Minimum Standards Guidance 2013

MINIMUM STANDARDS
FOR ACTIVE COACHES
– CORE GUIDANCE
for Coaches
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 Minimum Standards for Active Coaches – Core Guidance for Coaches

Introduction
In order to ensure Excellent Coaching Every Time for Everyone, sports coach UK,
along with key industry Partners, has agreed core standards that all coaches in
the UK should adhere to (previously referred to as core minimum standards for
deployment).
This document outlines the core standards that you need to know and meet as
a coach. They include recommendations across the following five areas:
• minimum age
• appropriate qualifications
• appropriate insurance cover
• safeguarding children and vulnerable groups
• policies and procedures.

Why are These Important?

As an active coach, it is important for you to meet the core standards.
Here are just a few reasons why:
• to ensure you have the right level of qualification, knowledge and skills for
your coaching role
• to safeguard you and the participants you coach
• to ensure you have the right level of insurance
• to improve the coaching opportunities you can access.

Please note:
The core standards are just a starting point. To help you be the best coach and
have the most appropriate knowledge and skills, governing bodies of sport and
sports coach UK recommend additional training relevant to the participants you
are coaching.
sports coach UK is working with governing bodies of sport to collate training
and development opportunities for coaches working with the following
participant groups:
• children and young people (including coaches working in schools)
• participation
• performance development
• high performance.
To access further guidance and additional training information, please click here.

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 The Core Standards
Minimum age
• Lead coach (someone coaching independently):
18+ years
As a lead coach, you will have a considerable level
of responsibility and a duty of care to your
participants. The minimum age is therefore 18 as
this is also when you legally become an adult.
• Assistant coach: 16+ years
As an assistant coach, you will work under
the direction or supervision of a lead coach.
As such, the minimum age recommendation
is 16. This age recommendation is also in line
with the entry requirements for most UKCC
Level 1 qualifications.

Appropriate qualifications
• Lead coach: UKCC Level 2 or above
To coach independently, clubs, schools and
governing bodies of sport usually require you
to have a minimum standard of training, which
is a UKCC Level 2 qualification in the sport you
are coaching.
• Assistant coach: UKCC Level 1
To be an assistant coach, a UKCC level 1
qualification is advisable and will qualify you to
assist a coach with a higher-level qualification.
Contact your governing body of sport to find
out what the best starting qualification is. The
following guide may also help:
www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/ukcc-level-1-guide

Please note:
• It is important that your qualification is in the
sport you are coaching.
• If you hold any non-UKCC qualification, you should
check with your governing body of sport to find
out which qualification or award enables you to
lead a session.
• The appropriate qualification may change
depending on the environment you are working
in. Click here to see the information for coaching
children and young people.
• If you are coaching without the appropriate level
of qualification, in the event of an incident, you
may not be insured.

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 Minimum Standards for Active Coaches – Core Guidance for Coaches

Appropriate insurance cover Desirable Professional indemnity

Legal cover against claims of
As a coach, you will need an insurance policy that breaches of professional duty by
covers you for the coaching duties you carry out. This coaches while acting in the scope of
is to ensure both you and the participants you are their employment (eg for giving poor
coaching are covered for bodily injury to participants advice, errors/omissions in advice or
or members of the public, or accidental damage to libel and slander). Professional
third party property. indemnity is slightly more extensive
What insurance do you need? in its coverage than public liability in
that it will also provide indemnity for
This depends on the nature of your coaching role. claims brought for financial loss that
However, the following policies are recommended does not involve death, injury, illness
as best practice: or disease.
Statutory Employer’s liability cover A minimum of £5million indemnity is
Cover for legal liability for injuries to recommended.
employees (permanent/temporary/ Optional Personal accident cover
contracted for services) arising in the Arranged by the individual or
course of employment. employer.
If, as a lead coach, you are working Personal accident claims could be
with an assistant coach and therefore made against you as a coach
directing what the assistant does and following accidental bodily injury
how it should be delivered for occurring during the activity or while
reward (wages, fee or benefit in kind), travelling to/from the session.
you could be classed an employer, in
that you are responsible for the care Other Car
and actions of the assistant coach. Your coaching activities may have an
impact on car insurance premiums.
Essential Public liability insurance
Protection from your legal liability for Equipment
third party claims in respect of bodily Insurance cover for equipment
injury to participants or members of supplied by you as a coach. Damage,
the general public in respect of the loss or theft to sports equipment
activities coached and legal used for the activity.
occupation of premises whether
You can receive insurance cover for your coaching
owned or hired.
activities as part of the many benefits of sports
A minimum of £5million indemnity
coach UK Full Membership. For more information,
any one occurrence is recommended,
visit www.sportscoachuk.org/fullmembership
although some governing bodies of
sport and facility operators are You may have insurance through affiliation to your
increasing the minimum requirement governing body of sport membership or licence
to £10million. scheme. Check if you are unsure if you have cover in
place.

