The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced that it is cutting 62 jobs because of the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The governing body believes that coronavirus has already cost the game in this country about £100 million — and that figure could double if restrictions continue into next season. As a consequence, the ECB board has approved a 20 per cent reduction in its workforce budget which will come from all areas of the business including staff working on The Hundred, marketing and communications, commercial and grassroots development.
Most of the 62 jobs to be cut are from existing staff, though some will be accounted for by ceasing recruitment for vacant roles. Many of those at risk of redundancy were informed on Monday afternoon in what was described as a “difficult and emotional” briefing to staff by Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive.
All staff have been offered voluntary redundancy and it is expected not all of the job losses will be via compulsory means. The ECB employs 379 people of which 39 are cricketers and 30 are umpires — the rest are administrative or coaching and development staff. The total wage bill for 2020 was £36.5 million but the ECB is looking to reduce that by more than £7 million.
'Unthinkable'
Harrison said that a year ago — after England’s home World Cup victory, a home Ashes series and the Hundred on the horizon — these redundancies would have been “unthinkable”. However, the ECB began making changes in April, with Harrison taking a 25 per cent pay cut and other employees between 20 and 10 per cent. Those measures are in place until the end of October. The number and value of central contracts awarded to players is also under review.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has left cricket facing its most significant challenge of the modern era,” Harrison said in a statement. “It is now an irrefutable fact that the impact of this pandemic is significant and will be long-lasting. There is also deep uncertainty about the future, and it is vital we take more steps now to ensure the future financial sustainability of cricket in England and Wales.
“Given this new reality, if we are to safeguard cricket’s long-term future and still deliver on the growth ambitions of our Inspiring Generations strategy, it is clear the ECB will need to become a leaner and more agile organisation.
“Seven months ago, sharing a message of this nature was unthinkable. The position we had created to come together as a game and grow cricket on the back of a remarkable year in 2019 was truly game-changing. Our ambition and energy are unchanged, but how we get there now needs to look significantly different to what we originally planned for.”
Losses
The ECB is looking at other areas of cost saving including the possibility of moving its head office from Lord’s to another Test ground either in the midlands or the north, although this is unlikely to result in significant savings given relocation costs and there will, inevitably, still need to be some staff presence at Lord’s. The ECB’s centre of excellence at Loughborough is also expected to be wound down. There have already been some job cuts there and it is likely that the ECB will give up the premises and move the operations to one of the existing first-class grounds to make use of county coaching staff.
The ECB is also expected to introduce more short-term and seasonal contracts for some staff whose work is mostly concentrated into March to October. Umpires and other match officials are protected from the job cuts but if the financial losses run into next year and beyond, one area that could be looked at is moving match officials from full-time to eight-month contracts.
The 16 one-year central contracts for players are due to expire at the start of October. The ECB and the Team England Player Partnership group, which is responsible for agreeing pay deals for both men and women England players, are in negotiations for the next 12 months.
Six multi-format contracts were awarded last year (Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes), four Test-only contracts (James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns and Sam Curran) and six limited-overs contracts (Moeen Ali, Joe Denly, Eoin Morgan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy and Mark Wood).
The value of the contracts varies between players based on their performances but the highest value Test contracts are worth around £600,000 and white-ball contracts up to £250,000. Players receive a match fee and win bonuses on top of that.
Player pay cuts ?
In a normal year, England players would expect to receive a pay rise but Chris Woakes had admitted that the England team cannot be “exempt” from the cost-cutting measures being put in place.
“It’s incredibly sad news really,” Woakes said after the ECB announcement. “It does resonate with the players but we’re also very fortunate that cricket has gone ahead this summer. That figure of £200 million losses could have been a lot worse.”
The completion of all 18 planned international men’s matches this summer means that the ECB did not have to take a reduction in the £220 million a year it receives from broadcasters under the new £1.2 billion five-year deal which started this year. Had international cricket not gone ahead the ECB’s losses could have been nearer £400 million.
Given the financial impact on county and women’s players of the Covid-19 pandemic, the feeling among some in the game is that England players should agree to a pay cut or at least a pay freeze.
County players, through the Professional Cricketers Association, have already accepted a number of salary measures including some players moving to eight-month contracts and academy players accepting a lower than agreed minimum salary of £24,000. Many county players accepted pay cuts of between 10 and 20 per cent for this season and have relinquished their share of prize money for the T20 Blast and Bob Willis Trophy. Ninety county players also lost a collective £7 million in expected income after the cancellation of The Hundred and have agreed to take a 20 per cent reduction in the value of their contracts for the competition when it starts next year.
