Civil society leaders have started the new decade and the run-up to a general election by sending out mixed messages to our political masters.

On the one hand Acevo, via RNIB chair Kevin Carey, has opened up a new front in the campaign to allow trustees to be freely paid.

On the other, NCVO is pressing vociferously to maintain the exemption from fees that charities currently enjoy when playing recorded music at events or premises worth, it is said, approximately £20m per year.

A politician trying to grapple with these two propositions might be forgiven for thinking that this means we think trustees need to be paid but musicians should work for nothing.

Charities are not immune to myriad laws that increase costs – health and safety regulations, employment law, minimum wages, pretty much all taxes, etc.

When the new pensions regime arrives in 2012, charities’ costs will escalate like every other employer. Should charities be exempted from any of these? Of course not.

If they are considered essential by the elected legislature for the protection of individuals and the health of the nation, then how can charities be exempted? But rules put in place to protect poorly-paid musicians can be ignored? That doesn’t feel quite right.