{"id":86538,"date":"2026-08-08T12:23:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bmaba.org.uk\/clubs\/?page_id=86538"},"modified":"2026-08-10T08:07:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:07:34","slug":"a-complete-free-guide-to-starting-a-uk-martial-arts-club","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bmaba.org.uk\/clubs\/uk-martial-arts-association-governing-body-instructor-membership\/a-complete-free-guide-to-starting-a-uk-martial-arts-club\/","title":{"rendered":"A Complete Free Guide to Starting a UK Martial Arts Club"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tStart  ·  Grow<\/a>  ·  Scale<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Nobody hands you a manual the day you decide to open a club.<\/em><\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Most instructors start with a hall booking, a handful of students and a quiet worry that there is paperwork they do not know about. There is. It is far less frightening than it sounds, and getting it right at the start is enormously easier than fixing it at year three.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tStart Free Today<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOr just ask us a question →<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/header>\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t01 \/<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t

You do not need permission to start a martial arts club. You do need insurance, vetting and a duty of care.<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t
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Martial arts is not a regulated profession in the United Kingdom. There is no licence to apply for, no register you must be on, and no organisation whose approval you need before you teach. Anyone telling you otherwise is usually selling something.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

What is real is your duty of care. The moment a child walks into your class, the law expects you to have thought about their safety, and to be able to show that you did.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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That is the whole difference between a club that is fine and a club that is exposed. Not paperwork for its own sake, but insurance that actually covers what you teach, checks on everyone helping you, a written risk assessment, and a record of what happened when something did.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

All of which is entirely achievable on a Tuesday evening in a scout hut with fourteen students. We do this with new clubs constantly.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t

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What you actually need before your first session<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

In order. None of it costs anything with us beyond the insurance and the checks themselves, and none of it takes as long as you think.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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  1. \n\t\t\t\t\t\t01<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInsurance that covers your discipline<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Public liability and professional indemnity, sized to what you actually teach, the ages you teach and the contact level involved. Most hall owners will ask for evidence before they take a booking, and a generic sports policy often will not cover a striking or grappling class properly.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur insurance →<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t

  2. \n\t\t\t\t\t\t02<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
  3. \n\t\t\t\t\t\t03<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
  4. \n\t\t\t\t\t\t04<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA risk assessment for the space you use<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Not a formality. Hard floors, low ceilings, fire exits, the pillar in the middle of the hall, what happens if someone goes down. Our digital risk assessment tool builds one in minutes and keeps it, so you can hand it to a hall owner or an insurer on request.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t

  5. \n\t\t\t\t\t\t05<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBasic policies, written for your club<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Safeguarding, code of conduct, complaints, photography. Our policy generator produces professional documents from more than seventy templates with your club’s details written in, rather than leaving you to edit somebody else’s PDF.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t

  6. \n\t\t\t\t\t\t06<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFirst aid provision<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Somebody at every session who can deal with the things martial arts actually produces, including head injuries. Our first aid and concussion awards are both sport-specific rather than generic.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/section>\n\n\t\t\t

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    \n\t\t\t\t\t03 \/<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\tFree Affiliate Membership<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

    Cashflow should not be the reason a good club never opens<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

    A new club has no income and a lot of first-year costs. That is exactly the point at which most instructors decide the professional side can wait, and it is the worst possible time to make that call.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

    So our affiliate membership is free, permanently, with no card taken and nothing to cancel. It carries real qualifications rather than a trial: SEND Level 1, CHIMA concussion management and the BMABA Induction Award, all fully certificated. You can be properly trained before you have taken a single membership fee.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t\tJoin Free, No Card<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat the paid tiers add →<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Included from day one<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t