The governing body believes that coronavirus has already cost the game in this country about £100 million — and that figure could double if restrictions continue into next season. As a consequence, the ECB board has approved a 20 per cent reduction in its workforce budget which will come from all areas of the business including staff working on The Hundred, marketing and communications, commercial and grassroots development.
Most of the 62 jobs to be cut are from existing staff, though some will be accounted for by ceasing recruitment for vacant roles. Many of those at risk of redundancy were informed on Monday afternoon in what was described as a “difficult and emotional” briefing to staff by Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive.
All staff have been offered voluntary redundancy and it is expected not all of the job losses will be via compulsory means. The ECB employs 379 people of which 39 are cricketers and 30 are umpires — the rest are administrative or coaching and development staff. The total wage bill for 2020 was £36.5 million but the ECB is looking to reduce that by more than £7 million.
'Unthinkable'
Harrison said that a year ago — after England’s home World Cup victory, a home Ashes series and the Hundred on the horizon — these redundancies would have been “unthinkable”. However, the ECB began making changes in April, with Harrison taking a 25 per cent pay cut and other employees between 20 and 10 per cent. Those measures are in place until the end of October. The number and value of central contracts awarded to players is also under review.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has left cricket facing its most significant challenge of the modern era,” Harrison said in a statement. “It is now an irrefutable fact that the impact of this pandemic is significant and will be long-lasting. There is also deep uncertainty about the future, and it is vital we take more steps now to ensure the future financial sustainability of cricket in England and Wales.
“Given this new reality, if we are to safeguard cricket’s long-term future and still deliver on the growth ambitions of our Inspiring Generations strategy, it is clear the ECB will need to become a leaner and more agile organisation.
“Seven months ago, sharing a message of this nature was unthinkable. The position we had created to come together as a game and grow cricket on the back of a remarkable year in 2019 was truly game-changing. Our ambition and energy are unchanged, but how we get there now needs to look significantly different to what we originally planned for.”
Losses
The ECB is looking at other areas of cost saving including the possibility of moving its head office from Lord’s to another Test ground either in the midlands or the north, although this is unlikely to result in significant savings given relocation costs and there will, inevitably, still need to be some staff presence at Lord’s. The ECB’s centre of excellence at Loughborough is also expected to be wound down. There have already been some job cuts there and it is likely that the ECB will give up the premises and move the operations to one of the existing first-class grounds to make use of county coaching staff.
The ECB is also expected to introduce more short-term and seasonal contracts for some staff whose work is mostly concentrated into March to October. Umpires and other match officials are protected from the job cuts but if the financial losses run into next year and beyond, one area that could be looked at is moving match officials from full-time to eight-month contracts.
The 16 one-year central contracts for players are due to expire at the start of October. The ECB and the Team England Player Partnership group, which is responsible for agreeing pay deals for both men and women England players, are in negotiations for the next 12 months.
Six multi-format contracts were awarded last year (Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes), four Test-only contracts (James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns and Sam Curran) and six limited-overs contracts (Moeen Ali, Joe Denly, Eoin Morgan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy and Mark Wood).
The value of the contracts varies between players based on their performances but the highest value Test contracts are worth around £600,000 and white-ball contracts up to £250,000. Players receive a match fee and win bonuses on top of that.
Player pay cuts ?
In a normal year, England players would expect to receive a pay rise but Chris Woakes had admitted that the England team cannot be “exempt” from the cost-cutting measures being put in place.
“It’s incredibly sad news really,” Woakes said after the ECB announcement. “It does resonate with the players but we’re also very fortunate that cricket has gone ahead this summer. That figure of £200 million losses could have been a lot worse.”
The completion of all 18 planned international men’s matches this summer means that the ECB did not have to take a reduction in the £220 million a year it receives from broadcasters under the new £1.2 billion five-year deal which started this year. Had international cricket not gone ahead the ECB’s losses could have been nearer £400 million.
Given the financial impact on county and women’s players of the Covid-19 pandemic, the feeling among some in the game is that England players should agree to a pay cut or at least a pay freeze.
County players, through the Professional Cricketers Association, have already accepted a number of salary measures including some players moving to eight-month contracts and academy players accepting a lower than agreed minimum salary of £24,000. Many county players accepted pay cuts of between 10 and 20 per cent for this season and have relinquished their share of prize money for the T20 Blast and Bob Willis Trophy. Ninety county players also lost a collective £7 million in expected income after the cancellation of The Hundred and have agreed to take a 20 per cent reduction in the value of their contracts for the competition when it starts next year.
