Sports clubs, from rugby clubs to cricket clubs, most definitely need insurance. Since members of the public frequent them, one type of liability insurance that a sports club typically needs to buy are public liability insurance. And if the club has any volunteers or employs any staff, even on a part-time basis, they typically need to buy employers’ liability insurance as well. According to NimbleFins, these two critical types of liability insurance can often be quoted together from the same provider to keep things easy.
Below we’ll discuss what public liability and employers’ liability insurance cover, as well as some other types of cover that a sports club might need.
What kind of insurance do sports clubs need?
The only type of insurance that a sports club would be required to hold by law would be employers’ liability insurance, which is compulsory if a business or organisation employs anyone. This is true even for staff that is paid in cash or works part-time.
Employers’ liability insurance protects against claims against the organisation if a worker is injured or falls ill due to their work. Employers’ liability essentially protects both the people working or volunteering for your club as well as the finances of the club itself. It covers the cost of a legal defence plus any damages the club is liable for. This serves to protect the finances of a sports club if there is a claim. It also covers the injured party with compensation.
Even if everyone who works at your sports club is a volunteer, it’s typically a good idea to get employers’ liability insurance. This is a bit of a grey area, but the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) generally says organisations have a duty of care to people other than those at work, such as volunteers. You can learn more about how volunteers are viewed by the HSE here. Discuss this with your insurer to learn more and ensure that your policy covers any volunteers.
Public liability insurance for sports clubs
Public liability insurance is another critical type of business insurance for sports clubs in the UK. It protects against claims made against your club if someone suffers bodily injury or property damage and they blame the club.
For instance, consider the situation where there is a loose step leading up to the clubhouse and someone trips and falls down the stairs, injuring themselves. They could blame the club for the accident, claiming the club was negligent in not tending to the broken step and sue for damages.
Public liability covers the cost of mounting a legal defence against a claim as well as any compensatory damages a club is found liable to pay. Besides covering the costs, public liability policies typically connect you with suitable legal professionals to consult with in case of an incident. As many organisations wouldn’t know who to call in case of disaster, having access to a legal team is another significant benefit of coverage.
Even if a claim is frivolous, liability insurance can provide access to a legal team and pay for legal costs to defend your club. Because even if your club has done nothing wrong, it might still find itself on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
Sports club building insurance
To protect against damage to a clubhouse or other buildings like storage sheds onsite, a sports club might also want some sort of building insurance. This will only apply if the sports club owns the premises, as it’s a property owner who buys building insurance. If a sports club leases the space, their landlord should take care of the building insurance.
Commercial building insurance covers the cost of rebuilding or repairing structures if they’re destroyed or damaged in a covered event. This can include fire, flood, vandalism, theft, falling trees and more.
Regardless of whether a sports club owns its premises or not, it may also want to invest in contents or equipment insurance coverage. This protects items that you might take with you if you were to move to different premises against similar types of disasters as building insurance (e.g., fire, flood, theft, vandalism, etc.). For example, contents insurance can cover sports equipment, furniture, furnishings and other contents.
Sports and social club insurance
In addition to their primary use, many sports clubs are also hired out to members of the public for social events, such as birthday parties. Or other sports clubs might rent out the facility, such as a karate club that uses the clubhouse for lessons on some evenings.
Suppose your sports club is used for these types of purposes. In that case, it’s critical to ensure you’ve notified your insurance company to expand your public liability insurance (and other types of business coverage) to cover these additional usages of the property.