Terms and conditions for an after-school or holiday club

An after-school or holiday club needs terms that deal with the things that actually happen: the parent who books a week and cancels on the Sunday night, the child collected forty minutes after closing, the allergy nobody mentioned on the form, and the invoice a school keeps forgetting to pay. I draft parent-facing terms for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, holiday camps, sports and activity camps and wraparound care providers in England and Wales, whether you trade as a sole trader, a limited company or a community interest company. Your customers are almost always consumers, which means the parent-facing protections matter most, but many clubs also invoice schools and employers, and those are business contracts.

What matters in club terms

Bookings, cancellations and the fourteen-day right

Places booked online, by email or over the phone are distance contracts, so the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give the parent fourteen days to cancel and require you to give pre-contract information before they book. That is awkward for a holiday club booked a fortnight before half term. If the sessions fall inside the period you need the parent's express request to start, and a parent who then cancels pays a proportionate amount for what they have used. Where the cancellation information is missing, the period can extend by up to 12 months.

No-shows, sickness and money already paid

Clubs staff to numbers booked, so a child who does not turn up still costs you. Your terms can say that fees are payable whether or not the child attends, but under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 keeping a prepayment when the parent cancels, with no matching obligation on you, sits on the list of terms treated as suspect. The safer approach is a clear notice period for cancelling a session, a stated position on illness and school closures, and credits or transfers where you can offer them rather than a blanket forfeiture.

Late collection charges and extra costs

Late collection is the charge parents argue about most. A fee that reflects the cost of keeping two members of staff on site is defensible; a round figure that plainly punishes is a disproportionate default charge under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and it will not bind the parent. Say how the charge is calculated, from when, and what happens if a child is not collected at all. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 also means the price you advertise must include everything a parent has to pay, so booking fees and compulsory trip costs cannot appear only at checkout, and the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 prevent you charging parents extra for paying by card.

Medical information, behaviour and refusing a place

Your registration form is part of the contract, so the terms should make the parent responsible for giving and updating allergy, medical, dietary and additional needs information, and should record your consent to administer medication and to seek emergency treatment. You also need a written route to exclude a child whose behaviour puts others at risk, or to refuse a booking where you cannot meet a child's needs safely with the staff you have. Set out collection authority, passwords, who may not collect, and what you do if an unauthorised adult arrives.

Injury, supervision and the limits of any liability clause

Parents sign up expecting supervision, and under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 your service must be performed with reasonable care and skill. You cannot exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, and you cannot limit liability for the service to less than the price paid. What terms can properly do is be honest about the level of supervision at each activity, allocate responsibility for lost property, clothing and devices brought from home, deal with off-site trips and swimming separately, and record your public liability cover rather than pretend risk away.

Schools, venues and taking over another provider's club

If you run from a school hall or leisure centre, check whether you occupy under a licence or a lease: a business occupier with exclusive possession may acquire security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, which schools rarely intend. Where a school pays you directly, that is a business contract and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 lets you claim statutory interest and fixed compensation. If you win a club previously run by another provider, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 may bring their playworkers with it.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

Can I charge for a session a child misses through illness?

You can, provided the term is clear before booking and the parent has a real chance to read it. In practice most clubs that charge in full for short-notice illness also offer a credit or a swap where a place can be filled. A rigid no-refund rule applied to a consumer invites a challenge you would rather not have.

How do Tax-Free Childcare payments and vouchers affect my terms?

The contract is still with the parent, so the terms should say that the parent remains responsible for fees however they are funded, when cleared funds must reach you, and what happens if a payment from a scheme arrives late or short. Clubs that leave this unsaid end up chasing parents who believe someone else has paid.

Where should parents actually agree to the terms?

At the point of booking, before payment, with a tick that is not pre-ticked and a copy the parent can keep. Terms sent afterwards with the confirmation email are often not part of the contract at all. I include guidance on incorporating them properly into your booking flow and your registration form.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595
• Data protection agreements and privacy terms, £795
• Terms and conditions for a personal trainer
• Terms and conditions for a yoga or pilates studio

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.