2013-17 Affiliation - England Athletics

Membership 2013-2017

On this page you can find out more about planning for membership for the period 2013-17. This includes:

statement from the England Athletics Chair and Chief Executive giving an update following the membership consultation,
notes on the consultation meetings that were held,
core reasons for affiliation and registration,
advice on structuring your club's membership fees,
checks on athlete registration
details of road and multi-terrain race licence fees for licenced clubs.

This section also contains information on:

England Athletics – Membership consultation

Statement from England Athletics Chair, Peter King, and Chief Executive, Chris Jones on behalf of the Board of England Athletics
21 December 2012

We write to you on behalf of the board of England Athletics to provide information, as promised, relating to affiliation fees that will take effect from 1st April 2013.

Following what we recognise to be an inadequate consultation process regarding affiliation we set up the three regional meetings and facilitated emailed submissions to hear views about this and the general concerns over consultation and representation in our sport.

We would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to make their views and constructive contributions known to us over recent weeks at meetings, via email and by post. This reflects an incredible dedication to the sport by so many.

We have taken these comments, views and opinions seriously. We are grateful for the way so many people have, in turn, been receptive to hearing what we have had to say about the challenges, in terms of budgets and provision, our sport faces as we look to the coming years, and how we must work together to address them.

Sport England this week announced their plans for funding for 2013-17. You can read more about this at www.englandathletics.org/wsp2013. Sport England funding is allocated for specific areas of work that are ring fenced and will support our delivery in these areas. Because it is allocated for specific uses this funding cannot be transferred for use elsewhere. For example £8.8m is allocated to bringing more people into recreational running.

We will continue to work with UKA to identify new sources of commercial revenue but, at present, there is not the level of commercial funding available that there has been in the past.

Based on consideration of all the comments received we have made the following decisions.

For the affiliation year commencing 1st April 2013 the following will apply:

All individual athletes will pay a flat fee of £10 irrespective of age or discipline. (The £10 fee will also apply to the optional Under 11s scheme. Details on the benefits pack for this scheme will be communicated in the New Year.)
The club and affiliated bodies registration fee will remain at £50
The processes for clubs to affiliate and register athletes will be as in the current year
Upgrades to the ‘Trinity’ member portal for clubs and athletes will be undertaken to make it more ‘user friendly’. We would like to thank those people who have given specific input on this matter

In coming to the above decision, we have been through a challenging process. This has made us clearly aware that, amongst other things, we need to review our approach to consultation and the democratic system of England Athletics that helps to shape and inform decision making. With this in mind we will carry out further consultation with member clubs during 2013 which will include consultation around plans for affiliation and membership in the future.

This will include the following:

How we provide best value to members,
How we achieve further cost savings,
How we continue to provide and safeguard the services the sport values most.

Details will be provided in due course, with the first meetings likely to be in early 2013.

A number of themes outside of affiliation fees were also raised through the recent consultation:

Desire for increased communication, consultation and engagement with the sport around membership and the wider work of EA (including costs and funding of delivery)
Earlier communication regarding any proposed change
Desire for any fee increases to be gradual, phased in and/ or subject to greater notice
Need for improvements to the Trinity membership portal to help volunteers in clubs
That the more athletes that clubs register the lower the price can be per athlete
There were very mixed views on whether affiliation should be through the club or individual which require further discussion.

In 2013 we will be looking at ways in which we can strengthen the democratic processes of England Athletics. With this in mind we would like to continue the discussions on Regional Councils and how they can be more effectively utilised. At this time that means making them as representative as possible and capable of both sending ideas and comments up to the National Council and the Board, and being a strong conduit back from the Board and National Council to Clubs for consultation and information purposes. Nominations for the forthcoming elections will shortly open and we will be sending nomination forms to clubs as well as making them available at www.englandathletics.org/elections.

At the consultation meetings we committed to transparency, this included a commitment to making information on comments and views given at the meetings available on the website. These are available at www.englandathletics.org/membership2013.

We apologise for relaying this information to you late in December but have sought to act as swiftly as possible after the final consultation meeting and closing of online submissions. We are therefore contacting club secretaries by email where possible, posting information and placing information on the England Athletics website at www.englandathletics.org.

Yours Sincerely

Peter King, Chair, England Athletics

Chris Jones, Chief Executive, England Athletics

On behalf of the Board of England Athletics

Consultation Events

You can download a copy of the presentation slides used at consultation events by clicking here.

Other information from events

Consultation meeting - clubs represented (those recorded as signing in at each venue)
Presentation slides used at consultation events

Core reasons for membership and registration

Changes to our Membership Structure will raise funds to enable us to continue what our sport needs in the form of:

Insurance – covering clubs, athletes, coaches, competition
Rules and governance of rules
Welfare support and provision – helping volunteers to meet legal obligations and public expectations
Support of Health & Safety – supporting the sport including clubs and competition providers in compliance with legislation in training and competition
Coaches and Officials – qualifications, licensing, and development opportunities
Opportunities for young athletes – Through both Clubs and Schools
Rankings – Including aspects such as course measurement and appropriate permitting are in place for quality assurance
Licensing/permitting of events and officials
Support for local, regional and national competition
Representative teams
Facilities – protect what we have and improve where possible
A national voice for our sport.

Building a secure future for your club

Below you can download information and advice on ways in which club fees and subscriptions can be structured to help give your club a secure future.

You can view more information on our Club and Athlete Fees page.

We look forward to continuing to work together with you through our membership changes and in our wider work in athletics which will help us to build on athletics’ success and provide a bright future for our sport.

Checks on athletes

England Athletics and UKA will be working in partnership to ensure that checks on England Athletics registration are carried out.

This will include work with competition organisers to assist them in checking athletes as they enter competitions. It will also involve use of Power of 10 to be able to check that those athletes featuring in results submitted to Power of 10 hold the appropriate England Athletics registration.

From April 2013 athletes will only have a Power of 10 profile if they hold the appropriate England Athletics registration.

Working hand in hand with Road Running

Clubs which hold road running events will also benefit from the new fee structure for road races which includes specific provision for athletics and road running clubs. Following a review of the current fees for Road Race Licensing a new flat rate fee for Road Race/Multi Terrain Licence Fee for Affiliated Clubs will be introduced from 1st April 2013.

This new flat rate fee makes a clear distinction between events held by affiliated athletics clubs (including running clubs), as opposed to those events organised by commercial organisations, charities and providers of national free event series.

This significant move represents a clear decision by England Athletics to make a distinct provision for our athletics clubs (including running clubs) which recognises and support their work and the wider provision they make within the sport.

For full details please download our Information for Affiliated Clubs on Road and Multi Terrain Race Licensing document.

For more details about the road race and multi terrain race licensing fees, including the fees for other organisations please see details at runbritain.