Setting up a club? Want to know more about British Cycling affiliation? Not sure how to handle the finances?
Our comprehensive frequently asked questions guide is here to help. Find out about the benefits of British Cycling affiliation, registering your club kit, how to apply for funding and much more.
Can I affiliate my existing cycling club to British Cycling?
Can I turn my Social Cycling Group into a club?
How do I run my club finances?
Why should I affiliate my club to British Cycling?
Which region will my club be in?
What are the insurance benefits to my club?
Are there any rules or guidelines for club kits?
Can I name my club after a business?
Are there any rules or guidelines for sponsorship?
Are the any benefits for club members?
How can my club effectively use the British Cycling Club Management Tool
How can my club become a Go-Ride Registered club?
How can my club become a Go-Ride Accredited club?
How can my club run and promote an event?
What's the best way for an established club to set up a youth section?
What funding can we apply for?
We would like to race as a club, how do we do this?
How do I start up a club?
Have you recently got into cycling and want to join a club. Have a look at our club finder and see if there is a suitable club in your area. If there is not a club in your town or the existing clubs are not suitable then why not set up your own club.
You may want to do this with a group of friends or maybe work colleagues and you may want to think about what prospective members you can attract and whether you have enough people willing to volunteer to help run the club.
To get started hold a meeting with those interested in forming a club. You will need to decide on your Club name and someone will have to take the role of Club Secretary – this person will be the main contact with British Cycling. It is also a good idea to appoint a chairman and treasurer and decide on things like fees you will charge members, if you are going to look for sponsorship (click here for guidelines) and designing a kit (click here for guidelines) for your club. You will need to write a club constitution, this may be required when applying for funding and will also clarify your club’s policies and procedures. A model constitution is available here it is a good idea to write draft of this before the initial meeting so that it can be finalised at the meeting.
Once you have done this you will need to complete an affiliation application and pay the appropriate fee. Clubs in England, Scotland and Wales can find all the information and forms on our affiliation page. Once your application has been accepted your club will be affiliated to British Cycling. It is very important to do this as soon as possible to make sure the club has liability insurance in place before commencing club runs and activities.
Can I affiliate my existing cycling club to British Cycling?
Perhaps people in your leisure club wish to ride competitively under the club banner or you wish to build on the time trial events you already run. You will most likely already have a club structure in place. Someone will have to take the role of Club Secretary – this person will be the main contact with British Cycling. Once you have done this you will need to complete and return your affiliation form. Read the guide to setting up a new club above to check you have everything else in place.
Can I turn my Social Cycling Group into a club?
With your social cycling group you have already started along the road to becoming a cycling club, perhaps you want to start competing, maybe what started as two or three people has grown larger and you want to formalise the group as a club.
Please refer to the guide to setting up a new club above
How do I run my club finances?
When starting up a cycling club you may find that at first you are only handling very small amounts of money however as your membership increases so will the amount of money. It is a good idea to set up a club bank account and you will probably want to appoint a club treasurer to deal with the money going into and out of this account.
You may wish to register the club with HMRC and check that your club is not liable for corporation tax. You can see the HMRC guidelines here. If you are eligible you may be able to register as a Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs). Guidelines from HMRC are here.
How do I setup a school club?
If you are a school and interested in setting up a Cycling Club, whether it be during curriculum PE or as an after-school club, please click here for further information. The next step would be to contact your Regional Development Manager to discuss this in more detail
Why should I affiliate my club to British Cycling?
British Cycling affiliation brings with it a whole range of benefits to help cycling clubs get the best for themselves and their members. Affiliate today and join more than 1,600 affiliated clubs and teams.
Benefits include:
- Advertise your club to more than half a million visitors a month at britishcycling.org.uk.
- Public liability insurance of up to £10million for your club activities*
- Exclusive use of the British Cycling Club Manager tool
- Entry into the National & Regional rankings
- Free online subscription collection
- Support from the British Cycling team in your region for events and activities
- Introductory membership discounts for your club members
*Clubs in Scotland and Wales and school clubs are provided with the same cover upon payment of the appropriate fee.
Which region will my club be in?
Your club will be usually be allocated to a region based on your club location and postcode. If your club is not named after a place or has no declared location then it will be placed in the region that the majority of club members reside in. If you believe your club is in the wrong region, please contact our team: clubs@britishcycling.org.uk
If your Club is based in Scotland or Wales then you will need to affiliate with Welsh Cycling or Scottish Cycling.
What are the insurance benefits for my club?
For details of club insurance click here.
Are there any rules or guidelines for club kits?
It is very important that you do not have your club kit manufactured before it has been approved by British Cycling. For further details on club kits click here. If you wish to use the British Cycling logo on your club kit please click here for guidelines
Can I name my club after a business?
Yes. If you want the name of a business or website in your club name e.g. Joe Bloggs Bike Shop CC then your club will be classified as a commercially named club.
Is there help available or any guidelines for sponsorship?
Many clubs benefit from the support of local or national businesses. Clubs must register these sponsors with their annual affiliation. Clubs with registered sponsors are permitted to display sponsors' logos on their club kit.
A good place to look for potential sponsors is within your club's own base of members. Maybe club members own a business or work for a company that may be interested in sponsoring the club.
