Instructor's insurance

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Monkers

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Hi there
I have been on the BHS register of instructors since it began back in the early 90's and for the first time I am think of letting it lapse due to the cost of remaining on it!

I have to pay for...

Gold level BHS membership
Instructor's register fee
Insurance premium to include care custody and control
CBI check. I think that's a one off, I hope so anyway!
first aid at work refresher course every three yeas
CPD course every two years.
Plus loss of earnings on the days I have to attend the courses.

All this really doesn't make financial sense anymore. All I get in return is a sticker and a mention on their website, usually with an incorrect phone number!

Does anyone know of a good insurance company offering a reasonable premium? I have juat called one so far with a quote of £260. Seems a little excessive, but cheaper than shelling out for all the above!
 
Can't answer your question but will be interested in the replies as I totally agree with you,.

I am currently "uninsured" as yesterday the BHS emailed to let me know they wouldn't process my renewal as I hadn't filled out an Access NI form (cost £30) - apparently I should have received a letter in January telling me that this was compulsory this year :confused: Now, I've filled out loads of these things for PC, RC, the local school etc etc - and all the BHS want is that I send them the form and they will process the application - so they don't even wait to run the check to make sure I'm not a serial offender :rolleyes:

Unfortunately the person to whom I have to send the form is away for a few days, so won't get it till next week anyway.

Last year they failed to renew me on time because they didn't have a record of my 1st aid refresher :confused: but they didn't bother telling me that until I asked them where my new sticker was.

The joke is that they tell me I'm uninsured until I get the thing processed, but when it ulitimately comes through, they backdate it to July so I am paying for at least a fortnight when they say they are not providing cover :eek:

I did your calculation yesterday and was horrified how many hours I have to teach in order to pay for all the stuff the BHS insist on - it's not really worth my while bothering with lessons at this rate :mad:

Oh and when I asked if the form had to be done annually the reply was "not every year, no" - which means what??
 
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When I was unqualified I used Lycetts as cheapest by far. I now use BHS as cant find it cheaper and most of the additional extras are essential in my opinion.

First Aid - essential. If someone had an accident you would need to prove you did everthing possible which means being fully up to date with this, even those insurance companys dont specify this, it hidden in the wording.

CPD- I tend to find these days interesting as long as you plan in advance and pick the one most suited to your needs.

Gold membership - im still doing exams so needed anyway

Not much help I know but do reconsider the need for CPD and 1st as essential not just jumping through hoops for the BHS.
 
I'm glad it's not just me!

I do feel a bit let down by the BHS. I have been a member since 1985, and as I say, I have been on the register since its inception. I have also run an BHS approved riding school and now livery yard since 1990. I have spent a fortune and I really am beginning to wonder if it's worth it.

As for the first aid and cpd, I would have supported your argument that these are a good thing until I became jaded with it all

I have been taking first aid courses since 1990 and I have seen how the course has changed from being very hands on to now very hands off! Everyone is so terrified of being sued that firs taiders pass the buck to the paramedics. In the early days I learned bandages and splints, now it's all about getting the casualty to hold a dressing over their own wound!
I agree that we should all know cpr and there are short half day courses that deal with this and they are very cheap in comparison to the faw cert. I haven't as yet attended the equine specific first aid course, but I might do that now.

As for the cpd. I do quite enjoy these, but are they always relevent to what I do? Not often. The last one two years ago was a kelly Marks clinic. Fascinating and I took alot away from it, but did it improve my ability to teach clients? No.

The one before was a clinic with various well known trainers. Again, very interesting to the professional rider and I took away some new methods to help me with my more advanced clients. Did it help me make lessons more interesting for the 95% of clients that I teach, i'e the ordinary rider? Not really.

When will the bhs put on a clinic designed to help the ordinary instructor teach the ordinary client? Where are the ideas to keep class lessons fresh and exciting for riding school clients?

The closest I have come to this is a course run as a preperation for the BHSI exam. I have already done my exam, but I find these the most imformative. We get to teach, ride and discuss. Do we get to do that at a usual cpd day? Not often.

Does the BHSI prep course (2 days) count as a cpd day? NO!! Unbelievable. Here we are doing a course that is the closest related to what we actually do, day in day out and it doesn't even count as a refresher.

This is turning into a bit of a rant now! I don't think I realised how annoyed I am with the BHS until I started this thread!

By the way, in over 20 years on the register, guess how many enquiries I have had as direct referals from the BHS. Two!! One was in the last month, I nearly fell over with the shock! The other was someone I knew already, just phoning me to let me know the BHS had misprinted my number and my website. I think I rest my case!
 
I agree that first aid is essential but the equine specific courses are weak, expensive, and in my case involve a 200 mile round trip! The last refresher I did I arrived to find we couldn't get into the building for an hour because some minor celebrity was using it for a press conference - so we started late, then were told we would have a "working lunch" because the trainer wanted to get away early (he couldn't wait actually). Then we all did a multiple choice question paper which we spent the next couple of hours going through, and that was that (£50 later I think it was):(

The only choice I have re CPD days is whether I drive 100 miles north or 100 miles south :rolleyes: The last one with Jo Winfield FBHS was quite interesting but anyone could have just sat on their deckchair and achieved their day without any real involvement, so they actually mean nothing:(. A previous one on bitting looked to be quite interesting but was shocking in it's lack of content - tbh any instructor who didn't already know what was being said shouldn't have been instructing in the first place, and the person doing the talk was really only interested in selling her own range of bits and name dropping about all the well known riders she associated with:rolleyes:

Being on the register is costing me in excess of £400 per year. If I could find cheaper insurance I would gladly do my first aid training locally and more often than every 2 years, and given the amount of regular training I have with various BHS Fellows and Is, I reckon I would be doing my own CPD training anyway!:)

The only bit of training run by the BHS I do which is profitable is the Riding & Road Safety trainers days.

The best training day I've done recently was run by BRC, taken by a fantastic trainer, and was really hands-on and informative.:)
 
£400! Blimey, I had only guessed at the cost, Is that really what I have been spending?!
I have had one quote so far for £260
I have tried Lycetts as suggested, but they haven't got back to me yet. I would still be interested to hear of any other insurance companies that you instructors recommend.
I had better hurry up as my first aid expires on the 11th, so therefore my insurance with the BHS will be invalid!
 
I agree totall re relevance of CPD days! I don't think "teaching on a RS horse" is going to be relevent to most freelance instructors!!! Why can't they give the topics more thought???

ESFAC is a little more hands on than what you described, but I find it the most boring course ever.
 
First aid at work is every two years now!! I did equine specific as a refresher, for the first time in over 20 years as it was so much cheaper than the First Aid at Work certificate!
 
Monkers said:
£400! Blimey, I had only guessed at the cost, Is that really what I have been spending?!
I have had one quote so far for £260
I have tried Lycetts as suggested, but they haven't got back to me yet. I would still be interested to hear of any other insurance companies that you instructors recommend.
I had better hurry up as my first aid expires on the 11th, so therefore my insurance with the BHS will be invalid!
Click to expand...

I factored in an amount for loss of earnings/cost of paying someone to do the yard for a full day (I have to be away for about 12 hours to do a day's course)/diesel for my 200 mile round trips - but I wasn't overgenerous with these, and yes it comes to £824 over the two years (given that some courses are every 2 yrs), so over £400 a year.

Your £260 quote is looking quite attractive :)

Re the equine specific 1st aid course being cheaper, I would rather do the 1st aid at work one anyway because it's much more in depth. the EFA one is worrying in it's content :(
 
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