Kids' camp employee status - should I be concerned?

[gettinbye]

My son (age 16) plays a sport at high level - I'm going to call it "Quiddotch" just to keep it anonymous. He is accredited by the sport's national governing body "Quiddotch England" as an assistant coach and pays an annual membership fee for which he gets public liability insurance, a free DBS check, a newsletter, etc. He helps to coach less experienced players at a local club on a very casual freelance basis, invoicing the club for his time. All that is fine. However ...

The club has a new income stream - kids holiday camps from age 5+. My son and other freelance coaches have been working there too, but the kids are too young to play "Quiddotch" so they do lots of random fun and games instead, with a little bit of basic ball play thrown in. As before, my son is invoicing the club for his time, but I've started to suspect that the "Quiddotch England" public liability insurance wouldn't cover him if something goes wrong.

Am I right to encourage him to question this? Is it him that is exposed to being sued in the event of an issue, or the club?

I'd get him to email them about it, but wouldn't be unduly worried.

If the kids camp is being held under the club's banner, just double check that he's covered under theirs.

Why do you suspect this?

I'm not an expert, but I would imagine the club would be liable as they are the body providing the service. Of course he should double check that he is covered for this extra work if there is any chance that you are right

Following my initial post, I've spoken to my DH, who thinks that if your son is invoicing the club, then he needs his own insurance.

I would think it would fall on the club
They are the ones providing the kids club and hiring in the freelancers. They should be checking that the freelancers hired in have appropriate insurance and qualifications

Are you concerned because he's not specifically teaching "Quidditch" and therefore won't be covered?

If he is being hired as a "Quidditch Instructor" I think that would cover it as that's the role they are hiring him for

I wouldn't be too worried. I'm not involved in sport at all but we employ freelancers who invoice us for their time, and the terms of our public liability insurance are such that if there's written evidence that they were doing work for us at the time of an insurable incident, then their status would be treated the same as an employee in the process of resolving the insurance claim. Obviously not all insurance products will have the same terms so it's not ridiculous to check, but I would expect that someone has already thought about this and made sure that the insurance cover is appropriate.

Check the policy wording on his insurance?

The "Quiddotch Coach" role was all arranged casually by talking to the club manager, and exchange of a few emails. Then he was asked if he wanted to help at the kids' camp too, for a lower rate of pay. He has no formal job title as far as I'm aware, but a few days ago I noticed the club was advertising for "Quiddotch Coaches" and "Kids Camp Assistants" as two separate roles.