Senior League News

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28th July 2020

Latest news from Badminton England - County Fees 2020/21

From Badminton England

Dear County Colleague,

It has certainly been a challenging few months for us all in many ways and I hope you have been keeping safe and well and your county is in good spirits. I have noticed some great engagement happening with county teams running zoom quizzes, fitness sessions and virtual meetings to keep members connected during this time which is great to see.

As we all look ahead to grass roots badminton returning from 25 July, we have been working hard behind the scenes on a range of measures to help restart our sport. These include:

• A ‘back to play’ fund to assist clubs and coaches who are likely to experience difficulties in returning.

• A series of webinars with the badminton community to help familiarise them with the return to play guidelines.

• A membership proposal for the 2020/21 season that recognises the ‘lost’ months through the current period.

• Our new virtual workouts, session finder and coaching resources.

• A host of free resources to enable clubs and coaches to manage their return to badminton, club administration and sessions.

With regards to membership, we will be considering the long-term approach to develop a product that is valued by our members, clubs and can deliver greater benefits back to badminton. However, we know there is a short-term need to address because of the pandemic and also for the members and clubs to understand what a key role their membership plays in supporting English badminton.

Following the extensive project to call every affiliated club and coach member, we gathered a huge amount of information that we are keen to action. This information told us of the challenges some clubs will face in returning to badminton and related to membership and the request for a reduction in fees to support them at this time.

We have therefore acted on this but are also keen to balance against the number of clubs who, encouragingly, told us to balance the financial need. We also heard a number of our clubs tell us that they would like to continue their full support of fees, recognising that the sport will also have experienced financial challenges because of Covid-19.

So, on 8 July, the Board of Directors approved the following membership proposal for the 2020/21 season:

• A reduction of 25% of affiliation and membership fees for the 2020/21 season for all seasonal clubs and individual members.

• On re-joining, the ability for a club to pay the full fees for the 2020/21 season if they wish.

• An optional extension of 3 months for all members and coaches who are on a 12-month direct memberships.

• Time to pay – in recognising that some clubs will not restart at the usual time, club and individual members fees will not be collected until the first working day after 1 January 2021. Membership renewals will still open on 1 September for those who wish to renew early ahead of the membership year starting on 1 November.

I am aware there has been previous discussion with counties about the applying of County Fees for the coming season and we are now looking to understand whether the counties are also keen to provide support to club members by adjusting their planned fees for the 2020/21 season. We recognise each county operates differently and the resources they need to do that varies enormously and so any change to county fees is something that only your county can decide.

We have therefore asked your county to respond no later than Friday 31 July.

Shortly after this, we intend to share a communication with clubs and members on the changes to the fee structure for the 2020/21 season.

I look forward to working with you this coming season.

Kind regards,

Victoria Barlow
Head of Membership and Ticketing
Badminton England

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