As of 03/04/2020 the majority of Staff have been placed on Furlough leave. Members of staff placed on Furlough Leave will not be contactable until the Covid-19 situation changes. Additionally, Holmes Park also closed for the foreseeable future.
Click here to find out how to reach the remaining members of staff

The FA have launched a new YouTube Channel that has loads of fitness activities, interviews and challenges. Additionally look at the FA's Footballs Staying Home page where you can find information on Health and hygiene, Mental well being, Home activities and fitness tips, plus load more.

Finally we have received this from Leicester Partnership NHS Trust. A great document to interact with your own kids about their Health

The FA's legal partners Muckle llp. have put together a dedicated set of FAQ's that include guidance notes on Membership subscriptions, Club operations and financial assistance among other areas that may be of use to your club.

Muckle - Impact of Covid 19 - FA Charter Standard clubs FAQ

The FA has created a forum for leagues to share best practice and collaborate on solutions to the unique challenges they're facing. Leagues can join this forum here

The FA have created a knowledge Hub that is full of useful guidance on using all of the FA systems and more! This is a great place to start when you have a question about what to be doing / how to do it

Visit the knowledge hub by clicking here

No, all affiliated football is currently suspended for the foreseeable future so that covers every format of the game. No one is allowed to play League games, Cup matches, friendlies, small sided games, behind closed doors games or have a kick about with mates.  

It is important to understand that if you were to play, you would not be covered by the Public Liability and Personal Accident insurance as well as break the governments instructions of social distancing.

No. The suspension also applies to training. If a team were to organise a training session this would be in breach of the suspension and you would not be covered by the Club’s Public Liability and Personal Accident insurance.

The Government do note that staying active is an important part of our health and wellbeing at this difficult time, so why not stay active? Go for a run, or a walk or maybe kick a ball around and do your own football sessions at home?

No. As it stands, no club can run a summer tournament due to the current suspension. We do of course recognise that these events are important fundraisers for clubs but at the present time the suspension does prevent these from taking place. We are not currently accepting any applications for Tournament sanctions

No. Leicestershire & Rutland CFA had mandated that all clubs should follow The FA’s postponement of all grassroots football. We have consulted with our insurance provider Bluefin and any clubs who use the County FA scheme for Personal Accident and Public Liability insurance must adhere to this instruction. Clubs and teams who ignore this instruction will not be insured and will not be able to make any claims against their policies. 

Those clubs who do not have Bluefin insurance in place will need to check with their insurance provider.

The FA has declared that for the National League System, the results for the 2019-20 season are to be expunged with no promotion or relegation. What does this mean for Leicestershire & Rutland football?

As part of the National League System, Leicestershire Senior Football League results will be expunged. Below this level on a Saturday and in all other local football, including youth leagues, Leicestershire & Rutland CFA will be working with our sanctioned Leagues on how to conclude the season at grassroots level. A number of Leagues have already published their decisions:

Leicester District Mutual League
Leicestershire Foxes Sunday League
Leicester & District Sunday Juniors League
Leicestershire Youth League
Leicester City & County Girls League
Leicestershire Youth Futsal League

We will add to this list as we receive clubs

Correct, the 2019-20 season is concluded and there will be no option to play any outstanding league games.

There is greater flexibility around Cup Competitions, with options including simply cancelling the Competition, trophy sharing (if finalists are already determined) or delaying the finals to a “season opener” for the 2020-21 season. The majority of leagues have took the decision to cancel their League cups, as the majority were not at the finals stage. The LRCFA board recently meet and took the decision to review the postponement of County Cups at a later date. All clubs with teams still in the competition will be contacted first, once a decision is made on County Cups

If a Competition is brought to an immediate end with results expunged (i.e. without promotion or relegation occurring) then there are no winners and thus no medals/trophies can be awarded. Moving teams to the appropriate Divisions for next season can occur under Rule 2L at the League’s AGM and this is very important in youth football. It is important that teams don’t stay in Divisions next season where they are well above or well below their abilities.

You may be looking for ways to engage with your team during this lock down period. Whilst using one of the many video calling apps is a great way to keep players engaged and talking about football, please be mindful if anyone on the call is under 18 years old (this includes in adult teams). Take extra care if there are Under 18's on the call and follow these simple steps:

• Make sure you have parental permission
• Make sure you are calling the parents phone and not the child
• Make sure there are other adults on the call
• The discussion is only about football

At this point in time all our courses will not be going ahead and are postponed. We are actively monitoring the guidance of the Government and The FA. When we receive notification from FA Learning that courses can resume, we will make an announcement. Until then, register you interest on any of our courses and we will contact as soon as the courses become available.

