Licences, Accreditations, Insurance

 

Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE) Approved Activity Provider (AAP) Licence

Approved Activity Providers (AAPs) are commercial and charitable organisations whose opportunities the DofE has approved as meeting our sectional conditions and can count towards achieving a DofE Award.

AAPs provide entire sections, including training, supervision, assessment and Assessor reports. Find out what activities our AAPs offer on the Opportunity Finder.

Please note that the AAP licence does not guarantee the suitability of an AAP in terms of health and safety or its financial stability. Licenced Organisations working with AAPs have their own process for checking the suitability of the AAP’s programme when it comes to health and safety requirements for their young people.

It’s the participant’s parent/guardian/carer responsibility to check the safeguarding and health and safety policies the organisation has, if a participant is engaging directly with an AAP.​

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• Purpose: This is a quality standard and license that allows organizations to provide activities for the Volunteering, Physical, Skills, Expedition, or Residential sections of the DofE award.

• Requirement: An AAP licence is mandatory for any organization running the DofE Expedition section, notes The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

• What it guarantees: The licence ensures that the organization's proposed activities meet DofE's programme and sectional requirements and provides a quality "kite mark." 

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The Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA)

The Adventure Activities Licensing Authority's role is to have oversight and responsibility for the efficient delivery of the licensing regime. It sets the strategic direction for the regime, publishes guidance and monitors the delivery of the inspection service, which is operated by Adventure Risk Management Services.

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Aim of the licensing scheme
The aim of the adventure activities licensing scheme is to give assurance that good safety management practice is being followed so that young people can have opportunities to experience exciting and stimulating activities outdoors while not being exposed to avoidable risks of death or disabling injury.

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Who operates the licensing scheme?
Adventure activities licensing has been in place since April 1996. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The Health and Safety Executive was designated, by Parliament, as the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) in April 2007. HSE operates the administration of AALA and contracts the inspection services to Adventure Risk Management Services (Adv-RMS), who employ qualified and experienced outdoor professionals to assess applicants' safety management systems.

 

Who needs a licence?
The statutory scheme is aimed at those who sell adventure activities to young people. Anyone who provides, in return for payment, adventure activities within the scope of the Licensing Regulations to young people under 18, is required by law to hold a licence.

You will need to determine whether the legislation applies to your undertaking and the extent to which it applies (eg multi-centre undertakings will usually require a separate licence for each centre).

In cases of doubt, the Licensing Authority can assist you in determining whether you need to hold a licence.

The following activities are within the scope of the licensing scheme:

1. caving (underground exploration in natural caves and mines including potholing, cave diving and mine exploration), excluding show caves or tourist mines open to the public, or parts of mines which are still being worked

2. climbing (climbing, traversing, canyoning, abseiling and scrambling activities except on purpose designed climbing walls or abseiling towers)

3. trekking (walking, running, pony trekking, off-road cycling, off-piste skiing and related activities when done in moorland, or any terrain over 600m, which is remote, ie over 30 minutes travelling time which will be never more than 2.5km from the nearest road or refuge)

4. watersports (canoeing, rafting, sailing and related activities when done on the sea, tidal waters, or large or non-placid inland waters)​

More Information can be found here

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Insurance - Activities Industrial Mutual (AIM)

Adventure Residentials is insured by AIM who specialise in providing an alternative to conventional insurance for the activities sector.

AIM is a membership community dedicated to the activities industry. Owned by its Members and operated on their behalf via an elected board of outdoor adventure experts, it was formed for the sole purpose of providing cost-effective and high-quality liability cover for activity providers, individuals and organisations operating in this sector.

More Information can be found here