Please note, this refers to INSTRUCTORS and NOT open allocation STUDENTS.
Introduction
Whilst we've made open allocation instructor programmes available to a select few organisations since 2020, in 2025 we rolled this out to the whole membership base. We anticipate high demand for the service, and believe it could become the dominant way of covering instructors into the future.
How It Works
Our standard membership with insurance for instructors provides the named person with instructor insurance that is in place against their name 24/7 for 365 days. Open allocation, much like the student option, provides clubs with the ability to share a single insurance cover across multiple instructors. This is especially useful for clubs which may run peer to peer classes or with multiple volunteer instructors who do not regularly teach.
Whilst we fully support our insurers and believe they do a great job supporting our members, we also feel that in some instances, named instructor insurance offers the insurer huge excess premium that is not warranted based on the risk, as instructors may at times not be teaching for over a week at a time but still pay for 365 day cover.
It's for these instances open allocation instructor insurance is available.
Here's a working example; a club with 6 instructors all running the same weekly class on a rotation would benefit from open allocation cover. As only 1 active insurance is required at any one time, open allocation instructor cover would allow the club to purchase 6x instructor memberships without insurance and just one active cover, which would save the club a considerable sum. The onus, however, is on the club to use the instructor portal effectively to manage who’s assigned to cover as failing to do this could invalidate a claim.
Please bear in mind that clubs will need to purchase instructor memberships (without insurance) for any instructor who will be assuming cover. The cost for this is substantially reduced compared with that of instructors with insurance, especially if you have a large team and only a relatively small number of active covers needed.
Memberships are reduced based on scale. Here's an example;
A club has 10x insured instructors with membership. The cost could be approximately £89 per instructor, per year for membership combined with insurance, costing c. £890 per year in this example.
With the open allocation insurance, the membership cost may be as low as £22 per instructor for their membership, and with perhaps 2 insurances at c. £67.99 per slot, the all-in cost would only be £355.98.
Obligations & Responsibilities, And How To Assign Cover
It’s crucial that any club with open allocation instructor insurance remembers to assign their instructors to available covers as and when required or has robust and 'water-tight' management, properly designated in MyBMABA. This is an audited process, which means the insurer can see when said instructor was assigned to cover and this will always need to have been done before a claim arises.
All of the conditions, limitations and cover specification that apply to named instructor insurance applies to the open allocation insurance as it is the same cover, from the same policy. It is therefore crucial you ensure you fully understand conditions of cover and all other insurance terms, and that you ensure that is applicable to everyone else due to take control of cover at any point.
To assign cover;
Start by heading over to the Open Allocation Instructor Insurance page, which can be found on the main menu of MyBMABA under 'Dashboard > Open Allocation Instructor Insurance'. The direct link is here.
You'll see initially all of your allocations, in a format similar to this;
Clicking 'view details' shows confirmation of the policy specifics. You should always check this when activating or renewing a policy.
Whilst in this current state, the policy is Self Managed, meaning you can maintain and manage allocation at club level. Please see the important section below for more details.
Clicking 'Change Instructor' at any time opens an assignment module. You'll see any active instructors under your account showing in the list. Once selected, press 'SAVE CHANGES'.
Once the page refreshes, you'll see the instructor confirmed as being on-risk. The instructor's specific disciplines are automatically applied, alongside any relevant weapons on our approved weapons list.
At any point you wish to change the instructor press 'change instructor' and repeat step 4 above.
At any point you wish to self-manage the allocation press 'self manage' and confirm to remove the allocation.
It is your responsibility to oversee the allocations on your account, and to ensure if you are using the system all allocations are up to date, with instructors assigned as required. If you self-manage, it is your responsibility to ensure you have a watertight and robust way of demonstrating an instructor as genuinely assuming cover with advance notice, and not retrospectively.
Managing Allocations At Club Level
The key reason our Open Allocation Cover is available is because we can prove to our insurers in the event of a claim who is on risk. Everytime you add someone to cover, change them or self-manage an allocation, our central system creates an uneditable time-stamp and log of the transaction;
In the event of a claim, it is crucial and compulsory that you and we can prove to the insurer that 'X' instructor was genuinely assigned to cover and insured.
For so long as you use the allocation system, we can take care of that for you. Your obligations remain ensuring your instructors are registered and in-date, with our essentials checklist met in terms of safeguarding, training and CPD.
If you decide to self-manage you must have a water-tight, clear and undeniable form of proof as to whom was on cover at the time of any incident. We don't define what is and isn't sufficient - that's up to you as a club to decide.
As an example, simply stating 'John usually teaches Monday' is not sufficient. Having a proper club management platform (like BMABA's free club management platform) with the instructor assigned to a class by name alongside the instructor having a risk assessment or lesson plan relevant to the class would be reasonable in terms of proof of assignment. This requires there not to be more classes than cover at the time of the incident. For example, if you hold 2 insurances but 3 classes are active at the same time, the self-management option is not appropriate.
It is your responsibility to oversee the allocations on your account, and to ensure if you are using the system all allocations are up to date, with instructors assigned as required. If you self-manage, it is your responsibility to ensure you have a watertight and robust way of demonstrating an instructor as genuinely assuming cover with advance notice, and not retrospectively.
Producing Proof Of Cover
Understandably, you’ll want proof of cover for you and your instructor team. We can’t issue an annual document as the cover might change by the day in some cases. For all clubs running open allocation instructor cover, you can generate a manifest which confirms all instructors eligible for cover, alongside all active policies.
Look for the 'Generate Proof of Cover Manifest' button below your allocations.
This will produce a document which is immediately downloadable per the below example;
It will confirm who is in charge of allocations within the club, the name of the club (you can set this by going to your instructor page, clicking the eyeball next to you and then updating your club name there), all currently registered instructors inclusive of disciplines eligible, renewal and expiry dates, and the details of all available insurances.
This document does not include who is currently assigned to cover, purely because it would be possibly open to manipulation or confusion if allocations are then immediately changed, but it can be used by the club to demonstrate sufficient named cover for all eligible instructors.
Important Technicalities
On active instructors are eligible for cover.
It is your responsibility to ensure everybody who is to be assuming cover holds all of the necessary grades, CPD, qualifications and training - including DBS checks / PVGs, safeguarding and so on.
Remember, if you self-manage cover you must maintain your records for up to 3 years post-class to ensure in the event that an incident is claimed against in the future, you can continue to meet this condition.
All of the conditions, limitations and cover specification that apply to named instructor insurance applies to the open allocation insurance as it is the same cover, from the same policy. It is therefore crucial you ensure you fully understand conditions of cover and all other insurance terms, and that you ensure that is applicable to everyone else due to take control of cover at any point.
Updating National Records
Any member of the public can search for you or your instructors at bmaba.org.uk/verify to check credentials like DBS, First Aid and Insurance. As Open Allocation instructor insurance does not update Instructor Insurance on renewal like it does for named instructors, we've built a function to allow you to verify your instructors from the Open Allocation Instructor Insurance Section.
You'll find a list of all your current instructors, yourself included. You click 'Verify Now' to force the system to update Instructor Insurance verification, and confirm Open Allocation Cover. This will run for you and your team in-line with your membership dates.
It is fraud to mark somebody as covered here if you know they're not going to have capacity to assume cover, so please use it appropriately.
