Premiership Rugby confirmed on Tuesday that the 13 PRL clubs – 12 Premiership teams, plus Newcastle – has unanimously voted in favour of bringing in 52 recommendations highlighted by the independent review of the salary cap, the Myners Report.
Robert Rees brings you each of the recommendations and the major points that’ll be implemented.
52 Myners Report recommendations accepted
Lord Myners stated in his report that it was an ‘all or nothing’ review and that clubs couldn’t cherry-pick certain points from the report. The clubs have followed his advice and voted 100% for 52 changes to the salary cap structure.
1. Separation of Investigation, Decision to Prosecute and Enforcement
1.1 Enshrine a commitment by the clubs to respect the independence of the regulations.
1.2 The current discretion for clubs to choose to remove a director of a club pursuant to Regulation 14.7 should be removed.
1.3 Appoint an independent Cap Governance Monitor, with reserved powers in relation to the enforcement of the regulations.
2. Transparency
2.1 Announce the fact that a charge has been brought as soon as is reasonably practical and within seven days, with a brief summary of the substance and details, and proposed dates for a hearing.
2.2 Publish disciplinary decisions in full, with the redaction of confidential information or personal data.
2.3 Include details of all breaches and sanctions in a comprehensive SCM annual report, which is made public.
2.4 Publish guidance from the SCM regularly and make this publicly available.
2.5 Publish general information to share details about the operation of the cap and how it is achieving its objectives.
2.6 Publish any changes to the regulations, along with a rationale for how it is consistent with the five regulatory objectives.
3. Drafting of the Regulations and Definition of Salary
3.1 The regulations should remain as a set of detailed rules, backed up by principles.
3.2 All permitted payments to players should be automatically included within the salary cap, except for a few clearly communicated exceptions.
3.3 All exceptional items to be pre-approved by the SCM, otherwise they will be automatically treated as salary.
3.4 Prohibit payments which are subjective, extend beyond a player’s playing career or come from connected parties (including sponsorship by connected parties). Any prohibited payment should result in a sanction.
3.5 Broaden the current definition of connected party.
3.6 The SCM must approve all sponsorship arrangements in advance.
3.7 Tighten provisions around player loans to ensure they are bona fide.
3.8 Review provisions for exempt (marquee) players.
3.9 Remove the provision to deem a salary. Instead allow evidence of inaccurate salary declaration to be sufficient grounds for the SCM to launch an investigation.
3.10 Strengthen emphasis on clubs seeking clarification from the SCM in relation to any uncertainty in the interpretation of the regulations. Failure by a club to do so should be treated by the disciplinary panel as an aggravating factor leading to an increased sanction.
4. Club Accountability
4.1 The entry level for points sanctions should be increased.
4.2 The disciplinary panel should be entitled to take into account a wider range of factors and be given more guidance in relation to how those factors might influence their decision and their relative weighting.
4.3 Increase sanctions for failure to co-operate to a level equivalent to the sanctions available for breach of the salary cap.
4.4 Make additional sporting sanctions available, including relegation, suspension, stripping of titles and return of prize money.
4.5 Provide the disciplinary panel with the power to install an independent monitor for consistent and serious breaches.
4.6 Increase the sanctions available to the SCM for breach of lower level regulatory breaches, including the ability to deduct 2 points, with a right of appeal for clubs before an independent disciplinary panel.
5. Player Accountability
5.1 Tie players into the regulations so that they have accountability with respect to the salary cap.
5.2 The following player obligations should be adopted:
i) Player declaration
ii) Reporting arrangements for players
iii) Onus on player to clarify arrangements
iv) Co-operation.
5.3 Provide sanctions for players who are in breach of their obligations under the Regulations. These sanctions should include fines and sporting sanctions.
6. Accountability of Others
6.1 Introduce a fit and proper test for club owners to be available to the Disciplinary Panel in extreme circumstances.
6.2 Define a category of “club officials” to include directors and shareholders with more than a 10% holding and each club official should register with Premiership Rugby.
6.3 Require club officials to sign a declaration confirming that they have read the Regulations and agree to abide by them.
6.4 Require a board representative to sign a declaration of anticipated and actual compliance with the Regulations.
6.5 Provide that any club official who knew, or should have known, about the breach of the salary cap and who has signed a false declaration or certification or has unreasonably failed to co-operate with salary cap regulations is subject to sanctions including a ban from Premiership Rugby for up to two years (first offence) or up to lifetime (any subsequent offence).
6.6 Require clubs to nominate a salary cap officer who has duties to the SCM.
6.7 Provide obligations for agents in the regulations that mirror those of players in relation to disclosure and obligation to co-operate with the SCM.
6.8 Add a provision to the RFU’s agent declaration that includes an agreement by each agent to comply with the regulations.
6.9 Provide sanctions for breach of the regulations by an agent, including suspension of licence, forfeiture of any commission and/or fines.
7. Powers and Resource of the SCM and the auditors
7.1 Extend system to allow central access to each club’s salary cap spreadsheet at all times.
7.2 Require clubs to provide copies of documents such as new contracts to the SCM within 14 days.
7.3 Clarify the power of the SCM to attend clubs without notice and require them to provide him with finance reports and access to management accounts.
7.4 Allow the SCM to make requests to see players’ tax returns on a random basis.
7.5 Clarify that, as a part of their annual review, the auditors are able to obtain downloads of raw accounting data from each club’s system.
7.6 Enhance the powers available to the auditors in their annual audit to include mandatory interviews, sampling of tax returns and more extensive provision of information and documents by the clubs.
7.7 Introduce sanctions for clubs that do not comply with reasonable requests from auditors within a reasonable time frame.
7.8 The SCM should work with the Rugby Players Association and RFU to provide a programme of education for players and agents so that they understand their obligations under the regulations.
7.9 Change the title of the “SCM” to salary cap director”.
7.10 Appoint a deputy SCM to assist the SCD.
7.11 Appoint a full-time data analyst.
7.12 Make investigatory audits compulsory if the SCM has reasonable grounds to initiate.
7.13 Expand the scope of investigatory audits to include broader powers of search.
7.14 Provide sanctions for any club or individual who is found to have deleted evidence post the notification on an investigatory audit.
7.15 Introduce random mini investigatory audits for two clubs every year.
Key points
- Any payments that are not direct salary are now to be included in the salary cap’s £7m figure. Therefore eliminating the threat of any property or business deals which had been an issue in the Saracens case.
- Player loan systems are being tightened, as current regulations allow a side to loan off players to get them off their books, thus lowering their wages.
- Sanctions for clubs will be increased.
- Clubs must nominate a salary cap officer who reports directly to those above them.
- Clubs must provide copies of contracts to the SCM (salary cap manager) within 14 days.
- The title of SCM will change to ‘salary cap director’ and a new deputy SCM will be appointed.
- Random mini investigatory audits for clubs every two years will be introduced.
“Main photo credit”
