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Scottish Club Chat - February 2025

12 Feb 25
A bird's eye view of the show

As excitement builds for the season ahead – we know there’s plenty to look forward to. That in mind, there’s also plenty we should be aware of as activity scales up once again. Read on to find out what’s on the radar, including some great opportunities to dive into over the coming weeks.

There are still tickets available for RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show 2025 at Farnborough International Exhibition Centre on 22-23 February. RYA individual members and children 15 and under can go for free! The show will feature all things dinghy sailing, windsurfing, wingsurfing, foiling and paddleboarding—however you like to get afloat. Join in for interactive family fun, watersports displays and demos, live coaching sessions, hundreds of boats and the biggest names in marine retail all under one roof.

How is it going with your club’s RYA Affiliation and the RYA Portal? If you’re having any difficulty, don’t struggle. Please reach out to your RYA Scotland Regional Development Officer or email affiliation@rya.org.uk.

RYA Scotland Connect Forum Calls are back. The Development Team are delivering monthly Zoom calls on topics chosen by the community. Join the discussion with the RDOs, their guests, and your peers from around Scotland. In February Philippa Howie, RYAS Communication and Engagement Lead will discuss club promotion and in March we will have Andrew Jenkins from Club Development Consultancy talking about club legal structures.

The RYA Discover Sailing shop is now open! Are you planning an open sailing day at your club, to engage more participants? Discover Sailing is the RYA Demand Creation Campaign which supports clubs by providing both physical and online resources, regional communicator support as well as allowing clubs to benefit from being part of the national promotions. If you need further support delivering your event, please reach out to your RDO.

Have you looked at the ongoing consultation regarding the MCA’s Sport and Leisure Code of Practise? Be sure to have your say on the new code before 25 February – the more responses, the more powerful influence will be. If you’d like some guidance on the code / consultation, you can read more on the RYA website now.

RIB with two passengers on board

Are you getting things in order for the 2025 season? As you review your facilities, if you have a septic system, you may want to ensure that you have met the legal requirement of registration. It is simple and straightforward. SEPA shared helpful details on this process in their most recent newsletter.

Following the public consultation on fee waivers and discounts, to which RYA Scotland contributed, Disclosure Scotland has announced that they will continue to provide FREE Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme membership for Qualifying Voluntary Organisation (QVO) volunteers. As well as retaining the QVO fee waiver, fees for the new Level 1 and Level 2 disclosure products will remain at their broadly equivalent levels in 2025. This decision intends to support organisations providing vital services to children and protected adults.

Changes to PVGs and tighter legal consequences for all. For several years, there has been a requirement in Scotland to check that people working in regulated work were not on the ‘Barred from Working with Lists’ for Protected Groups (children and adults) through a PVG update. The need to get those who coach, teach, instruct and have unsupervised access to ‘protected groups’ within our clubs and affiliated organisations continues however the law is being changed. From 1st April 2025, there will be a legal obligation to ensure those working in ‘regulated roles’ with children, protected adults, or both are PVG scheme members. This applies to all sports clubs and groups, whether affiliated with a Scottish Governing Body (e.g. RYA Scotland) or not. Organisations must ensure that individuals in regulated roles (paid or voluntary) have PVG scheme membership and a check done for the work with their organisation.

RYA Scotland is currently pulling together some information and guidance on these changes and are looking to organise a session in early March with Volunteer Disclosure Scotland Services to help update everyone and answer any questions. Please watch for further details or email safeguarding@ryascotland.org.uk for more information. For further details on regulated roles, refer to the Disclosure Act explanatory notes. 

Here are some funding options to consider:

What aspect of going afloat in 2025 excites you most? Let us know by emailing development@ryascotland.org.uk.

All the best from The Development Team – Laura, Brian, Rhys, Liza, Nathalie & Naomi. 12/2/2025