We announced an industry first back in August of 2021 when we introduced Maternity cover to all of our insurances and memberships.

The feedback and uptake has been fantastic and following consultation with our community we would like to now take that one step further. Effective from January 10th 2022, we will now be offering completely free maternity and paternity cover for instructors and students. Here’s how it works;

For Instructors

Maternity Cover

We provide all BMABA registered female instructors with two options when it comes to maternity cover. It is entirely up to each member to decide upon the option that works best for her situation and club;

• • Maternity ‘Leave’
    For clubs in which no cover is available, we’ll pause memberships and insurances for up to 15 months completely free of charge. During this time the instructor may still continue to access her portal, membership, community, resources, CPD and qualifications to ensure their time off the mats doesn’t hinder their return in the months ahead. When the instructor is ready to return, we’ll ensure a smooth and seamless transition back into active cover for the remainder of the membership period at hand.

For Example: If a lady joins us in January and in July, 6 months into membership, produces proof of pregnancy, we’ll pause their membership and insurance with 6 months remaining for up to 15 months, meaning she can return to teaching with 6 months of full cover and membership as late as September the following year.

• • Maternity Switch
    If preferred, the instructor may pass her cover and membership to another instructor for up to 12 months, returning to their remaining period of membership and insurance. This is particularly useful if a small club will be drafting in a relief instructor, or in larger clubs where a multiple instructor team may want to find on-going cover.

For Example: If a lady joins us in January and in July, 6 months into membership, produces proof of pregnancy and opt to bring in a relief instructor, they can provision a full year’s membership and insurance for that additional instructor, after which the instructor on maternity may resume their remaining 6 months cover.

Paternity Cover

New for 2022, we want to make sure we can support Dads and life partners in taking a leading role in the formative days of a baby’s life too, without sacrificing their martial arts clubs. Effective from 10th January 2022 we’re going to be offering up to 6 weeks paternity ‘cover’ for Dad’s or partners of newly arrived ‘little ones’. The mother doesn’t have to be with BMABA for Paternity leave to be available. We’ll extend memberships for up to 6 weeks without charge, including plans inclusive of insurance. This is designed to help Dads stop for a period of time after the arrival of a baby, to bond with baby and support Mum, without worrying about the clock ticking down on their renewal.

If preferred, we can instead provide an 8 week temporary insurance cover for those who have active insurance with us too. This means for an 8 week window post-birth, an instructor can have another senior student or assistant instructor step in and make use of their full BMABA Instructor Insurance without cost.

For Example: Baby arrives on 1st February. The paternity period would then allow for Dad or the life partner to extend their membership by 6 weeks, which is especially helpful if a renewal is looming. Alternatively, a temporary instructor can be parachuted in with temporary BMABA membership and insurance (provided this is already in place) until April (8 weeks) to keep classes moving.

For Students

Whilst not as pressing, we also want to support clubs in being able to do the right thing by students. With this in mind, we’ll provide a full 9 month extension to any student licences where a mother is expecting so the club can in-turn pass on this extension to the student. For paternity, we’ll also provide a 6 week extension to any student who is fulfilling paternity so the club can suspend the bill for renewal accordingly.