No. As it stands there has been no change to the Rules regarding player registrations so players cannot sign for next season yet

The FA have confirmed an extension of one month for clubs to complete their Annual Health Check. This means the deadline to submit and be awarded has been pushed back from March 31st to April 30th. Where clubs are required to book individuals onto courses, we are looking at availability of courses in June. However, there will be some leniency if volunteers cannot access these courses for clubs to renew their accreditation. Volunteers will still be required to complete their online Safeguarding renewal, where possible, before the health check can be awarded.

If a club does not submit or cannot be awarded their Annual Health Check by the end of April, their accreditation will lapse.

Any clubs that have already been awarded their Health Check during the 2019/20 season will remain a Charter Standard Club going into the 2020/21 season.

All FA (County FA) affiliated referees should only be officiating in leagues, competitions and tournaments that are affiliated by The FA or the relevant County FA. Officiating in any form of unaffiliated football could result in disciplinary action being taken by the County FA. The FA is strongly advising that no football should be played for the foreseeable future, therefore any affiliated referees are asked not to officiate in any environment at this time.

The FA is implementing temporary changes to DBS checks in football for the period that football is suspended due to coronavirus, up to and including the start of the 2020-2021 season. These changes are outlined here 

All individuals whose DBS checks are due to expire between 1 March 2020 and 1 October 2020 will not be required to renew their DBS checks until 1 year after the scheduled date of expiry. More information can be found here

At this point in time we have had to postpone all Leicestershire & Rutland CFA courses for the foreseeable future. This blanket postponement effects every course we were running during this period, this does also include those such as Level 1 & 2 courses that were between sessions.

Level 1 bursaries will be put on hold for now and when Coaching Courses recommence, they will be reactivated. Please speak with your Football Development Officer to show your interest in maintaining these. 

Yes. Now is a great time to complete this course. Please see our Coach Education pages where the guidance’s can be downloaded. If you have any issues, please contact the Coach Education team CoachEducation@LeicestershireFA.com 

Yes, and Leicestershire & Rutland CFA strongly encourage that all clubs take this time to go through Club Administration especially Player Registration, even if their League is not using the system this season.  Clubs can add players, detach and amend their players listed so that it shows the most up to date information. It will soon be mandatory for all Players to have Email addresses attached to their FAN’s, this might be a great time to get this task done! If you have any questions we are happy to help Info@LeicestershireFA.com

This is a club decision, and we encourage all clubs to consult with their players, parents and guardians before reaching a decision on this. Clubs who own or lease their facilities will still have bills to pay and this should be explained during these discussions.

We do also remind clubs to be mindful of people who are currently out of work as a result of COVID-19 or have had their working hours reduced. This means that they may struggle to make payments to clubs at this point.

Things to consider during consultation:
• Could you offer payment holidays for those in need?
• Can you allow subscriptions to be paid in installments?
• Would people be prepared to pay an advance on their subs to help the club out in the short-term, if they are so able?

We do recognise that this is a significant worry for a large number of clubs and County FA’s are currently discussing the financial implications of the suspension with The FA who in turn are talking to the government. At this stage it is simply too soon to give any further information about any support that may be available, although the Treasury have issued the following:
• Grant funding of £25,000 is available for hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000.
• A 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England will be introduced.
• The government is bringing forward legislation to allow SMEs to reclaim statutory sick pay paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19. Employers with fewer than 250 employees will be eligible (further information to follow).
• Businesses in financial distress with outstanding tax liabilities may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s 'Time To Pay' service. Please call the dedicated helpline: 0800 0159 559 who can help with any tax deferrals and revised payback schedule.
• Businesses that have insurance for both pandemics and government-ordered closure should be covered. However, the impact of government advice on mass gatherings in terms of insurance is yet to be confirmed. Please check your individual insurance policy.

For further support, please visit the government’s support for businesses page or contact your local authority which will be issued with guidance to help businesses in their area.

Sport England have launched a new Community Emergency Fund to help clubs and leagues in this difficult time.  This new fund of £20million is open to the football community – to help during this challenging time. Find out more here

Yes. We encourage everyone to use the wholegame system to do this.  For those that usually come into the office to deal with this, please wait until football resumes to sort.

The system is set up to issue late fines and suspensions automatically so they will still come through although we are happy if any fines/suspensions occur during this time, we will take these off.

Yes. Communication from the FA has confirmed that any ongoing suspension will continue as soon as football continues. 

We wish we knew! The situation regarding Covid-19 is incredibly fluid at the moment and it is impossible to say at this stage when and how football will be back. Like you we are already desperate for it to return!

Whilst Holmes Park is closed, details to contact those staff that are not on Furlough leave can be found here
 
We appreciate you may have more questions, if we have not covered the answer to your question, please e-mail info@LeicestershireFA.com