The Home Country Sports Councils (Sport England, sportscotland, and Sport Wales) now recognise Kickboxing as a sport and WAKO GB as its National Governing Body in Great Britain.
This means that WAKO GB has met the Sports Councils’ recognition criteria.
It also means that there are a few conditions that we have to abide by.
THESE ARE THE CONDITIONS:
- WAKO GB must rename itself as ‘Kickboxing GB’ so that it is clear to the general public that it is an organisation involved with Kickboxing and that the geographical remit is Great Britain.
- WAKO GB will promote the Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts to its member clubs and providers in England and encourage them to apply to receive the Code’s mark.
- WAKO GB will liaise with Sport England with a view to becoming an ongoing member of, and attending meetings of the Martial Arts Safeguarding Group to help further the Group’s work to encourage and disseminate best practice in Safeguarding children in Martial Arts.
- WAKO GB will work with Sport Wales to ensure its safeguarding policy is applicable to its member clubs and providers in Wales.
- WAKO GB will work with the Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport team and Children 1st to ensure it provides guidance for coaches, parents and participants that is applicable in Scotland.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO OUR MEMBERS?
FUNDING
- Sport England Funding: Kickboxing clubs that are full members of WAKO GB can now apply for Sport England funding. Details can be found here: https://www.sportengland.org/funds-and-campaigns/our-funds There is also information about what types of organisations are eligible to receive funding (in the Frequently Asked Questions section) and other funding-related info. The FAQ section also has details of the Sport England Funding Helpline contact email and telephone number if any of our members have any funding queries.
- Sportscotland Funding: Details can be found here: https://sportscotland.org.uk/funding/
- Sport Wales Funding: Details can be found here: https://www.sport.wales/grants-and-funding/
- Other Funding: many other bodies such as local authorities will only fund recognised sports, so members may now be eligible to apply to other funders. Kickboxing’s recognised status, can now be found on recognised sports the website at National Governing bodies | Sport England which now includes kickboxing.
OTHER BENEFITS
- Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) status: now that kickboxing is recognised, kickboxing clubs can apply to become CASCs which brings some tax advantages. Please refer to the CASC Info website at: http://www.cascinfo.co.uk/ to find out more about the scheme and see if you are eligible to become registered as a CASC.
- VAT: now that kickboxing is recognised, organisations operating in the sport may be entitled to receive some VAT-relief. Please check out this link https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-sport for further details or seek professional advice.