Caley Thistle are imposing wage cuts of 20% – but they will apply to less than half of the Championship club’s employees.
The Highlanders wrote to all staff on Wednesday, in a letter from chief executive Scot Gardiner and chairman Ross Morrison, to inform them of the club’s planned measures to cope during the shutdown of Scottish football due to coronavirus.
Inverness have proposed to pay 80% of the wages of staff who are earning more than £24,000, with any employees earning less than that receiving wages in full.
More than half of the staff on Caley Thistle’s payroll are earning less than that figure, meaning they will be exempt from the cuts.
The measure has been taken with a view towards Inverness furloughing their employees during the period of shutdown, in order to fall in line with the UK government’s job retention scheme.
The scheme allows employers to claim a grant of up to 80% of an employee’s wage, up to a cap of £2,500 per month, with the Highlanders intending to make up the remaining 20% of salaries.
Inverness have already told their players in writing that all bonuses will be deferred, however, the club have committed to paying all bonuses they are due in future.
The club is believed to have received an initially positive response to the proposal from its staff, although Inverness have not yet received contact from PFA Scotland who are believed to be in talks with players.
Caley Jags, who recently received investment of more than £500,000 after posting a loss of £892,000 for the year ended last May, have become the latest club to announce cutbacks amidst the coronavirus shutdown.
Premiership club Hearts have asked all full-time employees to take a 50% wage cut, with owner Ann Budge yesterday saying she made “no apology for putting immediate plans in place to mitigate the problems heading our way” in a statement.
League 2 club Elgin City have proposed wage reductions of 67%, while Peterhead remain in negotiations with players over potential wage cuts.
Staff at Dumbarton have agreed to halve their wages, while fellow League 1 club Raith Rovers have started crowdfunding campaign which has already reached £37,000.
SPFL clubs are to hold meetings via conference call today, with all 42 member clubs to be involved in discussions separated by league division.
