BBE BOPA Terms and Conditions

BOPA Terms and Conditions

The BOPA will only cover the activities of BBE and its member organisations if they have met all of the following criteria:

General

• Brass Bands England members can apply for permission to use the BBE-held BOPA on an event-by-event basis where they act as the event organiser. This could take the form of a self-organised single band concert, hosting a multiple band event (e.g. a regional competition) or participating in a third party event where the band has control over all aspects of safeguarding for their children (e.g. a church fete).
• The performance must take place in England or Wales.
• Use of the BBE-held BOPA is for events where no payment is made to children or anyone else on their behalf, apart from defrayment costs.

Ratios and Supervising Adults 

• One adult who has attended BBE’s BandSafe Training within the last two years must always be present at the event. They must be at the venue before the children start to arrive. 
•  There must be an adult-to-child ratio of at least 1:12 for Supervising Adults who have had a DBS check or DBS Status check carried out in the last three years. In the case of a parent supervising their own child, a DBS check is not needed but they can only supervise their own child, no others. Please note that where parents are supervising their own children this does not remove the need to have a BOPA in place.
  • The Supervising Adult must supervise the children in their care, keeping them in sight and/or sound at all times. This includes rehearsing for the performance on the day, during the performance period and taking part in the activity*. Each child must know who their Supervising Adult is. 
  • Where parents are supervising their own children, the supervision must be to the same level as that of a Supervising Adult (children must be kept in sight/sound at all times).
  • The Supervising Adult's duty is to the child and they must advocate for them and stand up to any request that they believe is not in the child’s best interests or which might adversely affect their health or wellbeing.
  • The Supervising Adult must challenge behaviour and actions that they feel are not appropriate when children are involved, and raise any worries about health, safety and risk in any area of the performance or activity.
  • The Supervising Adult must make sure that children who are unwell are not expected to perform.
  • The Supervising Adult must not drink alcohol or smoke while on duty. They must not take care of a child while under the influence of alcohol or drugs or whilst wearing inappropriate clothing (clothing which is revealing or with potentially offensive logos, messages or images). They must not use inappropriate language in front of a child.
  • The Supervising Adult must have knowledge and understanding of The Children (Performances and Activities) (England) Regulations 2014, or The Children (Performances and Activities) (Wales) Regulations 2015 for performances in Wales, and be capable of exercising care and control of the children in their care.
  • Please see ‘Keeping young performers safe - Guidance to accompany the 2015 child performance regulations’, for additional support for performances in Wales.

* The Supervising Adult may also play in the band, but must maintain sight of the child in their care at all times during the performance. If the child needed to leave the stage then so must the Supervising Adult and all children in their care. For this reason we strongly recommend that you provide more than one adult to every 12 children, so that the legal minimum ratio of 1:12 can be maintained even if an adult becomes unavailable. During non-performing times the Supervising Adult must apply the usual rules about maintaining sight and/or sound to facilitate activities such as toilet breaks, but preferably both sight and sound should be maintained.

Application timelines

• The permission certificate to use the BBE-held BOPA must be emailed to the Licensing Officer for the local authority where the activity is taking place at least two weeks in advance of the event. Brass Bands England will facilitate this through the online application process. 
  • It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that they provide the correct email address for the Child Employment Team at the Local Authority where the event is held on their application form. If you are unsure which email address to use, you can enter the venue post code into this website to find the correct local authority and then search for the Child Employment Team on their website. You should receive a copy of the email sent to them. If there is any doubt that the Child Employment Team have received the certificate, the band should contact the Local Authority's Child Employment Team for confirmation.
• Please try to apply for the BOPA at least three weeks before the event. Repeated late applications without sufficient reason will result in your organisation’s ability to use the BOPA being revoked.
• Applications must be made to Brass Bands England more than ten working days prior to the event to comply with Local Authority deadline. If applications are made ten working days or less, they will be rejected without exception.
• You must send BBE a copy of your band’s up-to-date (within the last 18 months) Safeguarding Policy in advance of the event at which the BBE-held BOPA is being used. You do not need to send this every time, only if there is a policy update. We will be reviewing a cross-section of policies to ensure that they are in line with the requirements set out in the BandSafe Toolkit. If it is found that your policies are not acceptable, we will not be able to allow you to use the BBE-held BOPA. Please upload your Safeguarding Policy to your organisation's profile on your member dashboard of the BBE website

Inspections

• A representative from the local authority will be allowed entry to inspect the event at which the BBE BOPA is being used, if they wish. If an organisation is inspected by the local authority, a copy of the inspection report needs to be sent to BBE within a week of receipt.
•  A representative of BBE will be allowed entry to the event to perform spot inspections if required.

Reporting and compliance

• You must report the number of school-aged children taking part to BBE for compliance reporting (we will collect this information via the online application process as it is included on the permission certificate to use the BBE-held BOPA).
•  If a child will be absent from school for the performance, the BOPA holder must have written permission for absence from the Headteacher of the child's school.
• The event must have a risk assessment in place.
• The event must have a first aider present throughout who must be there for when children start to arrive.
• The band must use an accident book to record any accidents with a carbon paper copy to send home with the child for parental knowledge.
• The band must have written participatory permission, photographic consent, emergency medical information and contact details available for all child performers at the place of performance. See the BandSafe safeguarding consent form, as an example. Feel free to use this form within your band.
• A record must be kept of the time children arrive at the event and the time they leave to compile a register of who is present in case of emergencies, and to mark the handover in responsibility from parents to Supervising Adults.
• Suitable travel arrangements must be in place for children to get home. They should be signed over by the Supervising Adult to either a) a parent b) someone with parental responsibility or c) to a known person whose details have been given and agreed in advance. If a child is travelling home alone then the parents need to give permission to do so in writing.
• Suitable arrangements must be in place for meals, changing/washing facilities, breakout room etc as set out in The Children (Performances and Activities) (England) Regulations 2014.

Performance restrictions

• Children must not be on the event site longer than the restrictions on hours as laid out in The Children (Performances and Activities) (England) Regulations 2014 [see table below].**
• Children must not be at the event site earlier or later than the permitted time as laid out in the regulations [see table below].
• Children must have at least the minimum intervals for meals and rest as laid out in the regulations [see table below].
• Children must have a break in performances as laid out in the regulations [see table below].

• A child must not take part in performances or rehearsals on more than six consecutive days.

** In the event a child has performed and left the venue but re-enters as a member of the public to watch later performances, this will not count as time spent in the venue as long as there has been some distinction between finishing their performance and coming back in as a guest. An example: after playing in a contest the band leaves the building and places instruments in vehicles. The child then returns with their family to watch other performances. In this example, the performance time in the venue would only include up until the point the band has left the venue as performers.

Revoking access to the BBE-held BOPA

Access to the BBE-held BOPA may be revoked if it is found that any band or band member is falling short of our safeguarding expectations. This could be if:

• The organisation’s Safeguarding Policy is not found to comply with the requirements set out in the BandSafe Toolkit.
• An inspection from a local authority Licensing Officer or a BBE inspector has resulted in an unsatisfactory report, and there is little evidence of improvement in the organisation's operations.
• A serious safeguarding concern has been raised. BBE will revoke access to the BOPA until there is a satisfactory resolution. BBE will work with bands and local authorities to find a solution.
• BBE finds a safeguarding or licensing issue that is sufficiently concerning.