All the documents you need for a category 3 submission can be found here:
**Please note that currently these documents are not interactive so you will need to download and complete them.
All the doucments you need for a category 2 submission can be found here:
**Please note that currently these documents are not interactive so you will need to download and complete them.
All the doucments you need for a category 1 submission can be found here:
**Please note that currently these documents are not interactive so you will need to download and complete them.
Although not compulsory, many health and fitness practioners feel it is important to hold a full first aid qualification, due to the nature of their work and the different environments they work in. Instructors are expected to know if they need first aid training for their role and to gain the certification if necessary.
REPs has over 28,000 members all of who are required to undertake mandatory training, in order to maintain their CPD credits. However, many of whom currently don't take first aid training as it doesn't help them meet their credit requirements.
A first aid training licence means that your first aid training course will be endorsed and eligble to have REPs CPD points accrediated to it.
If you have any enquiries about the first aid licence please email our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call them on 0207 632 2006.
In order to help both employers and their employees get recognition for their participation in a quality assured, well-delivered training and development programme, we have developed a two year employer training licence.
The licence will offer employers the opportunity to deliver inhouse training to their staff, which we have endorsed and is therefore eligible for CPD points - an invaluable benefit for those employees who are members of The Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs).
The employer training licence application pack contains all the information you'll need to get started and apply for the licence.
You'll also need to ensure you have read and completed:
If you have any enquiries about the employer training licence please email our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call them on 0207 632 2006.
Using a system of self-regulation it categorises its members into one of four levels according to their professional qualifications and experience. This provides both a clear system of career progression for instructors and employees, as well as an easy reference point for employers and members of the public.
The Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) does not set the criteria for entry on to the register. This is determined by SkillsActive through consultation with employers over the skills and knowledge they expect exercise professionals to possess.
The resulting national occupational standards are used by awarding bodies and training providers in the development of accredited qualifications which REPs then recognises as giving entry to the Register.
While the day-to-day decisions relating to individual entry to the Register is administered by REPs, the process of employer consultation through to qualification development is overseen by SkillsActive.
For more information on the Register of Exercise Professionals visit their website: www.exerciseregister.org
The London Borough of Redbridge Swimming Club (LBRSC) has 30 staff delivering sessions to 320 members, from learn to swim classes through to national swimmers and master’s classes. Sixty percent of staff are volunteers.
Chief Coach Paul Robbins says the club had previously struggled to find teachers qualified to level 2 to take classes.
“Becoming fully qualified is prohibitively expensive for many people, especially in the current financial climate, and unfortunately we can only offer volunteers a small amount towards their training costs. This meant we found it difficult to find good level 2 teachers, and struggled to find cover for teachers when they were ill or on leave.”
In 2010, several of the club’s staff began ASA level 1 and 2 swimming teaching and coaching training with support from the Mayor’s Sport’s Legacy Fund. Managed by the National Skills Academy for Sport and Active Leisure, the fund provides London volunteers with up to 75% off the cost of training in exchange for volunteering hours, to deliver a sporting legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
LBRSC volunteer teacher and coach Kelsey Richards received 75% off her UKCC level 2 certificate in teaching aquatics as well as her UKCC level 2 certificate in coaching swimming thanks to the Fund - and now wants to progress to level 3.
“I would not have been able to finance these courses myself and am really happy to be able to volunteer for both my club and the community of Redbridge,” she says. “I love the sport and want to be able to coach other swimmers to reach their maximum potential and be the best coach I can be.”
Paul says 90% of the club’s staff have now received funding through the scheme, and several members have also put their hands up for coaching training so they can take on roles at the club.
“The subsidised training has provided current staff with fresh ideas and enthusiasm for their job.
It’s also given our members the opportunity to give back to the sport and become great teachers and coaches working for the club and our pool provider, Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure.
“We now have an abundance of qualified teachers within the borough, which has enabled us and Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure to provide classes for 50 extra swimmers. We’ve also had a few people attend ASA Level 1 and 2 coaching courses, which is great as I can now look at developing younger adults into quality coaches.”
Paul says the funding has been “priceless” for the club: “Both LBRSC and Vision’s objective for some time has been to improve the quality of teaching within Redbridge and this funding has helped us achieve that. The newly qualified teachers are the future of our club and I’m confident they will remain in swimming long term.”
The Healthy Lifestyle Activities Provider has been training apprentices for the company and its sector partners since late 2009, providing young people with an important entry route into the sport and active leisure industry. Currently, 15% of Fit for Sport’s 70 permanent staff train through Apprenticeships. By 2013, training manager Jack Shakespeare expects that figure to reach 50 per cent.
“Apprenticeships are, in our experience, the most successful way to recruit, develop and retain effective employees,” Jack says. “The training ensures apprentices are competent and engage in living our vision and values. They are core to our future growth and that of our partners.”
Apprentices gain relevant qualifications while they earn
Fit for Sport’s Level 2 NVQ apprenticeship in activity leadership takes learners one year to complete and includes a salary of between £5000 to £14000 depending on age, hours of work and responsibilities. Fit for Sport looks for six key values in any potential employee. They need to be: trustworthy, professional, enthusiastic, fun, a good role model and lead a healthy lifestyle.
“Our staff are our product,” Jack says. “We can motivate them and provide them with the right practical skills but they have to demonstrate those other qualities from the outset.”
