Active Membership charges from November 2020 due to Covid-19

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A decision made on 28 October 2020

Decision Reference: MD-E-2020-0046
Decision Summary Title :	Active charges due to Covid19	Date of Decision Summary:	15 October 2020
Decision Summary author	Private Secretary	Decision Summary: Public or exempt?	Public
Type of report: Oral or Written?	Written	Person giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report title :	Active charges due to Covid19	Date of Written Report:	13 October 2020
Written Report author	Operations Manager – Sport Division	Written Report: Public or exempt?	Public
Subject: Active Membership charges from November 2020 onwards due to Covid19
Decision: The Assistant Minister with responsibility for Sport decided to approve an adjustment in the Active Card sports membership rates with effect from 01 November 2020. After that date, all customers will move to Direct Debit payments and the fee will be set at 75% of the pre-Covid rate.
Reasons for Decision: Sports facilities have been affected by the activity restrictions required to manage the coronavirus pandemic and the services have had to be reduced in order maintain social distancing required to keep customers safe. Following ongoing reviews and assessment by the department – of both the finance and operations, and consultations with its customers – the new membership pricing system is being introduced to ensure payments can me more flexible to adapt quickly to the impacts of Covid.
Resource Implications: The decision will result in a shortfall in predicted budget of approximately £81,000 for 2020 and these financial implications have been considered by the IHE Finance team and included in the year end forecast. Charging 75% of the original fee for 2021, would generate estimated membership income of £1.2 million (based on 2019 income). This represents approximately 63% of 2019 income in membership revenue. Circa £85,000 is refunded to advance paid members (before the end of 2020) currently freezing due to the impacts of Covid.
Action required: Operations Manager of the Sport Division to take the necessary action to apply the new charges to memberships from 01 November. That rate to apply until Public Health guidance no longer restricts free movement and service capacity can increase.
Signature: Senator Steve Pallett		Position: Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture
Date signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed)