Wiltshire Cricket Staff Update - Response to Coronavirus
Message from Wiltshire Cricket Managing Director, Pete Sykes, regarding use of the Government’s Job Retention scheme:
Firstly, I wanted to pass on once again my best wishes to the Cricket family in Wiltshire during this incredibly challenging time. I hope you and your families are keeping well.
The main reason for this message is to confirm that as of this Friday, 3rd April, Wiltshire Cricket will be utilising the Government’s Job Retention scheme to place all permanently contracted members of staff, excluding myself, on Furlough. This will be for a two month period through to Friday 29th May. For clarity this effects Aled Evans (Community Coach / All Stars Champion), Ali Goddard (Head of Junior Cricket), Karen Smith (Administrator), Sam Dent (Head of Growth and Women’s and Girls Development Officer) and Tom Morton (Head Coach). During these two months I, health permitting, will be remaining in full time work and so any enquiries that would normally be directed to any other members of staff should be directed to [email protected] or 07920 581413.
Clearly, every industry is facing extremely challenging and uncertain times with Cricket being no different. However, Wiltshire Cricket views the furloughing of our staff as a positive move to ensure that we utilise the government support (which is currently only confirmed through to the end of May) at the time that it is most appropriate for our business, given that the months of April and May are likely to be the quietest for our staff in terms of workload due to the current restrictions that are in place. We will revisit the position at the end of May. Our decision making will always keep in mind that we will want a fully functioning Cricket Development team in place to lead in to the period when restrictions begin to be lifted. We are strongly of the belief that Cricket will have a big part to play in society once it is safe to do so, and we want to ensure that Wiltshire Cricket can hit the ground running at that appropriate time.
Prior to the members of the Wiltshire Cricket Development team going on to Furlough as of close of business tomorrow, I do want to take this opportunity to place on record my thanks for how they have responded to the challenges of the past two to three weeks. They have all shown great levels of energy, enthusiasm and innovation in trying to keep Cricket present in people’s minds through the online content that we have released. I also know that when restrictions are lifted they will return with the normal levels of commitment, hard work and drive that makes them such valued members of the Cricket community in Wiltshire. As I have said previously, Cricket will return and it will be mine and the team’s strong and unwavering desire that it comes back stronger than ever. However, in the meantime we need to make the right decisions as a business to ensure that we are in a position to do this further down the line.
In terms of my work programme over the coming weeks I will obviously remain the main link between ECB and the cricket community in Wiltshire; ensuring that important messaging and communications are released in a timely and effective manner. I will also be here to help with any support that clubs and/or leagues need during this time. Clearly the long term health and sustainability of our game is going to be dependent on making sure that clubs come through this difficult time, and on that note please look out for more details on the support packages from ECB/Sport England in the coming days. My focus over the last few days has been in relation to my team and the Furlough process but from the end of this week I will be available to support enquiries as much as I possibly can.
With best wishes, Pete
