Essex and Leicestershire Players and Coaches on Furlough Leave after Yorkshire and Worcestershire lead the way

Club Statement: Furloughing Process

The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is clearly having significant implications for Leicestershire County Cricket Club along with all professional cricket clubs and many other parts of society. Whilst there is still uncertainty surrounding this unprecedented situation, everyone from the Board of Directors to the staff at every level remain positive and united.

Our income stream has, largely, come to a halt with the postponement of fixtures and virtually all other activities at the Fischer County Ground. Our Senior Management Team has been working tirelessly to find ways of reducing the club’s cost base, with the ECB also offering vital financial support in these difficult times.

The Government’s announcement of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has provided a way for us to retain our staff by placing them on furlough leave. This protects employees who are unable to perform their duties as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus shutdown.

In the best interests of the club, we have now furloughed the majority of our staff, including coaches, and players, for a 3-week period.

The whole club has been kept informed and is in unison regarding the furloughing process.

We will keep the cricket club functioning with a skeleton staff, the majority of whom will be working from home until a point in which we have further clarity around when the current season will commence. 

This has not been an easy decision to make, but I would like to thank all of our staff who have worked incredibly hard and acted professionally to perform their roles during a period of such uncertainty.

The tremendous support of our passionate and loyal Members and sponsors from the outset of this situation has been uplifting and welcoming. There has been huge support across the club’s online and social media channels, and from Members, sponsors and supporters who have been in contact with the club directly.

The most important need is for everybody to stay safe and continue to follow Government advice to stay at home in order to protect the NHS.

Despite the furloughing of staff, if you are in need of a friendly chat or require support, please contact our phone line on 07487 766099 which will continue to operate on Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.

We will get through this together,

Mehmooda Duke MBE DL

Chairman

Essex Cricket can today confirm that the Club’s playing staff along with the majority of non-playing staff have been placed on furlough leave until further notice.

The Cloudfm County Ground has been closed to the public for nearly two weeks now, with staff working from home in an attempt to minimise the potential spread of COVID-19.

Following a board meeting earlier in the week and with this in mind, the Club made the difficult decision to place the playing staff as well as the majority of non-playing staff on furlough leave in accordance with the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Chief Executive Derek Bowden said: “To start off with, I want to say that my thoughts are with everyone affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s vitally important that in these unprecedented times, we listen to the advice of the UK Government and stay at home, stay healthy, look after one another and protect the NHS.

“From a business perspective, by utilising the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, we are able to preserve and protect jobs at The Cloudfm County Ground during a financially damaging period.

“In accordance with UK Government advice, the Club have been strictly following the suggested protocols in order to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19, with the health and wellbeing of all of the staff and the wider community at the forefront of our planning and decision-making.

“With this in mind, the Club will operate with reduced staff throughout April, with regular assessments taking place beyond that. We hope that this will be for as short a period of time as possible and that we can all get back to work and enjoy some cricket in the near future.

“Lastly, we continue to urge our Members and supporters to listen to the UK Government’s advice. Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives.”

A rapid second to do it.... Worcs

Our thoughts as always are with those impacted by COVID-19.

We wanted to update you all on steps we have taken over the last month to attempt to mitigate the sizeable effects of this pandemic on our business.

Over the last month, Worcestershire County Cricket Club (“WCCC”) like many other businesses and sports clubs has dealt with multiple issues. Despite the substantial challenges we face, we are confident we have a plan to see ourselves through. We have implemented club wide policies, uniformly accepted, impacting all staff (including players) equally, a powerful collective message in our view.

On Tuesday 10th March 2020 having concluded a detailed risk assessment it was determined that the pre-season tour to Abu Dhabi would be cancelled. The tour was expected to depart on 18th March returning 29th March where WCCC was scheduled to play against Essex CCC and Somerset CCC.

On Monday 16th March 2020, WCCC Board looked at five potential scenarios for the coming season. This included the season starting on time, a delay to mid-July, a delay to mid-July played behind closed doors, all season play behind closed doors and the season being abandoned in its entirety. WCCC is an Industrial and Provident Society owned by its members.

Our provisional work indicated a potential negative impact to profitability of in excess of £1.1 million, which for a club that in 2019 made a statutory loss of £89.3k and has £4.3 million of debt is substantial. WCCC took immediate pre-emptive action, spoke to lenders, deferred capital payments, and raised overdraft facilities.

