Leicester Comedy Festival Hardship Fund

Comedians, promoters and others who worked on the 2026 Leicester Comedy Festival have not been paid money owed to them by the charity behind it, Big Difference Company.

The Live Comedy Association has opened a second round of hardship payments for those affected. This round is funded entirely by the public fundraiser launched in response to the situation.

Applications are open here until 11:59pm on Monday 5 October 2026.

Payments will be assessed and paid as quickly as possible. Accepting a hardship payment does not affect your right to claim as a creditor in the insolvency process - it is not a settlement of what you are owed. The fund is operated wholly by the Live Comedy Association and no money is going to Big Difference Company.

The initial LCF Hardship Fund in June 2026

In June 2026, the first round of the hardship fund distributed £5,000 allocated by the LCA Directors from the Stand Up And Give Fund.

The Stand Up And Give Fund launched in autumn 2025 and has raised over £30,000 to date, supporting the LCA's lobbying work and projects for the sector.

In numbers:

• 18 applications, totalling £5,893.38 in unpaid settlements

• The Live Comedy Association paid at a flat 85%; the fund distributed £5,009.37.

The LCA became involved after a member emailed asking what we intended to do about people left unpaid following Leicester Comedy Festival 2026.

Since then, the LCA has:

• Established an initial hardship fund, distributing over £5,000 in grants from the Stand Up and Give Fund to those immediately affected.

• Launched a public fundraiser, aiming to raise at least £30,000 from individuals and businesses across the sector.

• Joined the creditors' committee convened by the liquidators, giving those owed money a collective voice in the process.

• Hosted a meeting for those affected, giving performers and promoters a shared forum to compare their position and raise concerns.

• Put questions from that meeting to the trustees of Big Difference Company, and published the responses so that those owed money could see what had - and had not - been answered.

• Broke the news that the debt exceeds £215,000, publishing the findings of the initial creditors' report and revealing that many creditors were missing from the list, meaning the true figure is likely higher.

• Worked with Chortle, BBC News and Private Eye on their reporting into the collapse of Big Difference Company, helping keep the story and the position of unpaid creditors in public view.

• Published practical guidance for creditors, working with law firm Howes Percival on a video explaining what the paperwork means, how to submit a claim as a creditor, and what options are open to those who want to engage with the liquidation process.

This work was recognised in August 2026, when the LCA was named a recipient of the James Corden/Rhod Gilbert ISH Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel Prize, shared between five nominees, specifically for its efforts to support the hundreds of people left unpaid after the charity's collapse.