The Board of Table Tennis England is proposing to the Annual General Meeting that our playing membership fees will rise for the 2018/19 season.

The proposal is for fees for adults to rise by £2 to £16 and for cadets and juniors by £1 to £8.

The Table Tennis England Board have been open with their five-year strategy of small increases in membership fees. This is the third year of the strategy, which is reviewed on an annual basis and shared with National Councillors to ensure that it is still relevant and appropriate.

The proposal will be voted on at the AGM on July 7 at Hinckley Island Hotel, Hinckley.

Why an increase?

Sport England have reduced their funding to all National Governing Bodies and this trend is likely to continue. As an organisation we are making large efforts to address the reduction in funding, become more efficient and diversify our income, however we do need to look to our membership to provide support to maintain the service they receive and some support in key areas where we do not receive funding.

I don’t see money going into grass roots participation. Why not?

Despite reduced funding, we’re actually putting more resources into grass roots table tennis, both in respect of staff time and funding. Our focus more than ever is on the player and the enablers (clubs, coaches, volunteers and leagues) around them and our aim is to improve their ‘customer experience’ and ensure they get the most out of their affiliation with Table Tennis England.

The Be TT development programme for clubs and leagues is seeing us invest tens of thousands into clubs and leagues every year, as well as the time of an 8-strong team dedicated to supporting the programme.

More support programmes are planned in the coming year, including the introduction of new software to help with the running of clubs, leagues and tournaments.

We will also be announcing plans to grow the number of volunteers and officials in the sport and open up more opportunities for under-represented groups, including female players.

We are also committed to increasing the number of young people in the sport, and will continue to grow this through our recent merger with the English Schools Table Tennis Association.

It’s important to remember that we do not receive public funding support for our schools or Sport England funding for our elite performance, both key elements for the growth of table tennis and moving players along the elite pathway. Having achieved phenomenal success with very limited funding with our elite performance programme we continue to have no UK Sport funding despite making a strong case.

Your membership

We believe that being a member of Table Tennis England still offers great value for money as well as helping us guarantee the future of our sport.

Should the price increase be voted in at the AGM, membership for the 2018/19 season will still cost as little as 31p a week – and if you take advantage of the many member benefits and discounts we offer you with your membership package, you could easily save more money than your entire membership cost.

Funding the future

Here’s how you are giving back to the sport you love through your membership fees:

• Competition, events & rankings – you’ve helped enable thousands of entries across dozens of competitions nationwide over the past 12 months – from school pupils to senior players. You’ve also helped us administer the results and the rankings lists that you access via the membership portal.
• Creating the top talent of the future – providing the stepping stone for our nation’s top talent from regional performance to the GB Olympic team. Our top players – including our recent Commonwealth Games medallists – have benefitted from our resources.
• Delivering your discounts and benefits programme: we offer you access to discount in over 100 places – saving you money on everything from cars to cinema tickets, getaways to gyms and table tennis gear to tickets. Our benefits package also includes pre-sale access to major world events we host and money can’t buy prizes through exclusive competitions. We also keep you up-to-date with the latest news and expert advice via our website.
• Promoting table tennis – we aim to put table tennis in the spotlight by raising its profile and visibility to get more people playing for longer. We liaise with local and national media to gain coverage of the grass roots through to elite level. We provide live footage of events to outlets like the BBC to ensure you can watch table tennis wherever you are in the country. Over the past six months, table tennis has had more than 400,000 views on the BBC’s online streaming service from events including the Team World Cup and PG Mutual National Championships.
• Creating a world class workforce – providing modern and accessible training for hundreds of tutors, coaches, officials, umpires and volunteers every year to develop their skills and knowledge to make playing table tennis possible for thousands of people around the country.
• Insuring members and clubs – we build insurance cover into membership so you can always be certain that you’re properly protected. This includes: £10 Million Public Liability insurance and Personal Accident insurance for individuals.
• Delivering customer services – we answer hundreds of questions every week by letter, email, telephone and on social media, from players, clubs and leagues who seek help, advice and information.

Proposed Affiliation Fees for 2018/19

Player Membership: £16 for adults; £8 for cadets & juniors.

Player Licence: £38 for adults; £19 for cadets & juniors

Associate Membership: free of charge.

Player Membership is required for those who play regularly in local leagues or wish to compete in a 1* national competition; a Player Licence is required for all players who wish to compete in the British League or national tournaments which are 2* or above.