INSURANCE REPs Insurance Scheme

Last month, the American College of Sports Medicine released the findings from its latest annual ‘Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends’. The survey revealed a rise in the number of people looking to become educated, certified and experienced fitness professionals – so much so that for the sixth consecutive year, it has been named the number one trend in the fitness industry.

F

itness is a growing industry. According to the 2012 State of the UK Fitness Industry report, the total market value of the health and fitness industry in this country increased by 1.4% to £3.86 billion in the 12 months to March 2012, with more than one in 10 people in the UK registered as members of a private or publicly- owned health and fitness facility.

But as the industry grows, so the requirement for more instructors to fulfil the public demand on their services increases.

As the professional body representing the UK’s fitness instructors, the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) embraces such changing developments within the industry. What’s more, REPs recognises that instructors must continue to provide the appropriate fitness session or programme to the public while ensuring both parties’ safety at all times.

Through the successful completion of an approved course, a REPs member is able to demonstrate they have the knowledge and skills to instruct others to use the exercise routine to further develop their own fitness level in a manner which poses the minimum amount of risk both to themselves and anyone nearby. This means that regardless of whether the current trend within the industry is bodyweight training, yoga, pilates, boxercise, boot camps, or something else, provided an accredited course exists, a REPs member can offer this activity to their clients.

This catalogue of activity options makes it all the more important for instructors to have the appropriate type and level of insurance. The REPs Insurance Scheme supports membership by providing civil liability cover for members for all activities they undertake, which are in accordance with their level of qualification and experience. In essence the insurance cover directly expands as the member’s own skills develop – so if a member wishes to work with a specialist population group, or engage in an activity different from what they have done in the past, by successfully completing an accredited training course they will have access to insurance cover the very moment they complete the qualification.

Through the purchase of the body’s own insurance scheme, members of REPs can freely undertake their professional duties in the knowledge that they not only have the insurance protection required by their Code of Ethical Practice, but that they also have cover which supports, evolves and develops in parallel with their own ongoing professional development.

To find out more about the REPs Insurance Scheme, please call 020 7632 2022 or visit www.exerciseregister.org

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