On Tuesday 17th March 2020 a few players experienced mid flu-like symptoms and as a precaution self-isolated. WCCC took precautionary measures for all players, working alongside our own medical teams and ECB experts.

On Wednesday 18th March 2020 – with functions postponed, the threat of cricket being delayed and widening national concerns about the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, WCCC reassured all staff that it did not intend to enforce any unpaid temporary layoffs, nor make anyone redundant near term due to COVID-19 pressures.

On Friday 20th March 2020 the ECB announced that the season will be delayed until 28th May 2020 – and was running a range of scenarios with the season commencing in June, July and August. It remains unclear not just when the season will commence, but also what formats will be played (white ball, red ball and international). Our discussions with the ECB indicate that no firm decisions have been made on any format of the game.  Later in the evening, the Government announced a set of measures which included the furloughing of staff to assist business impacted by COVID-19. The Government scheme guarantees 80% of pay up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

On Monday 23rd March 2020 WCCC furloughed 21 staff from Stadium, Catering and Commercial.  WCCC, to mitigate any financial hardship, topped this up to ensure that each staff member furloughed would receive 90% of their pay.

On Friday 27th March 2020 we furloughed an additional nine coaches within Cricket Administration. The only cricket staff that remained were Head Coach, and Head of Science and Medical. The physical and mental wellbeing of our staff is paramount, with Camilla Henderson continuing to provide full psychological support and Dr Rob Young full support for our club.

Therefore, within a week of the government scheme being announced we had furloughed 30 of our 45 staff, excluding players which was being handled centrally by the ECB working alongside the PCA.

WCCC is now operating with a skeleton staff working from home wherever possible. Ground staff, while adhering to government policy – continue with their work to ensure that whenever the decision is made to play, WCCC will be ready. In the last week, as evident from the webcam accessible on WCCC’s website, after scarifying, the square has been reseeded, covered and is being regularly watered.

On Wednesday 1st April 2020 – the ECB announced a £61million interim package to help cricket withstand the financial impact of COVID-19 crisis. From a WCCC perspective, this reflected funds that were principally already committed to us to July 2020, rather than necessarily new additional funding. The only difference, at this stage, relates to the unfettered nature of maintenance payments which was a welcome assistance. The period and payments beyond July, with the playing schedule unknown, remains understandably uncertain.

On Friday 3rd April 2020, following ongoing deliberations with the ECB working with the PCA, WCCC held a series of conference calls with all players. On those calls, WCCC made clear our intention was to furlough all players on the same basis as all other staff. It was important to the club that all share the impact on a consistent basis. County cricketers are modestly paid relative to other professional sports. This policy appears to be supported by the PCA.  WCCC intends to furlough 22 players for April and that period will be extended if required. WCCC will allow one month before the season starts for the players to return, where permitted, to ensure they are ready and prepared for whatever formats are played.

We do not know in what shape cricket will return this year, but we are confident that when it does, we will be ready.  We are also confident we will survive this period of substantial challenge.

We will update you further as things hopefully become clearer in the coming months. In the meantime, thank you for your continued support, please stay safe and healthy.

With best wishes

Fanos Hira FCA  
WCCC Chairman

Fust t'cut thou cloth....

 6 April 2020

The Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s players and cricket staff have been placed on furlough leave until further notice.

This decision comes after the majority of the Club’s non-playing staff were placed on furlough leave at the end of March in accordance with the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Following a Board meeting on Friday, the Club took the decision to furlough all players and coaches. Each player and member of staff in the cricket department were contacted individually by Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon on Friday night.

Speaking about the Club’s decision to furlough its players, Moxon said: “First and foremost, there is a bigger picture than cricket and it is vitally important that people stay safe, stay healthy and support the NHS in any way possible. We are in the midst of a national crisis and cricket is secondary at this moment.

“From a Club point of view, we feel that these measures need to be taken to ensure as little damage as possible to the business.

“The players are disappointed not to be playing as they have worked hard during the winter and have been excited about the season ahead. However, they are all fully understanding of the Club’s decision and we hope that the situation improves as quickly as possible to ensure that everyone can resume some kind of normality as soon as possible.”

Who will be next?