A guide to Premiership Rugby’s Salary Cap Regulations 2018/19 – the principal changes for the new season

With the English Premiership set to commence the 2018-2019 season on the last day of August, it seems timely to re-visit the league’s Salary Cap.

The author last considered the Salary Cap’s operation ahead of the 2015-16 season1. Since that time, significant changes have been made to the Salary Regulations of Premier Rugby Limited (the Regulations), not least of which is an increase in the base level of the senior ceiling from £5.1m for each club to £7m, a sum that was initially introduced for the 2017-2018 season but will remain for seasons 2018-19 and 2019-20202.

This article the first of two pieces by the author on the new Regulations. It examines:

• The current backdrop and context to the Salary Cap; and

• The principal changes to the Regulations for 2018/19.

The second piece, available here, moves on to examine the Regulations in context by looking at their practical operation, including what happens on suspicion of a breach, the disciplinary process and the sanctions that may be applied.

Readers who are completely new to the topic are advised to first read this article3 by the author, which explains the introductory essentials of the Salary Cap.