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An Update From the London FA CEO Regarding COVID-19 Pandemic

Paul Bickerton, CEO of London FA, has written an open letter to all members to provide an update regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dear Members, 

Firstly, I hope you are all safe, well and keeping positive whilst we battle against this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic together. 

I wanted to write to you all directly to advise you on some key plans for the business over the next couple of months: 

  • All London FA staff will continue to work in the business up to Thursday 30th April 2020.

  • As of 1st May 2020, just over half of the staff team (11 London FA staff) will then be on furlough leave for the foreseeable future. At present this is likely to be until 31st May and we will be reviewing this regularly as the Government provide more detail on the easing of lockdown conditions and what this means for grassroots football.

  • 10 staff will be remaining in the business as a ‘skeleton’ team, and will be focused on the following work areas as a priority:

  • Continuing to support our clubs and leagues, through our recently launched COVID-19 support package

  • Launching and delivering affiliation for the 2020-21 season, allowing clubs to get themselves ready for the new season well in advance

  • Continuing to deliver an effective safeguarding service to the sector

  • Accelerating some of our customer service improvements

  • Supporting the grassroots football sector in London to start planning for the 2020-21 season, and to respond to further Government updates regarding the lockdown as they develop

  • Communicating regularly with you as our members, to ensure you know how our plans are progressing and what we can do to help

  • A breakdown of the staff going on furlough leave and those remaining in the business is set out below:
Remaining at work  On furlough
CEO (Paul Bickerton) Investigations Officer (Carl Long)
Head of Finance & Operations (Roya Taslimi) Designated Safeguarding Officer (Jake Rosewell)
Head of Governance (Becky Greaves) Safeguarding Administrator (Marquel Ellis-Brooks)
Head of Workforce & Comps (Hugh Gilroy) Football Development Manager (Laura Foster)
Head of Delivery (Neil Twitchett) Football Development Manager (Aquila Burgess)
Designated Safeguarding Officer (Nikeeta Patel) Football Development Administrator (Alex Burke)
Investigations Administrator (Harley Manning) Football Disability Officer (Conor McBrearty)
Football Development Officer (Amanda Lewis) Workforce Manager (Neil Fowkes)
Coaching Administrator (Emily Whale) Coaching Administrator (Shannon Hyner)
Cup Competitions Officer (Jamaal Horne) Workforce Administrator (Alex Wilson)
  Workforce Officer (Nicholas Wright)

Furlough leave is a temporary leave of absence for economic reasons and is designed to save jobs in the long term. All members of London FA staff will not be financially disadvantaged during their period of furlough leave.  Our workforce continue to be fantastically supportive of this decision and look forward to returning to work at the earliest possible opportunity.
 
Therefore, please direct any enquiries through to one of the generic email addresses listed below and we will respond as swiftly as we possibly can. We have recently invested in a new email management system to allow us to track and manage all queries effectively and so for the best level of service, we would strongly recommend that you use this form of communication.

safeguarding@londonfa.com
discipline@londonfa.com 
coaching@londonfa.com
refereeing@londonfa.com 
countycups@londonfa.com 
development@londonfa.com 
playerregistration@thefa.com 

We are also providing lots of up to date information through our website, so the chances are your query can be resolved in this way. Please do visit www.londonfa.com and visit the relevant section of the website for lots of helpful guidance, advice and FAQs.

We have a general COVID-19 update page, which you can access here. We also have a more detailed COVID-19 FAQ page, which provides lots of useful advice, guidance and relevant FAQs, which you can access here.

Can I take this opportunity to thank you all for the contribution you are making to supporting grassroots football in London at this difficult time.

Please stay safe, keep well and look after each other.

Best wishes, 

Paul Bickerton

CEO, London FA