A guide to using the BBE BOPA for Child Performance Licensing 

The terms and conditions of use for the BBE BOPA have been updated from 19 July 2025. Make sure you have read them in full and acted on any changes in time for your event.

Brass Bands England holds a national Body of Persons Approval (BOPA). This BOPA is an agreement between Brass Bands England and the Department for Education, and provides bands with a simple alternative to applying for individual Child Performance Licences (CPL) for performances in England and Wales. 

This process isn’t just significantly quicker and easier. It also provides bands with a single, consistent application process, removing the need to liaise with varying local authorities for each child. 

Use of the BBE BOPA is available to BBE Member bands at no extra cost. However, you must meet an important set of safeguarding requirements to access it. More on that below. First, how do you know if Child Performance Licensing even applies to your band’s upcoming event?

When does Child Performance Licensing apply?

Here is a quick introductory video to Child Performance Licences and the qualifying criteria. This video takes a ‘decision-tree’ or flowchart format. Answering Yes or No to the questions will lead your band to a decision on whether CPL/the BOPA is required for your event. A PDF of the decision-tree can be found here

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)

There is an exemption if the child has not taken part in more than three performances in the previous six months. However, in practice this is of no use to children performing regularly with a band and can be more admin to check than to apply for the BOPA. As such, it is our recommendation not to attempt to use the exemption due to the risk of getting it wrong.

*‘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.

PLEASE NOTE: Changes to leave of absence guidance. On Tuesday 19 August 2025, government guidance around granting children leave of absence for a performance changed. Previously, bands would need to apply for a specific performance licence from the local authority. However, in the document Working together to improve school attendance, it says:

"All schools can grant a leave of absence when a pupil needs to be absent from school with permission. All schools are expected to restrict leaves of absence to the specific circumstances set out in regulation 11 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and schools maintained by a local authority and special schools not maintained by a local authority must do so. These circumstances are:

• Taking part in a regulated performance or employment abroad: in line with a licence issued by a local authority or Justice of the Peace or a body of persons approval (BOPA). (For full details please see Code C1)"

Why should your band use the BBE BOPA?

BBE Member bands can apply to use the BBE-held BOPA, which exempts them from the legal requirement of applying for individual Child Performance Licences for each qualifying child. Benefits include:

• 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

The BBE BOPA is your one-stop shop to comply with CPL legislation and offers a significant administrative saving to your band.

Requirements to use the BBE BOPA

To receive permission to use the BBE-held BOPA, your band must meet a set of rigorous safeguarding standards, which includes completing BBE’s BandSafe programme to the following requirements:

• A completed BandSafe Toolkit within the last 18 months
• At least two band members (with BBE accounts linked to their band) must have completed BandSafe Training within the last two years
• Your organisation's safeguarding policy submitted on your Members Account.

In addition, your band will also need to:

• Be a BBE Member
• Hold valid DBS certificates for all supervising adults
• Apply for the BOPA on the BBE website no later than three weeks prior to the event
• Ensure the  BOPA certificate to the local authority where the event is taking place no later than two weeks prior to the event
• Meet all of BBE's BOPA terms and conditions

Applying for the BBE BOPA

In order to apply for the BBE-held BOPA, you must have a personal BBE account that’s linked to your band with Admin access. Please see our Membership FAQ for more details on setting up/linking your BBE account. 

Once you have registered and meet all the criteria, you will be able to apply for the BOPA through your Member Dashboard. This takes just a couple of minutes. Upon successful application, the BOPA certification will be sent to you via email. Please note that the certificate is only valid if your band meets all the requirements and abides by the BBE BOPA terms and conditions as mentioned above.

Performing with children without appropriate licensing in place is illegal and may invalidate your insurance.

DBS checks, supervising adults and the BBE BOPA

When making use of the BBE-held BOPA, bands will not need to have licensed chaperones. Instead, all supervising adults within the band must have DBS checks. BBE Member bands can apply through us for free DBS checks for supervising adults. 

Supervising adults can play with the band during the performance, providing they maintain sight and sound of the children in their care at all times. Bands must hold written participatory permissions, photographic consent, emergency medical information and contact details for all band members aged 16 or under. However, bands are not asked to pass data to BBE about the participants other than the total number of children taking part.

Inspections

In addition to administering the BBE-held BOPA system, the Department of Education and the Welsh Government have instructed BBE to carry out spot checks on member bands’ events. Please note that local authorities may still conduct their own event inspections. 

BBE inspections will be used to help bands ensure that they are meeting the expectations/terms and conditions of the BBE-held BOPA. In turn, this allows BBE to better support bands with specialist knowledge of your safeguarding activities.

Further advice on the BOPA and how to join BBE

For any questions about the BBE BOPA and the application process, please contact [email protected]. You can also read more information on our BOPA FAQs page.

Find out more about becoming a BBE Member, what’s involved and its many benefits here.

Upcoming BandSafe Training

See more about BandSafe and the BBE held BOPA