How City of Portsmouth AC have improved their governance through Club Standards
City of Portsmouth Athletic Club (COPAC) is a well-established club comprising over 500 members. They have recently updated their governance standards, and have now achieved all seven of our Club Standards.
Over 1000 of our affiliated clubs have achieved seven out of seven of our Club Standards already, ensuring their clubs provide good governance and duty of care.
All seven Club Standards will be mandatory for clubs to affiliate with England Athletics next year.
A safe environment for athletes
John Cookson, Chair of COPAC, believes adhering to our Club Standards is in the best interests of the safety of his club’s athletes:
"These standards demonstrate our commitment to providing a well-managed and safe environment for athletes to train. Once we began working towards achieving the Club Standards, we found the process to be relatively straightforward.
"The England Athletics website offered valuable guidance and templates, which helped ensure consistency and supported clubs throughout the process."
Guidance and templates
The club recently ensured that their Health and Safety documentation was available on their website, and used our guidance and templates on Club Hub to save a lot of time in preparing them.
"COPAC had already implemented several of the required standards on its previous website; however, some policies required updating, and others - such as the Health and Safety document - were missing entirely.
"As part of this process, we reviewed existing policies and brought them up to date. England Athletics provided excellent guidance and templates, which greatly assisted clubs in ensuring consistency and compliance.
"From the club’s perspective, having robust policies in place benefits everyone. Clear policies help manage expectations and provide a framework for resolving issues effectively. All updated policies and documents have been uploaded to our club website for member access.
In addition, the club have included the England Athletics Codes of Conduct on their website to ensure transparency and clarity regarding expected standards of behaviour for members, coaches, parents, and officials.
Invaluable support
Club Standards help provide guidance for good governance and duty of care within clubs, and John said England Athletics’ support has been 'invaluable' in this respect.
"England Athletics’ provision of the Club Standards page, along with templates and supporting guidance, has been invaluable for clubs such as ours. As a volunteer-led organization, we do not always possess the specialist expertise required to update official documents in a consistent and compliant manner. The availability of these templates has provided reassurance and confidence that we are proceeding in the correct direction.
"The process of reviewing and updating policies serves as an important reminder of our commitment to athletes and members, ultimately contributing to a more effectively managed club."
Help from our Club Support team
England Athletics’ Club Support team are available to assist clubs with governance matters and guidance on Club Standards, an offer that COPAC took up and found very helpful.
"The opportunity to engage with England Athletics representatives via Teams has been extremely beneficial. These discussions offer practical advice, share examples of how other clubs have achieved their objectives, and provide confirmation that our approach aligns with best practice."
An ongoing responsibility
Having recently achieved all seven Club Standards, John says COPAC won’t now become complacent in keeping on top of their policies.
"COPAC does not consider this process complete or something to set aside. Rather, we view it as an ongoing responsibility. We are reassured that, at this point in time, we have implemented the most appropriate policies to safeguard the interests of our members.
"Currently, we are undertaking a review of our constitution in preparation for next spring’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), where the updated version will be presented for approval.
"As a club, we remain committed to ensuring that our members can feel confident in our efforts to protect and promote their best interests."
Our Club Support team’s assistance with Club Standards matters is made possible by athletes’ registration fees and club affiliation fees. Over 80% of membership fee income is reinvested directly into our key delivery priorities.