Source: Angling Trust
The Angling Trust, has launched a new coach licence to drive up standards and protect young people and vulnerable adults taking part in angling. A licensed coach must meet the highest safeguarding standards established and supported by the NSPCC and the Child Protection in Sport Unit, be subject to all the relevant and appropriate checks on their criminal record and show that they have undertaken the correct training.
The new licence will be available for £29.50 a year (£19.50 for under 22s) for coaches who have either a UKCC Level 1 or Level 2 angling coach qualification; the new licence also includes public liability insurance worth £59.99, along with all the benefits of Angling Trust membership, worth £25.
The Angling Trust is the only organisation which offers angling coaches a ‘Licence to Practise’ scheme, which proves to parents, young people, funding organisations and others that coaches are appropriately qualified and regularly engage in training to maintain the highest possible coaching standards.
All coaches licensed by the Angling Trust will also be encouraged to engage in continuous professional development (CPD) events over the course of the three-year licence. A coach attending no CPD events will be referred to as a ‘Licensed Coach’; those who attend more than three CPD events over a three-year period will be recognised as ‘Advanced Licensed Coaches’.
The Angling Trust has also established a number of coaching specialisms and these will also count as CPD events as described above. Further information and courses will be launched in the near future and a new web site with an online booking form will also be available from spring 2015.
Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust & Fish Legal said:
“Recent court cases have highlighted the need for every sector in society to ensure that young people and vulnerable adults are protected when they are being coached without supervision from their parents. This new licensing scheme offers a really affordable way for qualified coaches to demonstrate that they are quality assured.”
Ben Snook, the Angling Trust’s Coach Development Manager said:
“We want all qualified coaches to get a licence so that we can guarantee high standards of coaching within a really simple system that everyone can understand. It’s vitally important that parents and their children have the confidence to learn to fish with someone who has an official licence from the National Governing Body for angling. We have cut the cost of the licence dramatically to make it more affordable and it now offers unbelievably good value for money.”
