Driving up standards

ukactive have developed Guidance for operators when considering children’s and young people’s activities in facilities for our members to use as a basis to create their own policy

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will be introduced on 16th August 2023 and delivery of the scheme, as well as the pre-launch publicity campaigns, will be led by the Scheme Administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL). This document will help you get ready with some of the key aspects which you need to start considering.

This guidance has been prepared for and intended for consideration by UK Swimming Pool Operators of public lifeguarded swimming pools that have or are considering installing automated monitoring and detection system – please follow this link to download the guidance

ukactive have worked closely with the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), which represents UK Police forces, to create guidance on the prevention of thefts in facilities, ‘Health & Fitness Clubs – Crime Prevention Series’

Due to a recent increase of Monkeypox cases, we have created this guidance note to bring some relevant information together.

Due to some recent inadvertent chemical mixes in facilities, we have created this guidance note to clarify the legal responsibility and guidance if you work with chemicals.

Following the recent release of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on ‘Separate and single-sex service providers: a guide on the Equality Act sex and gender reassignment provisions’, ukactive wanted to share some further guidance.

We want all facilities to provide a safe and welcoming environment for everyone wishing to access them. Any form of harassment towards people is totally unacceptable and we expect all operators to take a zero-tolerance approach to all types of harassment of both customers and staff. As such, we have developed a template policy for ukactive members to use as a basis to create or update their own policy on Personal Safety and Harassment. Please click here for further details

ukactive has worked in partnership with a number of stakeholders, including CIMSPA and Sport England, to produce guidance for frontline staff to assist with the use of facilities by trans people. The overall aim of the guidance is to encourage everyone to say ‘yes, you’re welcome,’ and to ensure everyone has a positive experience when accessing facilities. Please see here for further information.

The Active Standard

The Active Standard (TAS) is a new product, designed by ukactive in conjunction with partners, to apply and quality assure the appropriate standards necessary to support the continued professionalism of the physical activity sector. 

The creation of a new standard for the sector, “The Active Standard”, was announced by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson at the ukactive Summit in October 2020, when she set out our vision, in partnership with Sport England, for a new sector standard which offers the all-encompassing, flexible approach needed to consistently maintain the standards necessary to support the continued professionalism of the sector.

We understand that to create this new sector standard, which covers the full prism of our sector from Operators, Suppliers and Children’s Activity Providers, it needs to be developed with key partners and stakeholders, and crucially, in partnership with our members and customers.

Since the announcement,  The Active Standard has been in development in consultation with a broad range of ukactive members, representing all parts of the sector, along with stakeholders and partners. We are currently piloting the final standard with different organisations across the breadth of our membership and sector to make sure that it delivers value to the businesses we serve.

Following the current product testing and pilot phase, The Active Standard is scheduled to be rolled out across the UK sector in 2023

For further details please speak to your ukactive account manager for further information.

Partnerships around The Active Standard

The Sport and Physical Activity sector has been positive in its response to the Covid 19 crisis and has been successful in demonstrating to Government and to its customers that it can adapt operational practices to meet guidelines on social distancing.  The importance of physical activity to increase resilience to illness and support individual recovery has never had such a high profile.  Ensuring unified and consistent standards of delivery across the sector (sport and physical activity system) is essential to maintaining and enhancing a safe, inclusive environment, creating confidence for customers

 ukactive and Sport England

Sport England and ukactive are working collaboratively to develop a set of standards and a new framework for improvement that all parts of the sector can adopt. This will allow individual facilities/organisations – both publicly and privately operated – to demonstrate their compliance to standards and performance management but also contribute to the continuous improvement of service delivery across the sector.

To avoid any confusion, The Active Standard does not replace Quest, or vice-versa – the two tools will become fully aligned – Quest becoming the improvement tool for the sector, whereas The Active Standard will become the starting point. 

ukactive and FITcert

Through The Active Standard (UK) and the FITcert (Europe-wide), ukactive, the Royal Netherlands national Standards Body and EuropeActive are working collaboratively to ensure alignment, clarity and consistency in the development and integration of standards across the UK and mainland Europe, that all parts of the sector can adopt. Enabling individual facilities/organisations – both publicly and privately operated – to demonstrate compliance to standards and performance.