New resources to help prepare for a return to play

28 Jun 2020 02:34 PM

We've produced advice and guidance to help the sport and physical activity sector as it reopens and prepares for what comes next.

As restrictions ease and the sport and physical activity sector begins to reopen, we’ve produced several resources to help it do so.

In recent weeks we’ve been consulting with partners to get a sense of what would be helpful.

And while the government has not yet given the green light to the wider reopening of facilities and the restarting of recreational sport, we believe it’s important to prepare for these changes now – as much as possible.

The published resources will help plan for a safe return and support the sector to keep staff, volunteers, members and participants informed of their responsibilities around social distancing and hygiene, and will work alongside both existing and forthcoming government guidance.

The resources, which are in addition to the insight and hygiene guidance we published last week, include:

• inclusion and accessibility guidance – helping you to understand who can get active, how you can engage specific audiences and how to ensure your facilities are, and remain, accessible to all when allowed to reopen.
• support for the professional workforce – including advice on staffing considerations for paid works as well as support available.
• volunteering guidance – setting out some of the main considerations to help your volunteers return safely, well-informed and prepared.
• managing liability and risk guidance – to give providers, be they clubs, governing bodies, community groups or regional associations, advice on what issues need considering and how they might tackle them in order to safely return to play.

There’s also support for sports clubs and organisations on the Club Matters website, including:

• reopening toolkit – this includes information on how your club/organisation can plan its return to sport, with advice on what you need to think about across different areas such as reopening your facility and protecting your people.
• risk register template – this template, with a dedicated user guide, is designed to help your club/organisation introduce or update your practices regarding how you manage risks.
• creating a risk assessment – this draws from the current Health and Safety Executive advice and provides step-by-step guidance to help organisations address risk, including coronavirus-specific considerations.
• social distancing guidance – this resource covers the different practices and considerations your club/organisation may need to introduce so that social distancing can be implemented in line with current government advice.

We’ll continue to evolve and develop this suite of resources as and when the government guidance changes, and in response to feedback.

Click here for the full press release