PDC approved pole dance schools - Things you should know.

It has been brought to our attention that some schools are trading without adequate insurance which invalidates their PDC approved pole dance school status. This is something we will be chasing up with individual schools over the next few weeks. We believe that schools are not deliberately breaking the PDC code of conduct for approved pole dance schools but are merely unaware of exactly what level of insurance they need and where to get it. If you are a pole dance school it is important that you have the right levels of cover and if you are a pole dancing student then you want to know your school is safe to attend and that you will be covered in the event of an accident.

We understand that there has also been some confusion over first aid training, professional indemnity and ICO registration so here are some guidelines to help schools and students make a more informed choice.

Public Liability Insurance & Professional indemnity:

All Schools should have public liability and all schools must list the activities that they run in relation to their business. You should be insured not just for your classes but for any additional activities such as selling any pole related goods, outdoor activities and promotions should you carry such activities out. If you organise a student showcase, charity event or anything that is additional to your main teaching activities you should check with your insurer that you are insured for such an activity.

We recently had notification of a lady who was offering unsupervised pole dance training sessions at her studio, when challenged she contacted her insurer only to find out that they would not cover such an activity. It is always best to check with your insurer when offering any new activity.

We have noticed that when some schools have sent their insurance forms in that their cover is for teaching dance and not teaching pole dance. You must notify your insurer of the exact nature of your work. If you are simply insured for teaching dance it is very unlikely that you are actually insured for teaching pole dance. Many people also seem to assume that professional indemnity is the same as public liability. When you get your public or public & Employers liability you should ask for professional indemnity as well as a public liability to cover certain areas of your teaching. We recommend getting professional indemnity through Equity and then getting additional public liability cover through an insurer.

Employers liability:

If your school has teachers who teach for you on a regular basis and who use your equipment then you should have employers liability. If you apply for PDC approval and you have more than one teacher working at your school then you will need to include a copy of your Employers liability or you will need to include copies of insurance for each self employed person who works within your school. Due to grey areas in the law about employed and self employed people we would advise that you employ rather than self employ if in doubt. There was a case recently of a security firm who had all their workers employed on a self employed basis. Many of these workers failed to pay their tax and national insurance, when the Inland revenue investigated they found the owner of the firm liable to pay all the tax and insurance for his ‘self employed workers’ as the Inland Revenue felt that the self employed individuals should actually have been employed. The firm owner was left with a £12,500 bill for tax and N.I. Employing staff does not have to mean you have to employ them on a salary, you can simply employ staff on and 'as and when basis' to reduce the liability to you as an employer.

Risk assessments:

Although it is not a requirement of the PDC approved pole dance schools code of conduct we thought we should mention that you should all be carrying out risk assessments on any activity that you do. If you do not have adequate risk assessments then you may find your insurer would refuse to pay out in the event of an accident. The main thing to remember is ‘Due Diligence’; this basically means can you stand up in court and defend any activity you carried out as well as backing it up with a risk assessment? The HSE offers some great free advice on risk assessments, just click here to view their website.

ICO registration:

Most of you will store electronic data without even realising it. If you have mailing lists for your students or if you keep contact lists on your PC/MAC then you are required by law to have ICO registration.  It costs just £35 per year and can be gained by clicking here.

First Aid Training:

With regards to our recommendations to have first aid training  we feel that as a basic course costs just £30-£40 for a three year qualification it is a simple cost effective requirement. We all know that pole dancing is a high impact form of exercise and the chances of injury can be high. We feel that we are lucky that there have not been more serious injuries over the past few years. If someone had a serious fall in your class would you know what to do? Some instructors have argued that they work in premises where there is always a first aider on hand therefore they feel that they do not need their own first aid training. We feel that all instructors should carry their own basic level of first aid is that if an accident happened no time would be lost waiting for a first aider to arrive.

As we now know that some schools have not been entirely truthful we will be removing their PDC approved status and may look to name and shame individual schools if they deliberately abuse the system in the future.

We do understand that getting the right levels of cover and insurance can end up being costly which is why it is only fair that we recognise those who have paid all their premiums and who have bothered to get effective cover so that they stand out from those who have cut corners to teach pole dancing. We also understand that some people may have believed they were applicable for PDC approval so we hope that this article irons out any confusion. We all work hard to raise the standard of pole dance teaching and those of us that pay our relevant insurances and premiums deserve some credit for doing so.

To make it easier and cheaper for pole dance schools and instructors to get insurance we are researching various insurance options to get the best deal for you. Watch this space for more details.

If you know of a school that has PDC approval but may not be fulfilling the requirement of the PDC code of conduct for approved pole dance schools please let us know.  Also if you know of any school that is trading (regardless of whether they have PDC approval) and is operating in a way that causes you concern please let us know and we will be happy to start identifying schools to avoid!

if you have any questions relating to this article then please do not hesitate to contact us.

The PDC Team.