As of June 2010 we have 6,100 Clubmark accredited clubs across 50 different sports... with another 4,500 working towards and more than 600,000 young people benefiting from the mark of high quality.

By now you should all be aware of Clubmark and what it stands for but maybe you do not appreciate the scale of the programme today or how it is making a difference across the sector...

All regions covered!

Licences have now been issued to more than 60 NGBs and CSPs; at least one partnership in each region is now licensed to accredit community sports clubs.

Only clubs affiliated to a Sport England recognised NGB can gain Clubmark accreditation. However, those in ‘un-licensed' NGBs are not disadvantaged as more than half of CSPs now accredit clubs in Sport England recognised sports from ‘their patch'.

Amongst those to benefit are several disability sports clubs which have achieved accreditation through their CSP. Clare MacLeod, Principal Consultant at KKP and the National Clubmark Manager is pleased that more and more disability sports clubs are getting added to the Clubmark database. She said,

"Making accreditations like this a reality is our prime motivation for licensing CSPs so that all different types of clubs can benefit. Last year, KKP and the EFDS worked together to ensure that clubs in the disability sport player pathway could achieve such accreditation.

We introduced revised processes and resources specifically to enable disability sports clubs to work through Clubmark - and this is proof that it is working. Clubs receive hands-on support from CSP officers and download relevant resources from the EFDS Club Development web pages. We expect this to inspire the rest of the CSP network to get licensed so that, in time, all clubs will be able to gain access to support in order to achieve Clubmark."

Performance measurement

Another key KKP remit in the management of Clubmark is performance measurement. We have been blown away by the response to our latest reports! Benchmarking documents were first produced in 2008 to show the number and distribution of Clubmark accredited and working towards clubs in each CSP area.

Following positive feedback they are now produced twice each year. A blend of maps, graphs and tables is used to indicate the present position of Clubmark within each CSP and local authority area. In the latest round of reports, direct comparisons were made for the year from April 2009 to March 2010, showing trends at both CSP and local authority level.

These reports have been extremely well received by the 49 CSP directors, who circulate them to local authority colleagues:

• "Thank you for another excellent report on Clubmark accreditation for our CSP. I shall forward to our local authorities/CSPANs as I know they find it very useful information..." Christine Double, PRO-ACTIVE South London. 
• "Thank you very much for this report, it is really clear and very useful data and intelligence for us to share with partners..." Doug Lowery, Northumberland Sport. 
• "It is always refreshing to receive quality information and move beyond rhetoric. We will be discussing this information to ensure that we use and deploy it to maximum advantage..." Mike Thomas, Cornwall Sports Partnership.

If you would like to receive a copy of the reports, please contact Clare MacLeod.

To demonstrate the scale of Clubmark today, KKP's GIS experts regularly provide maps to illustrate the spread and location of accredited clubs by sport and region. In the latest iteration, we undertook a catchment modeling exercise to demonstrate average proximity and this provided some very interesting results. As an example, everyone living in Birmingham lives within three miles of an accredited or working towards club.

Map depicting location of accredited and working towards clubs in Birmingham

External verification

All well and good we hear you say, but is all this sustainable? The answer to this is yes! Clubmark is built around a set of core criteria, which ensure that accredited clubs operate to a set of consistent, accepted and adopted minimum operating standards. Each year, KKP conducts an external verification (EV) to evaluate the consistency of delivery and assess compliance with key minimum operating standards. This review is also used to scrutinise the extent to which accredited clubs continue to operate in the right way and deliver high quality, welcoming environments. 2010 EV findings are consistent with previous years, illustrating that Clubmark is a consistent and effective scheme that is delivered to a high standard across the board.

• Clubs continue to report increased membership; some acknowledge that they are reaching capacity in terms of the current coach and volunteer infrastructure.
• Evidence continues to suggest that since year one of the EV programme, the number of coaches completing Level 2 and Levels 3 awards has risen.
• Clubs report that, in general terms, Clubmark has ‘opened doors' for them with schools. Clubs are readily able to identify at least three schools with which they work, with some recording definite ‘links' with as many as 12 schools in a partnership cluster.
• Many clubs indicate that Clubmark has created access to more funding opportunities, although this wasn't the initial driver.

John Eady, CEO at KKP, commenting on how far Clubmark has come over recent years and confident that this success will continue said:

"Clubmark has come a long way and is now genuinely embedded. Our focus for this year is to keep levels of accreditation and the overall number of accredited clubs rising while we push for more local authorities to adopt the Clubmark Charter we introduced last year. This, in effect, is seeking to drive the scheme from another angle: it encourages recognition and reward for Clubmark clubs via, for example, offering priority peak time bookings slots, discounted facility hire and low cost access to coach and volunteer development courses and support..

...in a time of increasing austerity, local authorities will wish to work with clubs that offer them value for money and a return on their investment - this means Clubmark clubs."

If you are from a sport and leisure provider, call us to discuss how you can improve the way in which you reward the clubs that will deliver for you.