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England Athletics Registered Athlete & Club and Member Body Affiliation Fees Notice for 2020-2021

England Athletics club and member body affiliation and athlete registration fees that will apply for the 2020-21 affiliation year.

Effective from 1 April 2020

The affiliation and registration fees for 2020-21 will be as follows:

  • Club and member body affiliation fee will remain at £150 per club/member body. We will next review this position in September 2020 ahead of 1 April.
  • Athlete registration fee will increase by £1 to £16 per person. This fee has remained unchanged since 2017-18 and we feel that this increase, as the focus on this occasion, is the right one to make.

Consultation survey

As part of our ongoing review process, we sought the thoughts of the England Athletics National and Regional Councils and also conducted a survey to elicit the views of registered athletes and affiliated clubs/bodies to ensure that what is being offered through England Athletics membership provides value as well as collating thoughts on future pricing. This exercise was also useful in helping us understand more about how we can develop our service to meet the various needs of those in the England Athletics family. The results included the following:

  • 78% of athletes who responded feel the current athlete registration fee of £15 represents good value for money.
  • 57% of athletes say that the fee pays for itself through discounts and offers, 65% feel their fee is contributing to improving the sport and 45% feel more connected to the sport and athletics community through the payment of the fee.
  • 63% of athletes stated that a £1 increase in the athlete registration fee over the next 12 months would be acceptable, 21% are neutral to the idea of an increase and 23% are against any increase. 45% of clubs who responded feel that the £1 increase is acceptable with 34% against any increase.

Our sport is continuing to grow, with 181,000 registered club athletes and runners from the age of 5 up to 91, taking part in 1,800 member clubs and bodies. Your work is fundamental to this success story and this is something of which we are extremely proud, but of which we are also mindful when considering our pricing structure for registered club athletes and runners. Affiliation and athlete/runner registration fees in England are among the lowest of comparable National Governing Bodies for other sports, and England Athletics will continue to listen to views expressed by those involved in the sport to ensure fair and effective provision across athletics and running.

Plans for 2020 - 2021

Developing opportunities for grassroots athletes and runners in England is at the heart of everything we do to achieve our vision to make our sport the most popular and inclusive in the country. Click here to view details of our existing and future plans to support volunteers, grow participation numbers and to develop standards of performance up to Commonwealth Games level.

Your continued support as members of England Athletics will enable us to maintain and expand our work to improve the sport in a range of areas such as:

  • Implementing our Track & Field action plan to improve the long-term future of track and field participation on the back of recent research and following consultation with the sport.
  • Increasing the number of qualified and licensed coaches, leaders and officials across England, building on the #gocoach and officials campaigns that we launched in the last year.
  • Delivering our new funetics run, jump and throw programme to primary school aged children across England funetics.co.uk.
  • Continuing to invest in the age group masters endurance opportunities for club road runners across England of all aspirations and abilities.
  • Supporting club athletes and runners to achieve their goals through a coordinated programme of athlete development opportunities across England.
  • Providing activities for talented club athletes to compete for their country in a coordinated international team calendar of competitions.
  • Sustained investment in competition for club athletes and runners at a national, area and local level through our partnerships with bodies such as the English Schools Athletic Association.
  • Continued investment in the support provided by our team of local Club Support Managers, available to clubs across England on important matters such as coach development, facility development, club management and volunteer recruitment.

Income and expenditure overview

We are mindful of the need to continually listen to our member clubs and participants and to evidence where we are spending your affiliation fees to support and develop the sport. As a not for profit membership organisation we want people to trust the decisions that we make and to feel proud to be a part of the England Athletics family. The sources of our overall annual income for the last year were as follows:

  • Membership and registration 35%
  • Sport England 35%
  • Other Grant Funding 4%
  • Courses and Workshops 14%
  • Road Race Licencing 6%
  • Commercial Partnerships 4%
  • Event/Competition Income 1%
  • Other Income 1%

We receive valuable funding from our partner Sport England, but our reliance on this is decreasing year on year thanks to the support of our clubs and athletes and commercial partnerships with sponsors such as DW Fitness First. Our total expenditure, at a headline level, during the year 18-19 was as follows:

Club Support £3.31m

  • Participation
  • Club engagement
  • Volunteering and Awards
  • Facilities
  • Marketing campaigns
  • Performance analysis
  • Insight into the sport
  • Research/Digital projects
  • IT support
  • Data Protection
  • Welfare and Safeguarding

Coach and Athlete Development £2.44m

  • Coaching and Athlete Development
  • Workshops and Conferences
  • International Representative Teams - including Commonwealth Games
  • Education Qualifications

Competition and Events £1m

  • EA Competitions and Officials
  • Areas Competition Support
  • Schools
  • Road Running Events
  • Road Race Licensing

Overhead and Support Costs £0.77m

  • Human Resources and People Development
  • Finance Department: accounting and payment processing
  • EA Board and Council Administration
  • Administration Support
  • Legal
  • Insurance
  • Office Accommodation
  • Procurement

Communication and Business Development £0.72m

  • Communications
  • Sponsorship and Fundraising
  • Hall of Fame

Membership and Affiliation £0.56m

  • Membership Support Services
  • Insurance
  • Registration fulfilment

expenditure by funding source

The activities of England Athletics can be followed on our website and through our Facebook and Twitter pages, and we are always looking at ways in which we can enhance the services and programmes available to our members. We would welcome feedback and ideas on how together, we can enhance our great sport.

Thank you once again for your support of athletics and running across England and for the contribution that you all make to our great sport and we wish you all a successful 2020.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Jones
CEO England Athletics

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