Recommendation 5

With no clear messaging from the Government about when spectators can expect to return to sporting events, we support calls from elite sports organisations for the Government to extend its financial assistance for those organisations that are unable to generate revenue until mass gatherings are permitted. We recommend that DCMS works with HM Treasury to identify organisations within the professional sport sector that remain unable to generate revenue until mass gatherings are permitted again, and to ensure that the systems that have helped them survive the crisis thus far, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the VAT and PAYE deferral period, are extended beyond the current cut-off dates, and backdated where they have already come to an end (such as the VAT payments deferral scheme).