Coaches and Instructors

 

 

At any moment, BCUSU has around 100 societies covering a huge range of activities.

Many groups decide to contract professional support for their sessions to ensure they are delivering high quality activity - more often than not this means engaging a qualified coach or instructor to lead sessions.

BCUSU defines a coach or instructor as any person who is qualified, able, and willing to run structured training session for a union-affiliated society.

Any eligible coach or instructor who will be working with our societies is required to register with BCUSU for the current academic year.

Any coach or instructor who isn't registered will not be permitted access to campus and will not have any invoices processed for payment.
 


Stage 1 - Registration

The form linked below must be completed by the coach/instructor
 

🖊 Coach and Instructor Registration Form


Registration will require coaches/instructors to provide proof they hold relevant and in-date qualifications and have adequate current public liability insurance. It also allows you to add supplementary qualifications such as a First Aid certificate (where applicable).

BCUSU enforces minimum levels of qualification for all of our coaches:

  • Lead coaches/instructors must be qualified to UKCC Level 2 (or equivalent)
     
  • Assistant coaches/instructors must be qualified to UKCC Level 1 (or equivalent) and should only work under the supervision of a suitably qualified lead coach
     
  • Voluntary coaches/instructors should be working towards gaining their UKCC Level 1 (or equivalent) and should only work under the supervision of a suitably qualified coach

 

BCUSU will only engage individual coaches for our societies and will not form agreements with larger companies who sub-contract work.


Stage 2 - Society Agreement

Once a coach/instructor is registered and approved, they can enter into an agreement with one (or more) societies.

The completed agreement must be submitted on the form below by the society committee and will be recorded by BCUSU.
 

🖊 Society Coaching Agreement Form

 

When completing the agreement, coaches and instructors should be paid in line with the pay scales listed below:
 

🏅Lead Coaches/Instructors: £20-£25 per hour

🏅Assistant Coaches/Instructors: £15-£20 per hour


If you want to pay your coach more than is allowed for in our pay scales, you will need to speak to your coordinator before this can be agreed.


Stage 3 - Paying your coach/instructor

You can normally pay a coach/instructor only for services that they have already provided within the same academic year they were registered. If you believe you have a valid reason to submit an invoice or reimbursement request before services have been provided, please speak to your coordinator first.

Invoices should be addressed to the society itself, and further details about what your coach/instructor needs to include can be found on the Society Finances page of the toolkit.

The invoice should then be checked and submitted by the committee, through the Student Group Finance (SGF) module. You can speak to your coordinator if you need help.
 

We will not reimburse any costs associated to the trainers qualifications or ability to affiliate to BCUSU.

Frequently Asked Questions
 

  • Lead coaches/instructors must be qualified to UKCC Level 2 (or equivalent)
     
  • Assistant coaches/instructors must be qualified to UKCC Level 1 (or equivalent) and should only work under the supervision of a suitably qualified lead coach
     
  • Voluntary coaches/instructors should be working towards gaining their UKCC Level 1 (or equivalent) and should only work under the supervision of a suitably qualified coach


If you have any questions regarding coaching qualifications, please email activitiesandrepresentation@bcu.ac.uk.

The rates listed below are the standard coaching rates payable to qualified instructors who are registered with BCUSU:


Lead coaches/instructors: £20-£25 per hour

Assistant coaches/instructors: £15-£20 per hour


If you want to pay your coach more than is allowed for in our pay scales, you will need to speak to your coordinator before this can be agreed.

If you have any questions regarding pay scales, please email activitiesandrepresentation@bcu.ac.uk.

 

If approved, the registration of a coach/instructor is valid for the remainder of the current academic year. This is primarily because it's the discretion of each incoming committee to choose which coach(es) the want to use.

BCUSU may specify an earlier registration end date if, for example, the individuals insurance certificate expires sooner or if their coaching qualification will need to be renewed. 

If this is the case, the coach/instructor should email their renewed document(s) to activitiesandrepresentation@bcu.ac.uk before expiry of their current ones. We will then extend the registration of the coach/instructor until the new end date, or the end of the current academic year - whichever is sooner. 

Somebody trained in first aid should be present at all society events.

Ideally, this would be the coach/instructor leading the session, however it is not a requirement of a coaches afiliation with a society.

For events held on campus, all BCU security staff are first aid trained and should be the first point of contact if required. For any other event, if the coach/instructor is not first aid trained, we will require the society to name a first aider who will be present.

During the registration process, we ask the coach/instructor to upload their public liability insurance certificate.

The following details must be visible in the uploaded document:

  • Type of Insurance (i.e. Public Liability Insurance)
  • Coverage Amount (which should be at least £10 million)
  • Policy number and issuing company
  • Name of person insured
  • Start and end date of insurance

Please note that if the end date is during the academic year, your registration with BCUSU will expire at this point unless we receive an updated insurance certificate via email to activitiesandrepresentation@bcu.ac.uk.