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 Safeguarding children and Please note:
vulnerable groups You need to be 16 or over to be eligible for
disclosure or barred list checks.
Disclosure and Barring Service,
Disclosure Scotland or AccessNI If you do not come into regular or intensive contact
with children or vulnerable adults, then a governing
If you are coaching in England or Wales, you will body of sport will not be able to request a
need to comply with the requirements of the disclosure or barred list check:
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS – formerly the
Criminal Records Bureau). As a coach in Scotland, • Regular contact is defined as once a week or more.
you should comply with the requirements of • Intensive contact is defined as four or more days
Disclosure Scotland. As a coach in Northern in a 30-day period, or overnight.
Ireland, you will need to comply with the
There are now two barred lists – one for working with
requirements of AccessNI.
children and one for working with vulnerable groups.
For the DBS, the level of checks that should be
Supervision will be defined separately by each
undertaken are usually as follows (however, the
governing body of sport to fit with the unique
decision lies with each governing body of sport):
requirements of each sport. Please contact your
• Lead coach: If your coaching duties include governing body of sport for more information.
regular or intensive contact with children or
If you are coaching in different settings, the approach
vulnerable groups, then you will be eligible for a
to criminal records checks should take account of
disclosure. As a lead coach, you are also able to
the policies of each organisation.
work without supervision and are therefore also
eligible for a barred list check (when eligible The criminal record certificate will be sent directly to
for a disclosure). you, not the organisation that has asked you to apply
(eg your sports club or governing body).They will be
• Assistant coach: If your coaching duties include
informed if the check is clear or not (but not the
regular or intensive contact with children or
detail of it).You may be asked to show your disclosure.
vulnerable groups as an assistant coach, you will
be eligible for a disclosure. However, as an More information is available on the websites of the
assistant coach, you will coach under supervision DBS, Disclosure Scotland and AccessNI.
and will not be eligible for a barred list check. The NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU)
and sports coach UK recommend that anyone
eligible for a criminal records check should be
checked at three-yearly intervals.

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Minimum Standards for Active Coaches – Core Guidance for Coaches

Policies and procedures

When coaching in any setting, you should be aware
of and sign up to specific policies, the most
important being:
• code of practice
• equality
• participant welfare
• health and safety.
These policies should contain information on best
practice, but also guidance to help you fulfil the
responsibilities of your coaching role fairly, safely
and effectively.
The sports coach UK Code of Practice for Sports
Coaches can be downloaded free from the website
by Network Members. To sign up for free, visit
www.sportscoachuk.org/user/register

Please note:
Your governing body of sport policies should be the
principle policies that you adhere to. However, if you
are coaching in a different setting (eg a school), you
may also be required to commit to its policies and
procedures.
If you are employed as a coach, you will be required
to sign up to your employer’s policies and
procedures. If you have a concern about any policy
or procedure in relation to safe coaching practice,
you should inform the relevant organisation (eg
your governing body of sport and/or employer).

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 Identifying Your Additional
Training Requirements
The recommended core standards have been identified as a starting point for use by all sports coaches.
However, you might need to access additional qualifications, training or development opportunities
to support you in your coaching role.
Consider the following elements to help you decide on appropriate additional training:

Sport-specific environment Participant group

What else might you need? Who are you coaching?
Governing body of sport guidance might You might be working with children and young
include additional elements you need people, for example, and therefore, your governing
(eg a licence to practise, first aid training or body of sport might recommend suitable training
additional technical training). relevant to this participant group.

Coach's Status Environment

What is your role and what might you Where are you coaching?
need to know? Depending on where you are coaching, you
You may have different responsibilites depending may need to know different things. For example,
on your role. For example, as a lead coach, you if you coach in schools in curriculum time, it
may be mentoring other coaches and therefore would be advisable to have knowledge of the
training in this would be advisable. national curriculum.

Programme
Do you need to meet specific objectives?
Different coaching programmes will have different
aims and objectives. For example, if you are coaching
in disadvantaged communities, you may require
additional support and training.

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 Minimum Standards for Active Coaches – Core Guidance for Coaches

The other key question when considering additional

training is which elements of your coaching
knowledge and capabilities you want to improve, to
aid your own development. To access the additional
training information sports coach UK has been
collating, please click here.
sports coach UK and the CPSU strongly
recommend that all coaches undertake the sports
coach UK ‘Safeguarding and Protecting Children’
workshop (or equivalent face-to-face training) and
renew this training at three-yearly intervals.
‘Safeguarding and Protecting Children 2’ is available
from sports coach UK as a refresher. Your governing
body of sport may also have its own equivalent.
sports coach UK also advocates training in equity
and working with disabled people. Two face-to-face
workshops are available from sports coach UK:
• ‘Equity in Your Coaching’
• ‘How to Coach Disabled People in Sport’.
More information on all these workshops can be
found here.Your governing body of sport may have
its own equivalent.

© sports coach UK, June 2013. Designed and produced by Coachwise Limited 91040 All photography © Coachwise/SWpix

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