“Serving the interests of Independent Rallying Clubs”

 Smmary of Benefits and Services

The Association of Caravan and Camping Exempted Organisations (ACCEO)

Is the largest Association in the U.K. representing the interests of Independent Rallying Caravan, Motor Caravan and Camping Clubs, who hold Exemption Certificates issued by Appropriate Government Departments

 The Association comprises over 200 Independent Clubs with a Membership of some 36,000 families.

 The aim of the Association is to ensure that all Member Clubs are able to continue enjoying their leisure activities, and at the same time provide a range of services, help and advice, which are designed to help and encourage all aspects of Member Clubs’ activities.

 It is hoped that this summary of services, which are available, will prove useful to all Member Clubs and Personal members of ACCEO.

 N.B. All facts and figures in this summary are accurate at, and relevant

to, date of publication (January 2006) and are subject to annual review.

 Summary of Services

 

     i.        Membership.                                                 Subscriptions, change of address,    principal contact etc.

  ii.        Discounts.                                                     Discounts on a range of services: Ferries, Gas, Insurances etc.

iii.        Relevant Government Departments            Regular contact regarding Legislation changes etc.

iv.        Publications.                                                 Handbook containing useful information and sites. ACCEO Matters; The Association Magazine published 4 times a year.

   v.        Insurance.                                                     Public Liability and All Risks Insurance for Clubs.

vi.        Extended & National Parks Rallies             Clearing house for these types of rallies.

vii.        Personal Membership.                                 A range of benefits is available.

viii.        ACCEO Companions.                                  A sub-group of ACCEO for Personal Members.

ix.        N.E.C. Boat, Caravan & Leisure Show.     Free use of the ACCEO Hospitality Lounge.

   x.        General Assistance to Clubs.                       Advice to Clubs.

xi.        Advice and Assistance to Club Committees.         Help with Constitutional Matters & allied subjects.

xii.        Information Sheets.                                               A series of information sheets on various topics.

 

i.                    Membership.

Membership of the Association of Caravan and Camping Exempted Organisations is open to all Caravan and Camping clubs in the U.K. who currently hold an Exemption Certificate issued by DEFRA, the Scottish Executive, the National Assembly for Wales or the Northern Ireland Office. There are, currently, just over 200 clubs with a combined membership of over 36,000 family units holding membership to ‘ACCEO’

ACCEO is primarily an Association of Clubs, but in addition it is also possible to become a ‘Personal Member’ of ACCEO. Personal Members are required to be members of a Member Club or Sub-group in order to qualify.

Membership Rates; Club Membership is determined by a banding scheme based on the membership numbers of the member club. Small clubs of 25 or less members currently pay an annual subscription of £18 (2006) and the largest clubs of over 1000 members pay an annual subscription of £108 (2006), with several bands between.                                Personal Membership (see vii below) is open to all members of Member Clubs, the annual subscription currently being £5 (2006) covering the family unit resident at the same address.

There is a Membership Officer whose telephone number appears in ACCEO Matters and on Association headed notepaper and should be contacted regarding all matters relating to Membership.

i.e.            Organisations interested in joining the Association.

                 Changes of address.

                 Payment of subscriptions; (Club & Personal Membership)

                  Membership renewals.

       Club principal contact name & address.

ii.                  Discounts.

A discount list is available to Personal Members, which covers a wide range of discount opportunities on products and services of interest to members.

This list is being constantly updated and developed, and is an important item in the ACCEO Portfolio of services offered.

There are currently a number of excellent ferry offers between the U.K. and the continent, discounts from British Gas, competitive caravan insurance rates, reductions on site fees and many other related discounts.

iii.                Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. (DEFRA)

All aspects of caravanning in the U.K. are controlled by DEFRA in England and similar departments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  An Act of Parliament was passed in 1960, “The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act”, which is still in force and is the document used by all caravanning organisations and the aforementioned Government departments.

Appropriate Government departments issue Exemption Certificates for Paragraphs 4 and 6 Exemption (Paragraph 5 is not used by Member Clubs) and it is therefore necessary for ACCEO to maintain a close relationship with the those departments on all matters concerning the current legislation.

