Luton Town are to furlough staff due to the Coronavirus shutdown of football, but are waiting for the outcome of discussions between the EFL and the Professional Footballers’ Association before deciding what to do with players.
With football not set to return until April 30 at the earliest, because of the spread of the Covid-19 disease, the Hatters say that it has been ‘a difficult decision’, which will see the furlough of many staff members whose roles have been left vacant by the loss of matches or day-to-day operations.
The measures include ‘most of its football staff’, though the club has said that it will not apply to staff who will be ‘placed into poverty’ as a result of the measures, as the Hatters seek to protect its longer-term accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation and avoid redundancies, as chief executive Gary Sweet outlined last week.
However, high-earning staff are unlikely to be affected initially, with the club saying that, in due course, they will be ‘requested to volunteer into programme of salary reduction or deferral to assist the business during the cashflow crisis’.
The furlough programme will see the government pay 80 per cent of an employee’s wage, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month, for an initial period of up to three months.
The Hatters have pledged transparency on the numbers of staff affected, once the measures are implemented, but players, all of whom still have a clean bill of health, will not be requested to take furlough leave ‘until further and direct advice is provided by the government or HMRC.’
This, the clubs says, is because it does not believe that ‘without further evidence, that taxpayers’ money should be used to fund the Club in supporting its higher earning professional players’, with Hatters stars still technically able to work from home, carrying out their personal training programmes.
Sweet last week warned that players may have to take pay cuts in order to protect the football industry, but a statement today on the club’s website, said: ‘No decision has been made, as yet, regarding how the Club will ask players to help keep the Club going. Despite other clubs arriving at an early agreement on the deferrals or reductions of players’ salaries, Luton Town doesn’t feel it is in a position to propose anything at this time to its playing squad.
‘The Club has had initial discussions with the Professional Footballers’ Association but has relaxed these, not wishing to prejudice discussions now taking place between the EFL and the PFA in order to jointly arrive at an agreeable position to assist clubs during this potentially catastrophic situation.
‘Club executives have been keeping senior players abreast of the status and, once an agreement has been reached between these two authorities, the Club will engage with its players in order to try and arrive at an agreement that is palatable to both parties.
‘It is, however, important to note that during this time, the Club feels that every member of staff will need to contribute in some way if the Club is to safely navigate this uniquely challenging period and to retain a functioning Club when we all exit it.’
Staff in the executive office, finance, Human Resources, football administration and media departments, are all currently working full time from home.
