During the early part of this year Sport England conducted a review of the Clubmark Scheme and as a result it has been decided that the programme will come to an end on the 30^th November 2019.

Why have Sport England reviewed the scheme?

Over the last four months Sport England have been undertaking a review into the Clubmark scheme. This independent review was needed to explore the efficiency, effectiveness and continued suitability of Clubmark as a way of promoting and raising standards within sports clubs and community organisations. Some of the core reasons for commissioning a review included:

• Reduced capacity of some NGBs to support their clubs through the Clubmark process.
• NGBs increasingly moving to their own branded version of Clubmark and/or capturing the core information that Clubmark promotes through affiliation.
• Active Partnerships having less capacity and strategic need to be a license holder
• Consideration of the need for Sport England to administer club accreditation in light of our current strategy

What are the recommendations?

As a result of the review, it has been decided that Sport England should cease the accreditation portion of Clubmark on the 30^th November 2019. We are aware that for many of you Clubmark is used as a development tool and/or kitemark tool; we are proposing to cease the kitemarking function through our Clubmark portal but are still committed to supporting club development (As demonstrated later in this document).

• Clubmark is no longer either an effective development tool, that can be effectively used by all sports, or a standards kitemark.
• Due to the detailed nature of Clubmark, and the time needed, it cannot be used effectively by all license holders and as a result of the accreditation element it is seen as end point as opposed to springboard to further development
• It is currently not accessible for the wider community sports sector and as such lacks a clear purpose in the current strategic landscape.
• There are elements of the existing scheme which, at its creation, were positioned as ‘best practice’ (safeguarding/duty of care and governance) which are now deemed to be essential aspects of any club’s operations
• Instead of accrediting clubs, more effort should be spent in supporting the differing needs and sizes of wider physical activity providers, to develop their structures and offers.

What does this mean for the British Judo Association?

British Judo will now conduct its own review in response to the above. This will involve contacting member clubs in January 2020 to gain input on how we move forward. In the meantime should you have any further questions please email clubmark@britishjudo.org.uk.

Our club has already started working towards Clubmark, what should we do?

Any clubs that have already started working towards the scheme may still submit their application. The deadline for new or renewal applications is the 31^st December 2019.