England’s Premiership Rugby insists automatic relegation was the “only option left” to preserve the integrity of the competition in response to Saracens’ failure to comply with salary cap regulations for the current season.

Saracens – who in the last five years have won the Premiership on four occasions and three times been crowned champions of Europe – will be demoted to the Championship in June for being STG2 million ($A3.8 million) over the STG7 million ($A13.3 million) limit, the fourth successive year they have operated above the ceiling.

Initially, they were sanctioned with a 35-point deduction and STG5.36 million ($A10.2 million) fine that offered hope of staying in the Premiership, but last week patience ran out.

“We’re in new territory and these are exceptional circumstances,” said Premiership Rugby Ltd chief executive Darren Childs.

“After weeks of intensive dialogue they were unable to provide the necessary conformation of their compliance for the current season. In addition, they would not co-operate with the proposal for a mid-season audit.

“Relegation was the only option left to restore trust and maintain the league’s integrity, which is absolutely critical.

“This is the result of three years of salary cap breaches and uncertainty over compliance for this year. We needed to take quick and decisive action.”