As mentioned in our interim CAB report article yesterday, six questions were submitted for the CAB meeting. Although these questions were tabled, they were not answered during the meeting. We now have the questions along with their answers, which we are publishing below as an appendix to our main article.
Questions from Supporters for CAB meeting June 2025
- The barrier at the club shop can this be opened on night matches? After the play
Off fans were squeezing through the side where the shop is and having a bollard
obstructing their exit. There is insufficient lighting. This is a health and safety
hazard that I feel needs addressing.
Club response:
Unfortunately, this can’t be opened due to a number of safety and security
requirements:
• It’s on the emergency exit route, so it has to be kept closed to avoid
other vehicles blocking the access.
• We must only have one car park entrance and exit route as part of our
Counter terrorism policy to reduce the risk of a vehicle being used as
a weapon, as in some other recent crowd occurrences.
• It sits within the ambulance emergency access and exit route.
We will look into additional lighting in this area.
- I’d like to query the status of the Sandy Lane “Wonderwall” (Paul Hazelhurst
memorial)
Club Response:
It is good feedback and pretty fair to say that this area (a memorial to former
director Paul Hazelhurst) has fallen into a pretty poor state over recent
years. This will now be picked up as a joint project between the Club and
RAFC Community Trust and we’ll look to restore it to its former glory asap.
- What is the impact of the National Insurance increase on the budget in
percentage and cash terms?
Club response:
Due to the variable nature of payroll (casual staff, players wages/bonuses
etc.) there is obviously a inconstant element to it, but on an average cash on
cash basis, the National Insurance increase has added an extra £5k per
month (8-9% increase), but more impactful was the increase in National
Living/Minimum Wage at the same time which impacted the casual and
academy staff to the tune of c£20k per month – so a combined increase in
payroll costs of c£300k per annum.
- Has the Club taken any steps to mitigate the impact such as introducing pension
salary sacrifice, claiming the employment allowance.
Club response:
The club offer a pension contribution under the auto-enrolment scheme,
where individuals have their own pension arrangements, they are able / have
the opportunity to manage the allocation / salary sacrifice accordingly, but
there are currently limited wider salary sacrifice options available
(something to investigate).
With respect to the Employment Allowance, we had historically not been
able to claim, however as part of the above queried National Insurance
changes, this has now become available to the club, and has been claimed,
although as noted above, given the annual increase of NI is c£60k, the ability
to reclaim the £10k allowance, while beneficial, still results in a significant
uplift overall.
5) Will CAB meeting dates be published to the wider fanbase in advance?
Club response:
Yes. We intend to fix meeting dates for the upcoming season, with regular
meetings occurring every two months. Once confirmed these dates will be
shared with CAB members and also published on the Club’s website so that
supporters are aware of when meetings are taking place and can raise
questions in advance.
Questions arising from this feedback can be sent to the trust CAB representatives at CAB@daletrust.co.uk