Clubs, Clubmark, Funding, CASC and our first Podcast

Published on: 14th February 2012

We have been looking at the latest club data April-September 2011, and would like to share a few things that should be of interest to clubs.

Clubmark

We now have over 400 clubmark clubs in West Yorkshire. This is tremendous news, but we want to help more of you.

It is estimated that there are 150,000 clubs that help to deliver community sport in the UK and we are pleased to report that the number of these that are Clubmark accredited clubs continues to rise.

The average number of clubs accrediting per month stands at 150, with a total increase of 4,489 year on year.

The integration of football into the Clubmark family in 2010 has impacted significantly on overall numbers. Table 1 below identifies the national figures at 30th September 2011.

	Clubmark Accredited		Working Towards Clubmark
	Sept 2010	Sept 2011	Sept 2010	Sept 2011
Actual Numbers	231	423	215	206

Find out more on our Clubmark pages

CASC - £100,000,000 saved since 2002 by just 8% of clubs!

It appears that only 8% of Clubmark accredited clubs sign up for the Community Amateur Sport Club (CASC) scheme. The CASC scheme, set up by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), distinguishes between clubs and businesses for rates and tax purposes, ensuring money is kept in sports clubs that are organised on an amateur basis and are providing sporting opportunities for the whole community.

Only 6,000, out of the estimated 150,000 sports clubs in the UK, are registered CASCSs, despite the fact that both property and non-property owning clubs can significantly benefit from the scheme. It is estimated that these clubs, partly through mandatory rate relief and the ability to claim Gift Aid on voluntary donations, have benefitted from almost £100 million in savings since 2002. (HMRC data and http://www.cascinfo.co.uk/cascbenefits/cascregistrationfigures)

Want to know more? Check out our CASC pages

We also have 2 CASC courses lined up (see right)

Volunteers - Are you making the most of them?

We all know that sports volunteers are vital to creating sustainable programmes and it is therefore imperative that they receive the support at the right time, at the right place and in the right format. Examples of the number and type of resources accessed from current runningspports website during this period include:

‘Role Outlines’ – 2332 page views
‘Top Tips’ – 2391 page views
‘Quick Guides’ – 2507 page views
Free e-learning taster session - 849 page views
A Club for All 220 page views
Succession planning webcast – 94 page views

2011 Sports Club Survey

The 2011 Sports Club Survey information found that clubs have an average of 20 volunteers and one paid member of staff to deliver their activities. The overall picture hides a great deal of variation between different types of clubs, with volunteer numbers rising to 25 for CASCs and Clubmark accredited clubs and as high as 28 for profit-making clubs. These results are very similar to the 2009 Sports Club Survey suggesting a continued dependence, but no real change, in the level of volunteering.

Clubs that manage volunteers are able to enrol and retain more volunteers, enhance the diversity of those they involve and support a higher quality of volunteering experience[1]. Nearly half (49%) of clubs surveyed in the 2011 Sports Club Survey have a person with a formally designated role of coordinating activities of club volunteers. This reflects the importance of volunteers to the sports sector and the desire to maximise their contributions to best effect.

[1] Volunteering England

We have a volunteering course coming up shortly - see right

Players

In order to support growth in activity we need to ensure that the right people are in the right place at the right time with the right type of resources. Sport England’s participation figures show a continuing strong performance by sports such as running, table tennis and boxing, but decreasing participation in other major sports such as swimming and tennis.

Across the country 6.927 million adults[1] are taking part three times a week, 111,800 more than in 2007/08 and 632,000 more than in 2005/6 when the Olympic bid was won. 14.759 million adults play sport at least once a week, however, there is a fall in the number of young people aged between 16 and 19 playing sport.

The Active People Survey 5 results also shows an increase in participation among disabled people and men but a decrease in the number of women playing sport.

[1] Active People Survey 5