Member Update

10th August 2021

 

Dear Member

UPDATE

 

Insurance – Speaking with one of insurance broker members this week I thought I would pass on some intelligence he gave me.  He has seen a massive upturn in public liability claims this quarter saying ‘most of which are completely false. They range from people falling over on pathways, in the car parks, cut fingers on play equipment, trips on wet floors, warn carpet.  It would appear that the general public are looking to have a claim before returning to work as most of these haven’t been entered into the site’s accident book. The claims tend to come in after a month as that’s when most cctv evidence has been cleared..’

He has rightly advised that it’s really important more than ever that risk assessments are up to date and records are kept for the daily check sheets, i.e. checks on the park, pathway, play areas etc.  Also, cctv should cover all areas of risk and any footage kept for several weeks or even months if possible.  Staff or third- party witness statements really help if they are done at the time of any reported incident.

We have seen a lot more no win fee solicitors open up according to our loss adjusters in recent months, he adds.  Noting that it’s the whole leisure / hospitality sector which seems to be receiving the attention of these claimants, something I will feed into UK Hospitality and other stakeholders.

Please be reminded that PAT testing and the electrical certificates for the site’s wiring should be in place and up to date.

 

Subscriptions – during the pandemic we did not chase members for any outstanding subscriptions.  Linda Morrison, in the office, is currently contacting everyone who still has subscriptions outstanding (and I am grateful to those who have paid promptly following her contact) but it would be really helpful if any member that took advantage of our moratorium on collection during the pandemic, could if they can, please settle their invoice as soon as possible.  If you have any questions at all please do contact Linda on Linda@bacta.org.uk.

 

Politics – As members will know, we have been continuing our extensive engagement work over the Summer.  MPs have been busy visiting members’ venues and we have relaunched our Save our Seaside campaign.  Entries to the seaside selfie competition by MPs are beginning to flow as they take their summer holidays.  Following on from the Minister, John Whittingdale’s visit to Clacton on Friday, we took Oliver Dowden’s Special Adviser to an Admiral AGC in London and then on to Brighton Palace Pier.  As with all of these visits, simply getting our stakeholders to see what we do makes an enormous and positive impact on how we are perceived, something that is vital as the Gambling Review makes it way through government machinery.

 

Cat D stickers – Anti-industry groups have this week been making much of a number of venues where machines are displaying differing age-related signs on their Cat D reel-based cash payout fruit machines.  Please can all members ensure that only one age sticker is visible and that it says no under 18s are permitted to play that machine.  We have both circular and rectangular stickers available if you need some  more.  Just contact Theresa in the office if you need some at Theresa@bacta.org.uk.

 

bactaPortal – We have now sent out the data sharing agreement to all users of the bacta self-exclusion service.  It must be signed before we can make it available on the bacta Portal.  This must be returned by August 31st.  We will be going live with the Portal in the second week of September.

 

Kind regards

John