Issue: Voluntary associations who offer licensable adventure activities (i.e. activities specified in the Adventure Activities Licensing Regulations 2004) to schools may require to be licensed.
1. The first step is to determine if the activity is in scope of the licensing regulations. If the activity is not one of the activities defined in the Adventure Activities Licensing Regulations 2004, regulation 2(1), then the regulations do not apply and no licence is needed.
2. The Adventure Activities Licensing Regulations (AALR) gives voluntary associations exemption from the requirement to hold a licence so long as they operate within certain boundaries. Based on the guidance published in L77, the following guidance gives examples to illustrate where those boundaries lie.
3. There is much that voluntary associations (i.e. voluntary, non-profit making, membership associations) can do without requiring a licence. Regulation 3(2)(a) states that a voluntary association is not required to hold a licence in respect of facilities for adventure activities where those facilities are provided:
“(a) by a voluntary association -
4. Regulation 2(1) defines both “voluntary association” and “member” as follows:
“voluntary association” means an association, club, society, organisation or other body (whether corporate or unincorporate) which provides facilities to its members and is not a business or part of a business conducted for profit; and “member” in relation to such an association shall exclude a person who is made a member solely in connection with the sale to him by the association of a course of instruction.”
5. At Appendix 1, paragraph 12 (a), L77 states:
“A voluntary association (a non-profit making membership organisation) does not need a licence to provide facilities to its own members or, by arrangement, to the members of another voluntary association. They can also hold open days or taster events to interest members of the public in their activities or to attract new members so long as no individual non-member participates in this way for more than three days in any period of a year. People made temporary members for the duration of a course sold by the association are not considered to be members for the purposes of the licensing scheme. A voluntary association selling courses to the general public or to a school is required to hold licence.”
6. When the regulations were first introduced and the guidance set out in L77 response, it was made clear that there was little, if anything, that anyone (including a voluntary association) could do in terms of offering licensable activities to schools that would not require them to hold a licence. This remains the starting point when determining whether a voluntary association needs a licence when they provide activities to school groups.
7. Membership - “membership” has been consistently interpreted as being an individual and not ‘a school’. Where each pupil is made a member then the voluntary association could only demonstrate that they do not require a licence if the schools were able to confirm that it is not a school activity (as understood in the term “school visit”.
8. Courses – L77 is quite clear on this at Appendix 1, paragraph 12(a); “People made temporary members for the duration of a course or a series of sessions sold by the association are not considered to be members for the purpose of the licensing scheme.”
9. Thus a voluntary association selling courses to the general public or to a school would need a licence. Some providers incorrectly claim that because they do not provide courses (e.g. Royal Yachting Association courses) then they do not need a licence. For example, a kayak club selling fun sessions to under 18s could not claim exemption simply by claiming that they aren’t running a BCU Star Award.
10.The Regulations and guidance are quite clear that a voluntary association would require a licence if they offered any licensable activity (including courses) to under 18 year old non-members in return for payment, (other than taster sessions). Thus the word ‘courses’ is not helpful in determining what is licensable and what is not.
11. The scenario most frequently encountered by Inspectors is used as an illustration:
A sailing club (which operates as a voluntary non-profit making membership association) wishes to provide sailing activities to a school and receives payment for doing so. The school or the individuals from the school are made members and remain on the club register as members for a specified period of time during which certain activities will be offered. The timing of sessions is coordinated with the school, and are treated similarly to other ‘school visits’.
The AALA is of the opinion that this would require the club to hold a licence.
12. The Authority is mindful not to impinge on the legitimate activities of voluntary associations, nor their mechanisms for recruiting new members. Indeed we wish to encourage rather than discourage links between schools and clubs, by providing, where applicable, the assurances which come with an activity licence.
Where the unlicensed voluntary association is, for example, a Royal Yachting Association Training Centre (and is therefore inspected by the RYA), we believe that users need not have concerns related to safety.
