bank statements, invoices, your own business records of incomings and outgoings and a supportive letter from your accountant or bookkeeper if you have one.

If you don't submit an application by 31 January you'll be put on full monthly contributions. If you apply to NUJ for reduced subs before 31 March and your application is accepted, as above any overpayment will be covered by backdated credits or refunded.

And those who have just joined should note the Union's Rule 4(c): "New members - those joining within a given calendar year - must apply for reduced subs within a month of election (on whichever date that occurs) to obtain, if accepted, a reduced rate through to the end of that year." Note that your contributions are also known - confusingly in our industry - as "subs", for subscriptions.

You also have to contact the membership department when you have the happy news that your income has started to recover significantly.

Be aware that Delegate Meeting, the NUJ's policy-making conference, at the end of April, may vote for an increase in minimum monthly subscriptions for members. We will have plenty of notice of when this will take effect, if it happens.