1. Club Colours

We run the UK martial arts’ most reputable club licencing scheme, called BMABA Club Colours. Using our state of the art systems, we check club credentials in-real time and relay this to a publicly accessible, minute-to-minute updated national register. For instructors and clubs, gaining The Colours marks an enormous achievement. Having undertaken full vetting of DBS, insurance, first aid, safeguarding, club policies, identity, address and more clubs then formally apply for our vetting team to consider.

Upon awarding The Colours to a club, they receive multiple certification and a School of Excellence status. The Colours is of such a high standard, being awarded a Club Colours Licence by BMABA automatically entitles you to be awarded or renewed with the Safeguarding Code for Martial Arts, a Sport England Funded programme.

2. Dedicated Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Service

We know that for many smaller clubs, appointing a separate, indepedent safeguarding lead or welfare officer can be near impossible, expensive and prohibitive.

That’s why we’re proud to offer the only-of-it’s-kind service for UK martial arts clubs, with a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) service that sees our specialist safeguarding unit act as your club’s welfare officer. We check and asses your club’s policies and setup, and we ask you to make certain contact details for our DSLs visible on your website.

We can then issue you with DSL certification to confirm the setup and in the event of you having questions, queries or concerns – or parents and the public needing to make a serious safeguarding allegation, our expert team will step in and provide a professional and impartial service.

3. Safeguarding Qualifications & DBS Checks

We can provide access to online safeguarding qualifications and lead safeguarding certification through our superb online learning suite, available 24/7 on computer, tablet or our app. We can also provide face to face and webinar based training with expert trainers, carrying nationally recognised certification.

In addition, we can provide enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for paid roles and volunteers, with availability for PVG scheme checks for our Scottish Clubs, too.

4. Expert Guidance & Policy Templates

We’re not a small amateur organisation and we take safeguarding extremely seriously. We have our very own in-house Safeguarding & Compliance unit, consisting of skilled and experienced Lead Safeguarding Officers (LSOs) and Compliance Specialists.

We make available via our template documents and forms sections hundreds of example documents you can easily adapt for use in your club. This includes safeguarding policies, safeguarding statements and incident reporting flowcharts.

In addition to this, we’re on hand to provide support and guidance around setting up appropriate safeguarding provisions for your club and questions that may arise when concerns are raised.

5. Access To Latest Best Practice Guidance

We ensure BMABA clubs are as clued into the going on in terms of Safeguarding from the likes of Sport England, CIMPSA and other ‘official’ bodies to ensure our regulatory standards are second to none. The vetting process behind our Club Colours award is of such a high standard of oversight that we as an association can issue or renew a Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts certificate for clubs through issuance of the BMABA licence. We’re also an organisation member and have supported the scheme since it’s earliest inception.

We’ve sat on the Martial Arts Safeguarding Group (MASG) meetings which comprises of Sport England NGBs and have used this position to ensure our best practice guidance and safeguarding advice to members is ‘bang up to date’.

Evidence & Documents To Hand, 24/7

In addition to our real-time national records, you can access your BMABA instructor documents, safeguarding qualifications and all of the evidence you provide to us during vetting (DBS Checks, Safeguarding Qualifications and so on) are available to you 24/7 on any device. Log into the MyBMABA App or into MyBMABA on a computer to access all of your documents. This means parents and schools can not only check your credentials for themselves, but that you can also share, download and access your documentation, licences and evidence on the move.