The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is appealing for feedback on proposed membership price increases ahead of the BMC Board meeting on 18 September. The proposal was announced at the Members' Open Forum meeting last night.
A members' update from the Board reads:
'Over the past two years, the BMC has faced significant financial challenges, resulting in a substantial deficit of £625,000 in 2023. Since then, we have stabilised our organisation and are on track to achieve a small surplus by the end of this financial year as summarised in a previous update.'
The proposed increase across the membership models takes into account increasing costs of combined liability insurance and RPI increase. The statement reads:
'As we plan for 2025 and beyond, the BMC face rising premium costs for our Combined Liability Insurance cover due to a second catastrophic claim (November 2023) in recent years. While we managed to absorb most of these costs in 2024, continuing to do so is not sustainable without making significant changes to member services. To meet this rise in premiums, we propose the following Membership fee adjustments for 2025:
RPI Increase
A 3.60% increase based on the RPI (Retail Price Index) as of July 2024 for non-insurance related elements.
Combined Liability Insurance Cost Increase
An increase of £4.57 per member (£9.14 for families) to cover the rising cost of Combined Liability Insurance not covered by the RPI increase.
These proposed changes aim to distribute the insurance cost increase fairly across all members ensuring that we are able to operate sustainably while continuing to deliver our important services on behalf of the community.'
© BMC
The BMC also published a video recorded during the Members' Open Forum with more details on the proposal:
Total BMC membership currently stands at 82,447, with 56,772 individual members and 25,675 club members.
Feedback should be submitted to office AT thebmc.co.uk by 2 p.m. on Wednesday 18th September. A final decision on 2025 fees will be communicated to members by Monday 30th September 2024.
The Open Forum also included a Q&A with Team GB Olympic finalist Erin McNeice and the announcement of the BMC Volunteer Award winners, Rose Gare-Simmons and Jay Jackson (Rehan Siddiqui Award) and Steve Charles (Lord Greaves Award).
Slides from the Open Forum meeting can be found here.
Comments
Hi Natalie
Many thanks for posting this - that's really helpful!
I'd really encourage people to take a look at the linked video (15mins so grab a cuppa). Paul Ratcliffe and I attempt to give a balanced view of the BMC's improving financial position and the challenges around continuing to support all our members with Combined Liability Insurance (many don't even know they have £15m cover, let alone the fact that this will cost over £13 per member next year). Most of all, I'm trying to answer the question I get asked most often as 'Members' Champion' - 'Where do my fees go?'
We're keen to get feedback so please email any comments to [email protected] by 2pm on Wednesday 18th September and I promise to carry these forward into the Board meeting that evening.
Get in touch! Have your say! It's OUR BMC.
Cheers, Dom
Thank you for highlighting the video, I missed that. I'm afraid to say I did find the pie charts in it slightly misleading, as they hide the marketing/it/finance/hr/ceo/governance costs using the background colour and make them hard to compare to the other categories.
Also in the linked report https://www.thebmc.co.uk/media/files/240604_Accounts%20Overview_V1_0.pdf
I wonder if the members could get a more detailed breakdown of what staff time in the "admin and governance" column gets spent on? Bearing in mind it was larger than staff costs for any of access, conservation, gb climbing, marketing, comms, membership, trading, sport and community development?
I guess the take home message, though, is that GB climbing costs seem to have been brought under control, which I expect many members will appreciate. It must have been difficult for those involved.
It's good you are inviting members comments on how their fees are used and I hope this is a sign of continued transparancy in the future.
Can we please have some information about the insurance claim that has apparently led to the big increase in the premium?
I am going to have to explain to my club members why subs will be increasing. As Dom as said, many are not aware that they have this insurance, and many don't understand why they need it (especially the hillwalkers). It would help to know the nature of the claim and the sorts of figures involved.
Out of interest, why keep club fees so much lower (£24ish compared to £47ish)? Especially given a) declining relevance of clubs; b) club members are often older... and therefore wealthier!
One reason, of course, is they are great places for many people and you want to preserve them. I get that and agree.
However, if I understand correctly, you can join some mountaineering clubs and get BMC club membership cheaper than you can join the BMC as an individual member.
I might be wrong but I think at some clubs it is £35 for club and BMC club membership.
This means effectively that the BMC is subsidising clubs at the expense of individual members.
What if you lowered that subsidy so that joining a club was more likely to be...
£47ish for both a climbing club and a club BMC membership?
Just a thought...
p.s. I've not done my research thoroughly here - this is just my impression. Apologies in advance to anyone telling me this isn't accurate!
Any chance of a swap?
Agreeing to an increase in membership fees to cover the financial hole with.. Getting rid of the people who allowed it to happen?Else this is just a continuation of the bad record that the BMC has become…