We will maintain summaries of the coronavirus updates for the parts of the UK in which our affiliated clubs operate. Please note that different rules apply for different parts of the UK:
- General notes about gatherings (updated 14th September 2020)
- Updates for England (updated 19th September 2020)
- Updates for Scotland (updated 14th September 2020)
- Relevant guidelines for training (updated 14th September 2020)
- Insurance for training (updated 14th September 2020)
- Travelling for training (updated 14th September 2020)
- General preparations for restarting training (updated 28th July 2020)
Please note that the following summaries are only our best understanding of the rules given by the government and by the devolved powers. The guidance and rules change on a regular basis and you absolutely should do your due diligence before taking any steps to reopen.
General notes about gatherings
Updated 14th September 2020.
One of the best summaries of the permissible numbers for social gatherings is this table from the BBC News website:
However, gatherings for the purpose of sport are now exempt from these rules and have their own rules in each of the devolved parts of the UK.
Please note that “local lockdowns” or more local restrictions may change the rules in your area.
Updates for England
Updated 19th September 2020.
Gatherings for organised sport have a special exception, so that people can meet in groups larger than 6 people. (source)
Resumption of sport
As of the 1st of June, non-contact sports have been able to resume outdoors, subject to guidance. (source)
As of the 25th of July, non-contact sports have been able to resume indoors, subject to guidance. (source)
It is unknown when contact sports may resume.
NHS Test and Trace
As of the 14th of September, leisure businesses and organisations (which would include sports clubs) have a legal requirement to collect contact details for the NHS Test and Trace scheme – this is not optional. (source and guidance)
Furthermore, as of the 24th of September, these same businesses and organisations have a legal requirement to “display an official NHS QR code poster … so that customers and visitors can ‘check in’ using this option as an alternative to providing their contact details”. Again, this is not optional. (source, information about getting a poster)
Updates for Scotland
Updated 14th September 2020.
The Scottish route out of lockdown has the following stages:
Lockdown -> phase 1 -> phase 2 -> phase 3 -> phase 4
As of the 9th of July, Scotland moved into phase 3. (source) However, the country is “scaling up” into this phase, so not everything will be implemented or permissible at once. The Scottish government announced on the 30th of July that the country will likely remain in phase 3 for quite some time to come. (source) The Scottish government then announced on the 20th of August that the country will remain in phase 3 for the foreseeable future. (source)
Resumption of sport
As of the 24th of August, contact sports have been able to resume outdoors, meaning that sparring and contact drills are permissible outside, subject to guidance. (source)
As of the 31st of August, non-contact sports have been able to resume indoors, subject to guidance. (source)
It is expected that on the 5th of October, contact sports may resume indoors, subject to guidance. (source)
Relevant guidelines
Updated 14th September 2020.
Make sure your first aid qualifications (and any relevant child protection paperwork) are up to date.
If you want to train outdoors, please consider our guidance for practising in public and private spaces.
Please consider our guidelines for the safe practice of HEMA during Covid-19 for further information.
Insurance for training
Updated 14th September 2020.
If instructors have named instructor’s public liability insurance policies through the AHA and BMABA, such lessons will be covered by the insurance underwriters, as long as there is a risk assessment in place and you have the landowner’s written permission to practise there.
Travelling for training
Updated 14th September 2020.
Currently, you may travel for any distance to participate in sport training anywhere within the UK, with the proviso that the precise rules depend upon which part of the UK the sport training takes place.
General preparations for restarting training
Updated 28th July 2020.
Risk assessments
You should prepare a new risk assessment for running your activities while Covid-19 is still active. How will you run your meetings to make sure that no one contracts Covid-19 during your sessions?
We have received advice from BMABA that the insurance policies will NOT provide legal cover for defending a court case brought against a club or instructor in the situation where someone has contracted Covid-19 from a club meeting. The onus is on the club leaders to ensure that the environment and methods of practice are suitably safe for people to return to training.
Contact details for tracing
You should make sure that you have up to date contact details for everyone in your club so that you can contact people for testing and tracing purposes if you find out that someone who attended one of your sessions has since tested positive for Covid-19. Needless to say, this requires a solid attendance-tracking system, which you really should have in place as a condition of insurance anyway!
While you are doing this, if you have any membership details to update, please let us know so that we can bring our membership database up to date at the same time.
How will you handle equipment sharing?
What are your plans for sharing equipment at this time? Anything that you do share will need to be cleaned thoroughly before anyone else touches it. Therefore, who is going to do the cleaning, and when, and with what cleaning materials? How will loaner gear be transported and stored to minimise contamination to and from (and between) the training sessions?
How will you handle payments?
What are your plans for collecting payments in a safe fashion? It would be best to avoid handling cash or cheques where possible. Can you arrange payments through PayPal or through your website?
How will you ensure that you can maintain social distancing?
You will need to workout how many people you can fit safely into your venue, and cap your number of participants at that. You will also have to make sure that you do not allow any further participants in any given session.
Could you perhaps institute a booking system of some description, with a fixed number of “tickets”, to ensure that you are not put into the position of having to turn people away on the night?
How are you communicating with your members?
How are you going to make sure every single person who might attend your club is aware of all the new rules and policies for club training sessions?
It is important to make sure that everyone knows that they are also part of the solution in terms of keeping everyone else safe, so you must inform everyone that they should stay at home if they think they might be carrying the virus. It is up to you whether or not you mandate face coverings during your sessions, but you must communicate this to everyone clearly and in advance.
Do members need to sign anything?
There is (as far as we are aware) no legal requirement for members to sign any paperwork to do with Covid-19.
As always, signing a waiver to agree not to sue a club if the virus is contracted is against basic tenets of British law (you cannot sign away your right to sue someone for loss or damage incurred due to their negligence), so such paperwork is probably not all that helpful.
Our suggestion is to make sure everyone in your club is aware of the new information and policies, make sure you repeat this step regularly, and keep everyone up to date with changes. Make sure that people know that it is their responsibility to stay at home if they have any suspicion that they might have the virus (i.e. that they are following all the government rules and guidelines), and don’t make anything more complicated than you have to.
Remember, every new document you create that requires names and signatures will need to be stored and transferred securely and all GDPR rules must still apply to every part of the process for handling sensitive data.
The rest of your normal paperwork
Take the opportunity to look over your normal documentation. Is it all still in date and relevant? Does it require an update due to changes in how the club is running?
Relevant paperwork to consider and check would be:
- status of everyone’s insurance and membership
- status of instructors’ insurance
- status of first aid certificates
- status of PVG or DBS paperwork and any safeguarding certificates
Website documentation
Take the opportunity to look at your website. Is all the information up to date? Can you use your website to make sure that all club members will be aware of the club’s Covid-19 policies and plans?