Helen West, CEO, British Eventing responds to queries regarding British Eventing’s restructure of their 2022 competing membership
Following the announcement of the re-structure of British Eventing’s restructure of their 2022 competing membership yesterday (see below), there has been some negative feedback on social media from the proposed structure
In response to this, British Eventing’s CEO Helen West has clarified some points in a statement on the British Eventing website, which is also found below
"Let me start with clearing up at least one area of confusion - the new Pay As You go (PAYG) membership DOES apply across all levels of national competition, so it does mean that riders wishing to step up and try National Intermediate or Advanced level can use the PAYG system for as long as they wish without the need to upgrade.
"Before I move on to why we need to make changes and why we need to make them now please know that Eventing has always been my passion. I have been a competitor, I’m now an owner and until recently I was the organiser of Bicton Horse Trials. Now as CEO, my role is to listen to the membership, knowing I can’t please everyone, knowing I don’t have unlimited resources or time, but doing everything possible to grow the sport into the one that I know it both could and should be.
"One of the primary areas that clearly needs to be addressed is the fact that we have lost depth across our grassroots members and, bearing in mind that 72% of our membership compete at BE100 and below, it is important that we attract them back alongside members joining for the first time.
"Without building on the majority of our membership group our costs would have had to increase vastly year-on-year across the board to the point of them most likely being unsustainable. With this in mind, the core membership was the area of focus and the reduced membership for those competing at these levels will, I hope, see an increase in membership. Doing nothing just wasn’t an option - we needed to make some radical changes and I truly believe that these are the first steps towards building the sport into a bigger and better one that we can all be proud to be part of.
"This is very much the start of the changes. I am well aware that the mid-tier member has been impacted by a membership rise and I fully appreciate that some single horse/rider members fall between the cracks. My key objective was to reduce the disparity in the membership cost per run that each member incurs. It was for this reason that the PAYG system is in place across all national levels.
"To give an indication, on average a Level III (Intermediate to Advanced) member runs 34 times a year, whilst a Level I (BE80,BE90) member runs 4-8 times and a Level II (BE100, BE105 and Novice) member runs 12 times a year. The new fee structure levels the playing field across the entire membership making it a much fairer membership run rate of around £10 for those at Level I and II, with those at Level III incurring a membership cost of circa £8 per run.
"Please bear with me as I hope to introduce further changes that will benefit the members who may feel that they have not benefited as much as others in this first round of changes.
"I am absolutely focused on doing everything I can to ensure that the sport is not only an enjoyable one to compete in but also a thriving one for show organisers and all the stakeholder groups that support the sport and keep the wheels turning. Once again, I would also like to reiterate that this is just the start of the changes. I am listening to the feedback from members and taking everything on board so that it can be considered during the ongoing reviews as we move the sport forward. As I said before, doing nothing just wasn’t an option and I am making the decisions that I am with the very best for the sport in mind."
Original article published 3rd December 2021
British Eventing has announced a new three-tier restructure of their 2022 competing membership categories, geared to attract a ‘healthy, robust and flourishing grassroots membership’
Alongside a new ‘PAY AS YOU GO’ system, the new system aims to be ‘the first step in a more widespread restructure further down the line which will address the balance of the membership fee versus the number of times members actually compete, and at which levels’ says Helen West, CEO for British Eventing
“I feel strongly that anyone wishing to event should be able do so with the assurances that come from being within the embrace of the sport’s national governing body. By reducing the lower-level membership costs we have now removed the main hurdle that many said was holding them back from joining us”
“I trust that we will see a healthy, robust and flourishing grassroots membership as a result with as many of them as possible focusing on qualifying for the recently announced inaugural National BE80 Championships at Bramham this summer”
The announcement on the BE website says that the new membership fee structure will reflect around a 33% reduction for those joining British Eventing to compete at the two lowest levels of competition the first time and approximately 26% discount for existing members in the same category at their point of renewal. For those competing from BE100 up to Novice and CCI2* their memberships will remain the same for 2022.
For members competing up to CCI5* there is an increase to their membership fees however, riders competing at the higher levels will benefit the greatest if the proposal to move away from a mandatory centralised abandonment insurance policy goes ahead, which will see a net saving of 7.6% on every entry next season.
This will mean that the AIP savings culminated from just four runs, for example 2 x Intermediate entries and 1 x CCI3-S and 1 x CCI3-L entry would be over £70. 4 entries at CCI4-S will bring a saving of over £100.
The current Day Ticket system will be replaced by a Pay as You Go system for all national levels of competition. Grassroots riders will be able to qualify and compete at an Area Festival in the Area Championship class using this system, but if they wish to pursue the National Qualifier route to the National Championships at Badminton and Bramham they will need to purchase one of the three competing membership options.