It is worth bearing in mind that commercially named clubs pay more for their annual affiliation and that all clubs, with the exception of accredited Go-Ride and School Clubs, must pay to register their individual sponsors every year. Full costs can be found here. It is important that clubs ensure that the benefits from the sponsor outweigh these costs. It is also a good idea to make sure that the length of the period of sponsorship is agreed on and whether the benefits (financial or otherwise) will be given to the club as one lump sum at the start of sponsorship or periodically throughout the sponsorship.
A detailed guide to sponsorship is available from British Cycling – PDF download.
We are an affiliated club. Are there any benefits for club members?
Club members who have not previously been members of British Cycling are entitled to a special introductory discount on British Cycling membership. Full details of the discounts can be seen here.
Club members who are club officials will also be covered by the third party liability insurance when acting on the club's specific instructions.
How can my club effectively use the British Cycling Club Management Tool?
The Club Management Tool is available free of charge to all affiliated clubs and teams. The features include. It is designed to help clubs with their day to day administrative tasks, communications and promotion.
This feature of the tool allows you to create and edit your club profile page which will appear when people find your club on the British Cycling club finder. Attract new members by adding a club picture, logo, kit design and some text about the club. You can easily edit who you are open to, what activities you do and when you train.
This is a free and easy tool to create and manage your club's own British Cycling Powered Website – if you already have a club website, this can be configured to compliment your existing site. Create a great looking website with professionally designed HTML templates. Easily insert content with our drop-in modules, including exclusive news and results feeds from British Cycling. There are no charges for hosting or design and no need to buy or install any new software. You can simply edit your site at any time from any web browser.
Manage all your club members in one place, see their British Cycling membership status and race licence, add new club members and use our free subscription management tool to set up your club subscription fees and collect them from your members.
d) Online Subscription Manager
This will allow your members and new members to pay their club subscriptions using British Cycling’s secure web payment system. All major credit and debit cards are accepted on this system. There is no charge to the club and the money will be paid directly into your club’s chosen bank account. No more hassle of having to pay in cheques, manage spreadsheets or chase members for their money.
Send out newsletters to all your club members. Newsletters will be easy to create and look great with our professionally designed templates. You can simply add your own text and pictures, then decide which club members will receive them.
Quick and easy messaging all from your dashboard. You can send messages to the entire club membership, selected members, the British Cycling Regional team and the British Cycling Admin team.
Create and list all your club activities on the British Cycling powered club calendar. Enable people to sign up for your club activities in a click. Activities will display on the British Cycling website opening your club up to potential new members.
The Club Tool is fully supported and help and advice is readily available. You can speak to someone on the phone 0161 274 2094 8:45am – 5:00pm Mon – Thurs and 8:45am – 3:45pm Fridays. You can also email your queries to clubs@britishcycling.org.uk
What is Go-Ride for clubs?
The Go-Ride programme integrates club development, coaching resources, participation and
talent identification programmes for young people into one single programme. The
development of local partnerships with a shared vision of more young people, more active,
more often in cycling will ensure that British Cycling can maximise the opportunities available
for young people.
The aim of British Cycling's Go-Ride programme is to create a network of
cycling clubs that are trained, resourced and skilled to meet the challenge of integrating
young people into a recognised club structure. Go-Ride offers a partnership between British
Cycling, schools, clubs, local authorities, voluntary organisations and commercial operators
throughout England and includes a programme of coaching activities delivered in a safe
environment.
How can my club become a Go-Ride Registered club?
In order to become a Go-Ride club you will need to meet certain requirements, these are briefly outlined here.
For more information, and in order to start the ball rolling, please contact your Regional Development Manager who will be able to support you through the process. Please click here for their contact details.
There are a number of benefits to becoming a Go-Ride club, including free silver membership for the Go-Ride contact, Club Welfare Officer and two of the club coaches within the first year of registration and access to free resources and support.
How can my club become a Go-Ride Accredited club?
Once you have become a Go-Ride registered club the next step is to gain Clubmark accreditation, ideally within 12-18 months of registration. Your Regional Development Manager will be able to support you through this and there is also an accompanying resource which breaks the process down into 4 sub-sections and provides a step by step template.
How can my club run and promote an event?
Promoting an event can be a great way of raising the profile of your club.
If you are interested in running a competitive event then contact our events team on 0161 274 2020 or events@britishcycling.org.uk
If you are interested in putting on a non competitive event (e.g. a Sportive) then contact one of our friendly team on 0161 274 2008 or sportive@britishcycling.org.uk or visit https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/sportives/article/bcst-event_org-Event-Organiser-Home-0
What's the best way for an established club to set up a youth section?
We would advise that you follow the Go-Ride route, as this programme provides a template of best practice for clubs catering for U16’s in all areas of activity. Please click here for further information about this programme.
What funding can we apply for?
There are various pots of funding you can apply for in order to develop facilities, volunteers and young riders. A good place to start looking is with the national sporting bodies Sport England, Sport Wales and Sport Scotland
Go-Ride clubs can get additional help from Regional Development Managers and the National Development team are also there to help and support you in putting together a funding application. For more detailed information please click here.
We would like to race as a club, how do we do this?
Once your club is affiliated members of your club (not second claim members) who hold a full racing licence (3rdcategory and above) and who have declared their club membership will be able to score National and Regional ranking points for your club in the road and track disciplines. For further details click here
In the other disciplines clubs are not awarded ranking points however club/team names will appear along with the riders name in results and rankings listings.
