Insurance for Clubs
Introduction
The British Baseball Federation and British Softball Federation take out insurance policies in their names covering civil liability and personal accident for their members. This section summarises how your club becomes insured under these policies, the level of cover and provides instructions on reporting incidents and making claims.
Types of cover
British Baseball Federation
Civil Liability. Covers registered members of your club for civil liability cases while involved in an official club activity such as a training session, game or event. Claims are assessed on the basis of whether the incident was a result of the club's negligence; accidents are generally not covered. Fee is charged by BBF per club as an extra on top of the affiliation fee.
Personal Accident. Covering registered members of your club for costs resulting from injury while involved in an official club activity such as a training session, game or event. Fee is charged by BBF per club as an extra on top of the affiliation fee.
Who is covered? UK residents who are registered members of your club: players, coaches, officials, employees, volunteers, committee members. Registration is done via the British Baseball website.
British Softball Federation
Civil Liability. Covers registered members of your club for civil liability cases while involved in an official club activity such as a training session, game or event. Claims are assessed on the basis of whether the incident was a result of the club's negligence; accidents are generally not covered. Fee is charged by BSF as included in the affiliation fee.
Personal Accident. Covering members of your club for costs resulting from injury while involved in an official club activity such as a training session, game or event. Fee is charged by BSF per team as an extra on top of the affiliation fee.
Who is covered? UK residents who are a registered member of your club: players, coaches, officials, employees, volunteers, committee members. Registration is done via the British Softball website.
How does your club get covered?
Your club will be covered by the insurance policies providing that it pays the relevant insurance fee as requested by the federation at the time of affiliation each season. The BBF and BSF will let their members know how much insurance will cost prior to the new season starting.
Generally, it is softball leagues which affiliate and pay an insurance fee to the British Softball Federation. Going down the chain, clubs pay membership and insurance fees to their league, and players pay membership fees to their club, which includes annual insurance cover. The exceptions are tournament teams which don't play in a league but take part in BSF tournaments through the year. They will affiliate directly with the BSF, sometimes done through a tournament entry fee.
Baseball clubs, on the other hand, affiliate with the British Baseball Federation directly and pay an insurance fee in the process. Players then obtain insurance through membership with their club.
Currently, all affiliated clubs of the British Baseball Federation are required to take out civil liability and personal accident cover. The British Softball Federation requires its members to have civil liability cover, but personal accident insurance is optional for leagues and independent teams.
Insurance is not sold for a profit by the federations; annual club insurance fees are set to cover the initial cost for each federation of buying the insurance policies from the insurers.
Venues often want clubs to demonstrate that they have civil liability cover to protect against accidental damage to property, injury to spectators, etc; you can obtain a certificate of civil liability insurance from the federation.
How long does cover last?
The British Baseball and Softball Federations renew their insurance policies every year. Currently, policies cover roughly the calendar year, ending on 31 November before renewing into a new annual policy.
Given that a season's insurance runs out in November and that the federations don't usually request club insurance fees for the new season until the following spring, clubs may wonder whether they are insured if they train from December onwards or play indoor competition during the winter.
The federations operate a rolling policy which means that if your club paid its insurance fees during the summer season it continues to be insured during the winter/spring period until the request is made for the new season's fees. At that point, clubs will no longer be insured until they pay the new season's fees.
