Sadler's Wells Announces Furlough Period For Casual Colleagues Will End On 30 September 2020

Sadler's Wells will end the furlough period for casual colleagues on 30 September 2020. At Sadler's Wells, the casual colleagues include 222 people in the Front of House, Catering, Technical, and Ticket Office teams.

Read the statement below:

Government support for the furlough scheme, which ends on 31 October, will continue to taper down for its final month, and sadly we are no longer able to fund the contributions required of Sadler's Wells to keep these colleagues on furlough.

We have avoided taking this action for as long as possible, and that's why we have committed to keeping our casual colleagues on our payroll and making the furlough contributions required of Sadler's Wells until the end of September.

The devastating impact of the coronavirus crisis has already forced us to enter a consultation period with permanent and fixed term staff, and in addition to the other actions we have taken to reduce cost, this measure has become necessary to ensure the survival of Sadler's Wells.

Artistic Director & CEO Alistair Spalding and Executive Director Britannia Morton said: 'We are deeply saddened to have to make the decision to end the furlough period for our causal colleagues on 30 September. We know that this will be difficult news for all of Sadler's Wells, especially our casual colleagues who are a core part of our community. Many of these colleagues are the people our teams, artists and audiences associate with the Sadler's Wells experience they know and love.

As we begin to reopen our buildings and explore projects that can be compliant with social distance requirements this autumn, there will be some opportunities for casual colleagues to be offered opportunities to work. However, we know that this is unlikely to be at the levels before lockdown began.

We hope that our recent application to the UK Government's Culture Relief Fund will be successful to ensure the survival of the organisation, and that an eventual full reopening of our theatres can enable us to bring back as many of our casual colleagues as possible, as soon as possible. However, continued uncertainty prevents us from being able to make any definitive assurances to these valued colleagues at this time.'

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