Club affiliation with Volleyball England is non-refundable. We strongly encourage clubs and members to ensure they are selecting the correct affiliation type before making any payment.

Volleyball England is a not-for-profit organisation. When you become a member, you’re actively investing in the future of volleyball. Your membership fee helps us grow the sport at all levels, create opportunities for players, coaches, referees, and clubs, support new initiatives and development programmes, and maintain a safe, inclusive, and thriving volleyball community. All fees from clubs and individuals are reinvested directly into strengthening the sport across the country.

If your club includes both adult and junior members, you only need to purchase the Standard Club Affiliation. 

Payment for clubs can be made by debit/credit card (Stripe) on VolleyZone.

The additional service charge of 3.2% plus 50p per transaction covers fees from both Stripe and our service provider, SportLoMo. SportLoMo charges a fee for providing their software as a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform. This fee is calculated proportionally based on the level of interaction users have with the system, ensuring costs are fairly distributed according to usage. This service fee is clearly displayed to customers before payment is made. Please note, this is not a card surcharge, but a fee to cover administrative, booking, and system service costs.

If your university club takes part in any VE competitions, you need to purchase the Standard Club Affiliation. If your university participates in BUCS but not in VE competitions, you should purchase the BUCS Club Affiliation. If your university does not participate in VE competitions or BUCS, but you are enrolling in the HEVO programme, then you can purchase the School/FEI Club Affiliation.

Volleyball England reviews each club’s affiliation individually to ensure that it meets the minimum governance standards needed to maintain a safe and inclusive environment for all members. Since this is a manual process often handled by a small team, it may take 5–7 working days for your club affiliation to be approved. We strongly recommend that clubs renew their affiliation well in advance to ensure it is in place in time for events, insurance, competitions, and other essential activities.

If your university club is involved in both VE competitions and BUCS, you only need to purchase the Standard Club Affiliation.

The current VolleyZone system is formatted in a hierarchy which means all clubs sit under a county, then under the Region, which then sits under Volleyball England. However, this changes nothing for you club - other than the hierarchy, you are still a separate entity. Not all counties have a volleyball association, so some geographical counties have been added into the hierarchy to make the system work for all. 

A constitution sets out the purpose and rules of your club. It is the basic document which helps to ensure smooth and proper running of your club.  Further, having a club constitution and policies is one of the main requirements to be eligible to apply for the funding. Through the mandatory upload of these documents, Volleyball England aims to encourage all the clubs to have a constitution and the correct safeguarding policy/ies in place to ensure the long term governance and operational success of the club. More information about what policies are required for your club affiliation can be found here.

Incorporated organisations will need to upload a copy of their Articles of Association rather than a constitution and directors listed on VolleyZone. 

To add teams to your club, login to your club admin profile here using your username and password. On the home page, navigate to ‘Members/Team Sheets’ > click on ‘Team Roster (list of the players to be selected)’ > on the team roster page, click on ‘+Add’ > follow on-screen instruction to enter the team details in the roster. You should be able to see your team listed under the Team Roster now.

To view our step-by-step guide, click here.

To add players to the team, follow our step-by-step guide here.

To enter you team into an event, follow our step-by-step guide here.

As they are under 2 separate event areas on VolleyZone, they will need to be purchased separately. You can enter as many events under 1 basket. Please remember you only need to purchase 1 club affiliation. 

Once your club affiliation has been approved by Volleyball England, you will receive a confirmation email which includes where to download the insurance summary of cover.

If an incident, accident or near miss occurs in an activity that is covered by the Volleyball England insurance it is important that you register the incident through the online form here as a record of the details of what took place at this time. It will help to monitor the incidents that typically happen in the sport and ensure you have an official record of what happened and what you did at the time.

As affiliated club you are insured when performing Volleyball England recognised and authorised activities.

In addition, the insurance also extends to cover club activities such as social events and fundraisers. If you consider an event to be “out of the ordinary”, you should contact Howden prior to beginning the event. No cover is provided for bouncy castles and trampolines.

Recognised activity is volleyball related activity that is played under the rules and regulations of volleyball, this includes training and competition at club, regional or country association in recognised formats of indoor, beach, sitting and grass disciplines.

Authorised activity is recognised versions of the game (above) that have been authorised to go ahead by Volleyball England. This is either:
- Official Volleyball England activity organised and /or facilitated by appropriately qualified, Volleyball England appointed person(s).
- Recognised versions of the game organised and facilitated by appropriately qualified person(s) at a registered Regional or Country association in accordance with Volleyball England rules and regulations.
- Recognised versions of the game organised and facilitated by appropriately qualified person(s) at an affiliated club, or a registered league or tournament in accordance with Volleyball England rules and regulations.
- Volleyball England programmes (such as HEVOs) delivered by approved persons/groups* *Organisations/persons that wish to deliver Recognised Volleyball England programmes require Volleyball England approval.

