Dame Katherine Grainger insists there are 'very good reasons' funded athletes are not granted employee status

Katherine Grainger attends the Team GB Ball at the V&A in London
Dame Katherine Grainger at the Team GB Ball at the V&A in London earlier this month Credit: PA

UK Sport chair Dame Katherine Grainger has warned that giving funded athletes ‘employee’ status would have "huge cost implications”, saying there were “very good reasons" why that model has never been used. But she added that it was an option which would “be discussed” by the body.

Athlete rights and welfare are in the spotlight in the wake of a series of scandals in British Sport over the last 18 months, with Tracey Crouch, the sports minister, conceding at a Culture, Media and Sport select committee hearing on Tuesday that it was “quite possible” the proliferation of issues might stem from athletes’ lack of employment status and fear of speaking out.

Grainger, speaking during a visit to British Sailing’s national academy in Weymouth on Monday, said the status of athletes, and how their funding worked, was under constant review.

"We’re looking now at the funding cycles for 2020 and 2024... is the funding done in the right way? Should the money be spent as it was before?” Grainger said. "All these things should be looked at every cycle.

“Athletes’ rights are always something which will be a priority. It’s just whether that route [giving them employee status] is the way forward.”

Asked whether she felt it was, Grainger replied: “It’s a discussion that’s going to be had. But there are very good reasons why it hasn’t been that way so far. I did say when I initially came in, ‘What about pension rights or any of these other things?’ And… it would have huge implications cost-wise on the system. To look into how it could be changed, you would also need to look at what could be lost by making changes.”

Making athletes employees would presumably make them liable for tax on their funding, while UK Sport would have to pay pension and national insurance contributions.

Jess Varnish, the former track cyclist, is currently in the process of suing UK Sport and British Cycling for sex discrimination, detriment suffered from whistleblowing, victimisation and unfair dismissal after she was removed from the programme last year. 

Jess Varnish in action
Jess Varnish is currently suing UK Sport and British Cycling Credit: PA

Asked whether she had been aware of UK Sport’s approach to the case, and whether she was comfortable with it, Grainger said: "I wasn’t aware of it until I read about it in the press. However, I’ve spent 20 years not just being an athlete but also studying law. And I know a lot of those things which are reported in a very heavy-handed way are very natural processes within the legal system.

"So I think until everyone knows exactly the process that was followed and why, it’s dangerous to make assumptions based on what you read at a very surface level of what happened, and who said what to who.

"From what I know so far, nothing has been done which wouldn’t have been recommended as a normal course of action in this kind of legal suit.”

Grainger, who won four Olympic silver medals and a gold medal at London 2012 in a glittering rowing career, was appointed chair of UK Sport in April and has been touring the country, visiting sporting bodies, trying to get first-hand feedback from athletes and coaches and administrators.

“It’s about listening and learning,” she said of her mission. “I’ve never had a role like this before. I don’t come in with very preconceived notions. I just want to get a feel for what is interesting people, concerning people, exciting people.

“I feel from the conversations I have had that people have been very honest. And they have shared the critical stuff as well as the positive stuff.”

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