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 26th November 2020)
- Updates for England (updated 26th November 2020)
- Updates for Scotland (updated 11th November 2020)
- Relevant guidelines for training (updated 14th September 2020)
- Insurance for training (updated 14th September 2020)
- Travelling for training (updated 26th November 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 26th November 2020.
One of the best summaries of the permissible numbers for social gatherings is this article from the BBC News website: Covid: The new lockdown rules for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Please note that “local lockdowns” or more local restrictions may change the rules in your area. Check your local council’s website for more information, or use the BBC News website to find out the local restrictions where you live.
In England, there is a three-tier system of “local restriction tiers” to describe the restrictions in different parts of the country. (source)
In Scotland, there is a five-tier system of “protection levels” to describe the restrictions in different parts of the country. (source)
Updates for England
Updated 26th November 2020.
As of the 2nd of December, England adopts a three-tier system to describe the restrictions in different places in the country. The government’s advice is as follows:
- Local restriction tiers: what you need to know
(published 23rd November) - Full list of local restriction tiers by area
(published 26th November)
As of the 5th of November, England entered a four-week national lockdown, that will run until the 2nd of December (restrictions lifting on the 2nd). During this time, there is to be a minimum of travelling, and as much staying at home as possible. Sports venues have to close. (source)
As of the 2nd of December, the new system of “local restriction tiers” will replace the previous “alert level” system of tiers. Sports venues may be allowed to reopen, depending on the tier into which your region has been placed. (source)
Resumption of sport
Rules about number of participants seem to be aimed mainly at team sports and other sports where people interact with each other; if HEMA activities are socially-distanced, non-contact, and non-interactive (working more as an exercise club for individuals to exercise individually than a sports club with players playing the sport with each other), then larger numbers may still be permitted, as long as there are no situations where groups of more than 6 people interact with each other. (source § 2.1.1)
In any case, between the 5th of November and the 2nd of December, England is in a national lockdown and sports are prohibited. You may meet for exercise outdoors in a public park with a single other person from another household, and you can exercise with any number of people from your own household. (source)
As of the 2nd of December, the English lockdown finishes, and the country returns to a new system of “local restriction tiers”. It is our understanding that the following details are pertinent: (source)
Tier 1
- Outside: organised outdoor sport, physical activity and exercise classes can continue.
We think that this includes contact training, due to the wording of the rules for tiers 1 and 2 compared to tier 3. - Inside: organised indoor sport, physical activity and exercise classes can continue to take place, if the rule of 6 is followed.
We think this means that participants can interact with each other and do paired drills, as long as people do not mix in groups larger than 6. You can potentially have multiple groups of 6 in the class, as long as the groups do not change or interact with each other.
Tier 2
- Outside: organised outdoor sport, physical activity and exercise classes can continue.
We think that this includes contact training, due to the wording of the rules for tiers 1 and 2 compared to tier 3. - Inside: organised indoor sport, physical activity and exercise classes will only be permitted if it is possible for people to avoid mixing with people they do not live with (or share a support bubble with).
We think this means that group classes can continue as long as participants do not interact with each other and remain socially distanced 2m+ apart; this means solo drills only. You can potentially have a full class of people, as long as the no-one interacts with anyone else.
Tier 3
- Outside: organised outdoor sport, and physical activity and exercise classes can continue, however higher-risk contact activity should not take place.
It is interesting to note that only now is “contact activity” forbidden, which suggests that contact training is permitted for outdoor sports in tiers 1 and 2. - Inside: organised indoor sport, physical activity and exercise classes cannot take place indoors.
This is pretty clear that indoor HEMA classes for adults are forbidden.
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)
However, it does seem that as long as the venue displays a poster, any clubs meeting within that venue do not necessarily need their own separate poster. (cannot point at a source for this, unfortunately)
Updates for Scotland
Updated 11th November 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) The country has remained in phase 3 since then, with no further movements. Within this phase, there have been a number of changes to the national and local rules and restrictions. (source)
As of the 2nd of November, Scotland adopted a five-tier system (with levels 1-3 mapping broadly onto England’s system, and an additional tier 0 and tier 4 on either side). (source) Depending on the tier into which an region is placed, there will be different rules and restrictions.
Resumption of sport
Permission to resume sport depends entirely on the tier into which your area has been placed. (source) The following is the summary for “Sports & Exercise!” from the Scottish Government’s publication on the Scottish Strategic Framework: (source)
Level 0
- All permitted
Level 1
- All permitted except age 18+ indoor contact sports (professional permitted)
Level 2
- All permitted except age 18+ indoor contact sports (professional permitted)
Level 3
- Indoor: individual exercise only (exemption for under 18s)
- Outdoor: all except adult (18+) contact sports (professional permitted)
Level 4
- (Indoor) Gyms closed
- Outdoor non-contact sports only (professional permitted)
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 26th November 2020.
The precise rules depend upon BOTH in which part of the UK the sport training takes place, and from which part you begin your travelling.
At the moment, it is either explicitly against the rules or heavily advised against to travel between countries in the UK. You should try to stay within your own country, and depending on your local rules, you may need to stay within your own area.
If you live in England, then you can travel within England for the purpose of training and sport. You should try to avoid travelling into a tier 3 area if possible, and you should probably try to minimise your travelling in general. (source)
If you live in Scotland, then each tier has different rules about travelling between regions, but in general you should be staying within your own region, and sport does not seem to be a sufficiently good reason to travel to another region. (source)
If you live in Wales, you can travel for sport and training within Wales, but you cannot travel to England right now unless it is for “essential” reasons. (source)
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?