Minister for Sport (): On 22 September, the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the
Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) announced an ‘Early
Adopters Programme’ for licensed
standing in seated areas(opens in a new tab) at football
stadia. The ‘Early Adopter Programme’ will be implemented in the
second half of this (2021/22) football season, between 1 January
2022 and 31 July 2022. I can confirm today that the football
clubs which will act as ‘Early Adopters’ are: Cardiff City,
Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham
Hotspur.
The ‘Early Adopters Programme’ represents a significant step
towards fulfilling the Government’s manifesto commitment to work
with fans and clubs towards introducing licensed standing in
seated areas at football grounds. It will enable the Government
to evaluate how successful licensed standing areas could be as a
strategy to manage persistent standing across five different
football grounds with varying challenges, before it considers
making any substantive policy changes or wider implementation. It
will be subject to a formal independent evaluation.
I have today laid a Statutory Instrument which directs the SGSA
to amend the “all-seater condition'', which requires stadia to
provide all-seated accommodation, in any licence to admit
spectators issued to these five football clubs under the Football
Spectators Act 1989 by the SGSA. This will allow the five
specified clubs to admit spectators to their home grounds to
watch designated football matches from a standing position,
provided certain conditions are satisfied. This means doing so in
areas of the ground where the seating accommodation has been
adapted so there are seats incorporating a barrier or seats with
an independent barrier. The SGSA has produced Supplementary
Guidance (SG01) providing further information about the
standards/requirements which must be met. This guidance is
available online(opens in a new tab).
These modern (non-terraced) stands or areas with seats therefore
still allocate one person to one seat.
The selection of these clubs followed an ‘Expression of Interest’
process which was conducted by the SGSA between 22 September and
6 October 2021. The SGSA invited applications from football clubs
in the top two tiers of professional football in England and
Wales currently subject to the “all-seater” policy to become
‘Early Adopters’ of licensed standing in seated areas. The SGSA
analysed the applications against the published ‘Early Adopter’
criteria, which are available online(opens in
a new tab), before providing written recommendations to DCMS.
This advice was carefully considered before receiving final
ministerial approval.
In addition, prior to their publication, the ‘Early Adopter’
criteria and licence conditions for standing in seated areas were
subject to a six-week consultation (28 July - 6 September 2021)
with key stakeholders. This included safety committee members
(the Premier League, English Football League, Football
Association, UK Football Policing Unit, Football Supporters’
Association, Football Safety Officers’ Association, Safety
Advisory Group Regional Chairs Lead and the National
Counter-Terrorism Security Office), local authorities, football
governing bodies and licensed football clubs. DCMS worked closely
with the SGSA to ensure that consultation responses were used to
inform the final criteria clubs were required to meet to become
‘Early Adopters’, which are available online(opens in
a new tab).
The Government’s approach is driven by safety considerations.
Given the wider context and background to the current “all-seater
policy” it is right that we carefully consider any wider change
in policy, looking at all of the evidence and assessing the
potential safety impacts of any change. The Government is not
complacent about spectator safety, nor are we complacent about
the safety policies that have served spectators well for many
years. We will continue to work closely with the SGSA, football
clubs, the football governing bodies and local authorities to
ensure that spectator safety remains paramount.
