Terms and conditions for a children's activity club

A children's activity club needs terms that survive the awkward moments: the parent who wants a refund for the half term their child missed, the adult at the gate nobody recognises, the child removed for hurting another, and the camp cancelled when the hall floods. I draft customer terms around how your club actually runs, for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

After-school and breakfast clubs, holiday camps, football and gymnastics coaching, swim schools, dance and drama schools, forest schools and multi-activity providers in England and Wales. Your customer is the parent or carer who books and pays, so you are selling to consumers, with the occasional booking from a school, nursery or employer that is treated as a business contract.

What matters in a children's activity club's terms

The parent is your customer, not the child

Your contract is with the adult who books, and that adult is a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The terms therefore have to carry obligations the parent can actually perform: giving accurate medical, allergy and dietary information, disclosing additional needs before the first session, naming the adults allowed to collect, and updating you when any of that changes. Where a grandparent books and a parent collects, or where separated parents disagree about attendance, the terms should say whose instructions you act on and who remains liable for the fees.

Block bookings, prepayments and missed sessions

Most clubs sell a term block or a camp week rather than single sessions, and take the money upfront. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats a term that keeps a consumer's prepayment on cancellation, with no matching obligation on you, as one that may well be unfair, so a bare 'no refunds' line is worth very little. What works is a clear statement of what the parent is buying: a named place held for a defined block, a stated notice period for withdrawal, and a missed session policy you apply to everybody. Consumers cannot be charged extra for paying by card under the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012.

Online bookings and the fourteen-day cancellation right

Bookings taken through your website, by phone or by email are distance contracts under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, and the parent has fourteen days to cancel from the date of booking. Holiday camps booked the week before they run sit squarely inside that window. Sessions can still be delivered in the period, but only at the parent's express request, and a parent who then cancels pays a proportionate amount for what has been used. If the cancellation information was never given, the period can extend by up to twelve months, which is how a club ends up refunding a whole summer.

Drop-off, collection and late pick-up

Collection is where clubs get into real trouble. The terms should set out the handover arrangements, the identification or password you require, what happens when an unrecognised adult arrives, and whether a child above a stated age may leave unaccompanied with written permission. A late collection charge is sensible, but under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a default charge out of proportion to your actual cost, which is staff time and premises, can be challenged as unfair. Pitch it against the cost of keeping staff on site beyond the session, say when it starts, and say what you will do if nobody arrives at all.

Medical needs, behaviour and withdrawing a place

Every club eventually meets a child whose behaviour puts others at risk, or one whose needs were not disclosed at booking. The terms need a behaviour policy referenced properly, a right to suspend or withdraw a place after a warning, and a statement of what happens to the unused fees when you do. They should also deal with medication, inhalers and auto-injectors, and illness during a session. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, information the parent relies on binds you, so what your website says about ratios, first aid cover and coach qualifications becomes a contractual promise. Make sure it is accurate.

Injury, photographs and sessions that cannot run

Activities involve running, equipment and other children, so injuries happen. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 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 the terms can do is state the standard you promise, reasonable care and skill, and distinguish it from the ordinary risks of sport. They should also cover photography and social media consent, venue closure, coach illness and severe weather. The Provision of Services Regulations 2009 require your insurance and professional body details to be available to parents.

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

Do I still need a separate parental consent form?

The medical, photography and collection consents can sit alongside the booking terms so the parent completes everything in one process. I draft the contractual obligations: accurate information, prompt updates and your right to act in an emergency. The detailed health record and your safeguarding policy remain operational documents for your setting, and the website privacy notice is separate work I quote for.

We deliver sessions through self-employed coaches. Does that change the terms?

Your terms with parents should allow you to provide sessions through employed staff or self-employed coaches without shifting responsibility for the service away from you, because the parent contracted with the club. What your coaches have agreed, including vetting obligations and whether they can take your customers to a rival club, belongs in their own contracts rather than in the parent-facing terms.

How do I make sure parents are actually bound by the terms?

Terms sitting on a page nobody visits bind nobody. The booking process should put them in front of the parent before they commit, and you should keep a record of which version was accepted and when. The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 also require you to explain the steps to conclude the contract, acknowledge the booking electronically without undue delay, and make the terms available in a form the parent can store.

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.