Can our club continue with ground maintenance work?
We understand that conducting some essential ground maintenance may be important to ensuring the long-term existence of some sports clubs and facilities.
The government have confirmed that as long as social distancing regulations are adhered to and due regard for health and safety is followed, work that is essential to that space and cannot be done from home is acceptable and in this situation ground maintenance staff would be allowed to continue in their roles.
Please note, this advice is valid as per social distancing regulations on 6 April 2020, please continue to follow the most recent government advice.
How can we keep our club running?
This is likely to be a challenging period as many clubs and organisations seek to adjust to a lack of usual activities, whilst maintaining structures and processes where possible.
Sport England’s Club Matters have produced a suite of resources to assist clubs to continue operating, including financial planning, securing premises and holding virtual committee meetings and AGMs.
What help is available for business tenants?
The Coronavirus Act was passed last week in Parliament and includes a wide range of measures aimed at helping businesses through this uncertain period.
Section 82 of the Act ensures that during the period up until the end of 30 June 2020 (which may be extended) a business tenant is protected from forfeiture for non-payment of rent. However, this does not waive the tenant’s obligation to pay rent but rather defers it until the end of the relevant period at which point it may be recovered.
It is possible that the relevant period could be extended depending upon how circumstances evolve. Therefore it is advisable for all members to be in discussion with their landlords if they are experiencing issues with rental payments.
Further information can be found here.
Insurance
To combat the spread of COVID-19, the government has instructed all non-essential business, including sports clubs and leisure facilities, to close.
The government and the insurance industry have confirmed that this instruction to close is sufficient to satisfy a clause relating to government ordered closure in a policy and further intervention by the police or another statutory body is not required.
However, the ability to make a claim will also be dependent on organisations having an insurance policy which covers pandemics or unspecified notifiable diseases. Further information from the government on commercial insurance is available here.
It is suggested you contact your insurance provider to understand fully what your policy covers.
Our partners Howden have produced a series of COVID-19 related guidance for businesses including operational management, cyber risk management, support for employees and implications for directors.
The Association of British Insurers have also produced useful guidance regarding business insurance.
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