Working with SkillsActive, which designs the apprenticeship frameworks, Fit for Sport tailored the framework to ensure the learning matched the practical skills they needed in the workplace. Fit for Sport apprentices gain a level 2 in activity leadership, which teaches them how to plan, deliver and review engaging, safe and progressive activity sessions for children. They also complete qualifications in behaviour management, child protection, first aid and employability training and, if they need them, key skills.
“Not every employer has the same needs so a flexible apprenticeship framework is important,” Jack says. “Our apprentices are practical minded people so we wanted any theory work to be directly relevant to their role, and SkillsActive helped us with this.”
Building a motivated, loyal workforce
More than 90% of Fit For Sport apprentices secure work with the company or its sector partners such as SLM leisure group. Fit For Sport uses its industry connections to support other apprentices into further education or work with companies specialising in adult activity leadership.
Jack says the combination of learning and working offered by Apprenticeships is priceless.
“Apprenticeships allow Fit For Sport to select the right person and develop them in a way that meets the needs of both the company and the apprentice. We invest 12 months of training and mentoring and we get fully qualified, enthusiastic and work ready employees, each of whom understands our company and our values. It also means we save time and money on recruitment. We are using Apprenticeships to build a well-trained, motivated and loyal workforce which will help us grow and develop our business.”
There are four types of apprenticeships available in the active learning, learning and wellbeing sector. They provide a mix of practical and technical skills that allow learners to develop at work and progress to further education.
To find out more about Apprenticeships in the sport and active leisure sector please see Apprenticeships
The amount of the adult population who do not participate in sport or active leisure has hovered at around 80% since 2006, according to the Active People Survey.
To help engage and improve residents’ activity levels, Sutton Council has partnered with Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust to train people in areas of high non-participation to help build participation in their communities. The project is supported by a 75% subsidy from the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund, managed by SkillsActive's National Skills Academy for Sport and Active Leisure, and additional funding from Sutton Council.
Programme coordinator Brian Pote-Hunt says recent research carried out by Ottaway Strategic Management ltd found that Sutton residents who had been inactive for a long period of time “don’t feel confident getting into the Lycra scene – they want to do something that’s free with people from their local community”.
“We’ve responded by putting together a ‘community activator’ programme which gives people the skills to run community based activity sessions for small groups of people.”
Participants on the four day Central YMCA course learn how to set up physical activity sessions in their community, gaining their Level 2 Certificate in Fitness Instructing. They are also provided with the all important insurance to run community sport, health and physical sessions in their community.
Brian says 13 people from a diverse range of backgrounds attended the first programme in March 2011, shortlisted from a group of 30: “We had a librarian, journalist, engineer, au pair, unemployed people and people looking to volunteer locally. But the one thing they all had in common was an interest in helping people lead healthier lives.”
Participant Trevor Graham says many of his engineering colleagues at 02 work long hours, and so exercise slips to the bottom of their priority list. Following his training, Trevor now leads 30 minute activity sessions three mornings a week involving a warm up, full body workout and cool down.
“I’m just trying to help them get their recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day. The first few sessions were hard for some of them, but they’re carried on and now I get between five and 15 people turning up to each session. It’s great.”
Brian says other training participants plan to work with mental health groups, children’s centers and domestic violence victims: “If each of our ‘community activators’ worked with a group of 10, then that’s 130 people we’re providing with an opportunity to become fitter and healthier.”
Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust is a charitable trust set up to manage and operate Doncaster Dome Leisure Complex. Head of Leisure Jon Whiteley says the Trust had always been good at providing staff with mandatory training such as first aid, health and safety and pool plant operation, but it wasn’t as strong on softer skills like management, sales and customer care.
Supporting staff stepping into management
A SkillsActive account manager started working with Trust managers to understand the results of their appraisals, and to source suitable training providers to fulfil their training requirements.
Jon says many staff at the Trust progress to duty management positions through internal promotions, and while this means they have good knowledge of their field, they often lack management skills: “We wanted to support them make the step up from the front line.”
SkillsActive presented the Trust with a number of training options using its recognised training provider network. In September 2010, 16 current or aspiring managers from the leisure, conferencing, catering events and cleaning teams attended Developing Duty Managers training.
Jon says the feedback was extremely positive: “The delivery was really innovative. They learned about effective communication, being assertive, formal and informal feedback mechanisms, and how to motivate staff. I’m certain this has made them better managers.”
FJF employees extend programme reach
SkillsActive also encouraged the Trust to sign up to the Future Jobs Fund programme. The government programme, which has now closed, provided 5000 young unemployed people with jobs in the sport and active leisure sector. In January 2011, the Trust took on three recruits as Assistant Community Engagement Officers.
“This was a really good business decision for us as it provided us with the wages and training grant to take on three new employees to help deliver our community outreach schemes, such as the 50 plus and Play Rangers community activity programmes."
The Trust is also now investigating opportunities to provide funded training to several other eligible staff in customer service, business administration, supervisory development and activity leadership through Apprenticeships.
Making a long term commitment to staff – and the Academy
In April 2011, the Trust will enter an exciting new phase as it extends to manage 10 more local leisure facilities. This means consolidating staff training from 11 different organisations. Jon says the Trust is committed to working with SkillsActive to continue the innovative skills development programme it has started.
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