Fifteen minutes lost at the start of a session
A group of twelve arrives for a 10am high ropes session. Before anyone can go up, each participant, or a parent for under-18s, needs to complete your declaration form, as your own procedures require. There are four clipboards. Parents fill in forms on each other's backs. One child is with a grandparent who is not sure she can sign.
The session starts at 10.15am. The forms go in a box in the office. Months later, someone asks for a specific form, and a member of staff spends an afternoon looking through boxes.
Why declarations are still on paper
Declaration forms are part of how activity centres run their sessions. The content of the form is set by your own policies, governing bodies and advisers, and changing how it is collected can feel risky, so paper stays.
Bookings are usually made online already, often by one person for a group. The form, however, has to be completed by each participant or their parent, which the booking system does not handle.
On the day, instructors need to know that every participant has a completed form before the activity starts. With paper, that means counting forms on a clipboard.
What clipboard declarations cost
| Gap | Effect |
|---|---|
| Forms completed on arrival | Sessions start late |
| Illegible or incomplete forms | Instructors unsure who is covered |
| Wrong person signing for a child | Delays while parents are called |
| Forms in boxes | Hours to find one when it is needed |
| No link to the booking | Hard to show who completed what |
What your declaration says and when it is needed is for your own procedures and advisers. We only change how it is collected and stored.
Declarations online, linked to the booking
We connect a declaration step to your booking system.
- When a group booking is made, the booker adds each participant's name and age, or sends a link to the group to add themselves.
- Each participant, or a parent or guardian for under-18s as your procedures specify, completes the declaration online, using the wording you provide.
- Reminders go to anyone who has not completed their form before the session.
- On the day, the instructor sees the session list on a tablet, with a clear mark for each participant who is ready and any notes your procedures say they should see.
- Anyone missing a form can complete it on a tablet at reception, with the same wording.
- Completed declarations are stored against the booking and participant, with the date, time and version of the wording, and can be found in seconds.
Cases we plan for
- Walk-in participants who book on the day: declaration completed on a tablet at the desk.
- School and youth groups, where a leader completes declarations under your group procedures.
- Returning participants: whether they need a new declaration each visit or at intervals follows your policy.
- Changes to your declaration wording: new versions apply from a date, and old records keep the version signed.
A 10am session afterwards
The group completed declarations at home. The instructor checks the tablet at 9.55am and sees eleven ready and one missing. The missing one completes it on a reception tablet in two minutes. The session starts on time. Records are stored with the booking.
- Declarations completed before arrival
- Instructors who can see who is ready
- Records stored and searchable by booking
- Sessions that start on time
Is this how declarations work at your centre?
- Participants fill in forms on clipboards at arrival.
- Sessions start late while forms are completed.
- Forms are stored in boxes.
- Finding a specific form takes hours.
- Group bookers cannot send declarations to their group in advance.