Clubs, regions, and county associations need to ensure they have operating standards for their activity that ensures it is delivered in a safe environment and with adequate supervision. That the operating standards align with the relevant Volleyball England policies and procedures and consider first aid, coaching qualifications, safeguarding and risk assessment.

Clubs, coaches, and officials should ensure that the environment volleyball is being played in is safe and limits the chance of injury. A risk assessment should be done prior to all sessions and a record of this check should be maintained and kept.

No, you will need a separate Travel insurance policy which Howden can provide to you

Region and Counties associations are insured as affiliated associations of Volleyball England, when undertaking Volleyball England recognised and authorised activities.

Yes. It is essential that you undertake risk assessments for the activities of your club, region, or county association to support you in your risk management. You and your club owe a duty of care to those around you: If an allegation of negligence is made against you or your club the risk assessments will be needed to prove what you have reasonably been able to do to prevent an incident occurring.

As a committee member you may not realise it, but the constitution of your club / association almost certainly makes you personally liable for the liability of your club / association. The directors’ and officers’ section of the policy is designed to protect you in the event of you being personally sued for negligent decisions.

As a committee member you may not realise it, but the constitution of your club / association almost certainly makes you personally liable for the liability of your club / association. The directors’ and officers’ section of the policy is designed to protect you in the event of you being personally sued for negligent decisions.

Yes, volleyball related fitness & strength training is a permitted activity. If training involves specialist equipment or techniques, it is essential the teacher or coach is appropriately qualified.

A £250 excess applies to Public Liability and Directors & Officers Liability claims.

As a club player, coach or referee registered with an affiliated club you are covered under Personal Accident Insurance while you are involved in recognised and authorised volleyball activities, including direct travel to and from the authorised activity.

Additionally, all individuals above can also access Public Liability insurance for any third-party injury or damage to the property they cause while involved in recognised and authorised Volleyball activities.

Yes, the public liability insurance isn’t specific to a venue. You will need to make for each new venue an assessment of risk is undertaken.

However, if a club is competing in a one off or overseas tournament, cover will respond, however, the club should seek to get a travel insurance as that would not be covered under our insurance.

All incident and claims need to be reported to Donna Goulbourne at Howden on donna.goulbourne@howdengroup.com. claims should be reported as soon as practically possible.

Section 14 – failure to report incidents or circumstances which may give rise to a claim to our insurance brokers may prejudice any potential claim made against you.Please make sure you also complete the Volleyball England Incident report form here. Volleyball England will hold any report on file for XX year. 

You will be able to offer up to 2 free taster sessions (this is up to the club's discretion if it would be less) before getting the individual to sign up to the club and become a member– however at the start of the taster sessions the club would need to know the following information:

- Full Name
- Any Medical/Disability information
- Emergency contact (name and details)
- Previous playing experience

You would be covered under the club's insurance; however, you would not be eligible for full personal accident insurance until you become a member.

If you are operating outside of a club regulated activity, then you would not be covered by the club's public liability insurance. If, for example, some members of the same club played 5 a side football once a week, the Volleyball England insurance wouldn’t cover any claims as this is outside the controlled club environment.

The club would have liability insurance if they have taken all reasonable care to protect their participants. The club needs to undertake a risk assessment, keep a log of equipment maintenance and be confident why the equipment modifications do not conform to Volleyball England guidance.

Volleyball England's requires that affiliated clubs, Regions & Counties assess the risks and take all reasonable care to reduce the harm during activity. It is important that the risk assessment and operating procedures (club rules) include who will provide the first aid provision. Volleyball England guidance is that a qualified coach has an up to date first aid qualification and club members know where the nearest AED is located.

If you have completed a free registration, you are only insured if your clubs is affiliated to Volleyball England or if your club is not affiliated to Volleyball England and they have their independent club insurance.

Safeguarding and DBS are 2 important checks for coaches who are in a position of trust to help keep volleyball a safe sport. 

We encourage volunteers who meet the threshold for regulated activity to upload details of their DBS/Safeguarding training to your VolleyZone account. This will help you to keep track on when you need to renew this training. 

This is to help keep your club safe, inclusive, and deliver quality sessions. Having a qualified coach means they’ve had the right training and meet national standards — so they’re better prepared to support your players’ development and well-being. As per the data, around 79% of safeguarding concerns in volleyball involve coaches, which is why it’s so important that coaches are properly trained and fully understand the responsibility they carry. It’s about making sure everyone in your club feels safe, supported, and able to thrive.

Volunteer membership is not mandatory for club volunteers who do not require DBS checks. However, for Club welfare officer DBS checks are vital to carry out their role and thus they need to have an active membership.