How to use the BBE BOPA

 

The BBE-held BOPA (or 'Body of Persons Approval') is an easy way to license children who are taking part in live music performances. The BBE BOPA is an agreement between Brass Bands England and the Department for Education, and exempts your event from the need for individual Child Performance Licences (CPL).

Child Performance Licences will apply to your performance if you have any children of compulsory school age* taking part and any one of the following criteria applies:

  • Tickets are sold or other charges are made (i.e. a fee to participate, donations collected)
  • The performance venue has a licence to sell alcohol (even if the bar is closed for your performance)
  • The performance is being recorded or broadcast (including live streaming)

A BOPA is required for each separate performance that meets this criteria. You can find a detailed flowchart and video guidance to help you decide if you need to apply for Child Performance Licences/the BOPA here.

*‘Compulsory school age’ continues until the last Friday in June if the individual will be 16 years old by the end of the summer holidays.

In order to apply for the BBE-held BOPA your band must have a current BBE membership and meet a set of important safeguarding standards, including completing BBE’s BandSafe programme to the following requirements:

Please note that although completing BandSafe is necessary to gain access to the BBE-held BOPA, this training can be beneficial to many band members. We whole-heartedly recommend making safeguarding a priority to your band, rather than just a stepping stone to the BOPA.

  In addition, your band will also need to:

  • Hold valid DBS certificates for all supervising adults (we can help you with this)
  • Apply for the BOPA on the BBE website no later than three weeks prior to the event
  • Send the BOPA certificate to the local authority where the event is taking place no later than two weeks prior to the event
  • Meet all BBE's BOPA terms and conditions

Remember that performing with children without appropriate licensing in place is illegal and may invalidate your insurance.

The Band Admin(s) for your BBE band account can go to 'Manage your band' and select the ‘BandSafe’ option from the dropdown menu to find out whether everything is in place to apply for the BOPA.

We recommend that more than one person in your band has Admin status. The current Band Admin(s) can set this via the 'Contacts' dropdown on the band page and then updating the relevant person's role.

Firstly, if you haven’t already got an account on the BBE website you will need to create a personal BBE account that’s linked to your band. To do this:

  • Go to the BBE website
  • Click on Sign in / Create Account (top right-hand corner)
  • Sign in or complete your details, using your personal email address and completing all the fields marked with a * then click Save at the bottom to create your account. Your username will be the email you provide when creating your account.
  • ~Add your own personal email address, complete all the fields marked with a * and create a password.~ See the BBE Membership FAQ for help with this.

IMPORTANT: All band members need to have their own individual account with a unique email address – this should be the email that you used to register for BandSafe training.

Members should not share a single band account.

Once you have a registered, it’s time to link your account to your band:

  • Go to ‘My Account’
  • Click on ‘Register as part of a member band’ and start typing in the name of your band
  • This will send an email to your Band Admin(s),who will then need to approve you as a member of the band

If you don’t link your account to your band, your training will not be recognised as being associated with the band and you won’t be able to use the BOPA.

Once you have successfully registered, you will be able to apply for the BOPA through your Member Dashboard. Upon successful application, the BBE-held BOPA certification will be sent to you via email. However, please note that the certificate is only valid if bands meet all the requirements and abide by the BBE BOPA terms and conditions as mentioned above.

The BBE-held BOPA is an alternative to applying for individual Child Performance Licenses for performances in England and Wales. Rather than submitting individual applications for each child and their respective local authority, the BBE-held BOPA allows bands and event organisers to submit a single application for each performance.

This provides multiple benefits for your organisation:

  • It’s a single, simple per-performance online application process taking only a couple of minutes
  • It’s consistent, removing the need to liaise with multiple local authorities with varying requirements
  • It’s administered by BBE who have knowledge of the practicalities of banding activities and can offer you tailored advice
  • It supports bands to have best practice safeguarding embedded within their organisation, thanks to our BandSafe training
  • It can be used by bands and event organising members of Brass Bands England

Our BOPA is an agreement between Brass Bands England and the Department for Education. Bands must satisfy the terms and conditions listed above to be able to use it.

Yes, there is an exemption if the child has not taken part in more than three performances (any kind of performance, not just in a banding capacity) in the previous six months. You can read more about this here.

However, such exemptions can be very difficult to establish – especially if the child is involved in a multitude of activities. Also, even the exemptions have exemptions! For example, if the child is being paid for the performance. As such it is always our recommendation not to attempt to use the exemption due to the risk of getting it wrong.

If you have any further questions or would like help regarding your band’s safeguarding processes, please contact [email protected].