Return to Indoor Fencing Plan (England) submitted to DCMS

Following the Government announcement on July 9th about a return to indoor activity in England on July 25th, BF has submitted our return to indoor fencing plan to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Since the government announcement on 9th July, BF has been reviewing and updating its plans in light of the guidance published by Sport England and the UK Government.

The resulting plan is intended to set out how clubs and members in England will be able to return to indoor club fencing under the current UK Government Guidance. We are aware that our clubs and members have many questions and we hope that the document (once approved) will go some way towards addressing these questions.

In the meantime, there are a number of steps that clubs can be taking now to support their restart. These include:

• Appoint a Club COVID-19 Officer and register them on the BF Membership platform (see here).
• Check your club is listed as a BF Club. Clubs that have opted not to be publically listed should check their club status in the BF membership platform.
• Ensure that your Coaches are on the BF Coaches Register and up to date with all necessary checks and qualifications.
• Ensure that your Welfare Officer is on the BF Welfare Officers Register, fully trained and up to date with all necessary checks and qualifications.
• Update your club risk assessments. Whilst some elements of these risk assessments will change (specifically around fencing activity itself) the bulk of the content (for example around health, hygiene and 2m social distancing where possible) is unlikely to change significantly.
• Contact your venue to discuss when they are opening, their risk assessment and the requirements they have on any clubs using their facilities. We expect that any club or coach using a facility (that they do not themselves operate) will provide a copy of their risk assessment to the facility manager.
• Survey your members and volunteers to find out how they feel about returning to fencing and identifying any barriers or opportunities that restarting club fencing will bring,
• Audit your club kit and review the BF guidance on equipment sharing and disinfecting protocols (see here).
• Ensure that your club membership records are up to date.
• Review your member communications channels – being able to send up to date information to your members will be extremely important as part of any restart.
• Review your system for managing and storing accurate attendance records for at least 21 days. This will be a vital part of how we will support the NHS Test and Trace.

More information and resources to support these activities can be found here.

Please note that the document referred to relates to activities in England – people in  Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland must follow the specific rules in those parts of the UK.  Notwithstanding the specific rules clubs may wish to undertake some of the activities laid out in the context of current and expected local government guidance.

We will continue to update our COVID-19 advice here.  You can also subscribe to our new weekly summary email featuring the previous week’s latest news and announcements. Sign up here.