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Below is an interesting link to a web page titled "Overview of Liability Insurance Responsibilities for people running clubs and societies". This is something that should be of interest to those who are responsible for running any kind of club or society to read.
The above web page gives a very thorough explanation of the subject of club insurance ... and the following paragraphs make the responsibility situation very clear
"The specific nature of the public liability cover you ultimately decide to plump for is your call. In fact, the only type of liability cover you are obliged to have by law is employers liability, which is applicable to you if you have any help to carry out your club or society activities from other people. It doesn’t matter if their help is given to you on a part time, casual or voluntary basis.
If they constitute your team, then you are considered responsible for them whilst they are going about club or society business."
The paragraph under "Employers Liability" is also interesting:
"Unless you run your club or society completely independently, without enlisting the paid or unpaid help of anyone else at all, employers liability insurance is not so much a must-have, as a have-to have. It is legally applicable to the vast majority of clubs and societies, which tend to have committees that are classed as employees, even if they carry out their roles on a goodwill basis without any remuneration."
This would imply that legally all IVC Committee members are classed as employees of a club and that by implication it is likely that all event organisers will also be classed as employees of the organisation. It also implies that it really doesn't matter how people pay for their events ... whether it is by annual subscription, Pay As You Go (PAYG) or paying no subscription at all (Meetup subscribers). What is important is whether the person who organises an event is a current paid up member of the club that determines whether they will actually be covered by the AIVCs Employers Liability Insurance. Reading between the lines, this also means it will also necessary to have some definative way of distinguishing between those people who are to be classed as event organisers (and need the insurance cover) and those who are not.
This also means that it doesn't really matter whether any PAYG money collected goes to the event organiser or to the club in determining insurance cover. The only thing that is important is whether the event organiser has paid a current subscription of some kind in order to qualify for the Employers Liability Insurance coverage. Anyone who has not paid the subscription in order to qualify for the Employers Liability Insurance cover must not be allowed to advertise or even be a joint organiser for any kind of event (public or private) that is organised in the clubs name or advertised on any club web site.
The above guide does not give any comfort by saying that a club can avoid liability by adding a limit of liability statement to an event ... therefore it will legally the case that this will not wash in court!!! Ulitimately the following paragraph from the summary says all that one needs to know:
"As the leader of a club or society, it is your responsibility to ensure that suitable liability insurance is in place. Claimants seeking compensation for accidents, damages, illnesses or injuries are legally entitled to pursue you as an individual if your club or society is lacking liability insurance to pay out on its behalf."
New clubs joining IVC!!!
The above provides a compelling reason for encouraging the group and event organisers of external Meetup groups and other clubs to join and pay a subscription in order to become a sub-group of their local IVC.
It also provides a really good reason why member clubs of the AIVC are directly involved in the recruitment of new clubs ... and do not simply instruct the AIVC Committee to do the job for them ...
The Employers Liability Insurance coverage allows such groups to continue to operate semi-independently while enjoying the benefit of Employers Liability Insurance cover for their events at a very low cost. It also greatly adds to the range of events that the local IVCs can offer to their members ... so it becomes a win win situation all round!!!
Bob Clifford
AIVC Webmaster 2018-19
Community Software Developer and Consultant
ActivityForum Ltd
147 Britten Road, Brighton Hill, Basingstoke RG22 4HW
Mob: 07811 289586
Tel: 01256 460078
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