Individual clubs are not usually able to meet with the Government departments, but ACCEO and similar organisations are able to meet with the department and discuss matters of mutual interest.

This particular aspect of ACCEO’s work is vital to its Member Organisations, so ensuring that they are able to continue their leisure activity, problem free.

iv.                Publications.

The main publications are the Handbook (Latest publication 2000) and ‘ACCEO Matters’.

Handbook; The latest Handbook, published in 2000 is both a handbook and sites directory. This has a life of 2 years and will be re-issued as a Handbook in late 2001 or early 2002. The Executive Committee has decided not to include a sites directory in future, as it believes there are already a number of excellent publications available. The Handbook contains useful information on a wide range of Caravan and Camping subjects and it is anticipated that it will be further extended in the next issue.

ACCEO Matters; This colour magazine is published by the Publications Officer, usually 3 or 4 times a year. It is the principal method of communication between the Executive Committee and Clubs & Personal Members.  It contains articles of caravanning & camping interest, reports, information, help and advice, in fact any subject of general interest to caravanners and campers. It also contains advertisements of allied and related services.

v.                  Insurance.

The Association has a dedicated officer who deals with insurances relevant to the needs of Member Organisations.

Public Liability Insurance: The Association has negotiated a group policy with a leading insurer which covers the legal liability of all Member Organisations, their members, committee and rally officials in respect of actions for alleged negligence resulting in injury to third party persons or damage to third party property during the period of rallies organised and managed by the Member Organisations. Cover also extends to indemnify members in respect of claims by other members.

The current limit of indemnity is £3,000,000 for any one occurrence and there are facilities to increase this level in circumstances where higher indemnities are requested, for which an additional premium is charged.

The renewal date for this insurance is 1^st August and all Member organisations are eligible to participate.

All Risks Insurance: This insurance has been designed to cover the equipment owned by clubs. It has three categories of equipment:-

1.       Equipment such as sound systems, meeting tents etc.

2.       Cash in transit ~ maximum sum insured £500

3.       Trailers Currently around 30% of the Member Clubs participate in this policy, which attracts a very competitive premium.

The territorial limits of the policy are U.K., R.o.I and Continent of Europe with limited cover outside of those areas.

The Renewal for this policy is 1^st March.

Caravan and Motorhome Insurance:               The Association does not operate specific schemes for these classes of business, but assistance and advice is available on request.

Whilst the Association cannot recommend a particular policy or insurer, we can suggest possible sources of cover or courses of action to resolve specific problems.

 

vi.                Extended & National Parks Rallies.

ACCEO has an Officer dedicated to these two important types of Rallies.

Extended Rallies;                 All Member Clubs of ACCEO have a Para’ 6 Certificate to allow them to rally up to 5 days (120 hours) duration without the need to apply to the Local Planning Authority (LPA) for permission. A growing number of clubs now hold Para’ 4 Certificates allowing them to rally up to a maximum of 28 days duration (e.g. Holiday Rallies). For those clubs who do not hold Para 4 Exemption, ACCEO can arrange for them to hold a rally under the ACCEO Certificate and it effectively becomes an ACCEO Extended Rally. A small charge is made for this service to cover the costs involved, but it is much cheaper than applying to the LPA for Temporary Planning Permission which currently costs £191 (2001) with no refund for a failed application.

Rallies in National Parks;                It is not possible for any organisation to rally in any National Park without permission from the National Park concerned.  The Parks will not accept applications from individual clubs, only from a few approved “Clearing Houses” of which ACCEO is one. This allows ACCEO Member Clubs to rally in National Parks (subject to approval), which would not be possible otherwise.

 vii.              Personal Membership.

Personal Membership is open to all members of Member Organisations and Sub-groups of ACCEO.

The fee is currently £5 per annum (2006) for the family unit resident at the same address and gives the following benefits:-

A Membership Card.

Free copy of each ‘ACCEO Matters’ delivered to the membership address.

Discount list of products & services.

Financial support to the work of ACCEO. (All ACCEO Officers volunteer their services on a purely unpaid basis.)

Free use of the ACCEO Hospitality Lounge at the N.E.C. Caravan Show each year.          (See ix below)

It should be noted that an additional benefit to clubs is that if they achieve 100% Personal Membership of ACCEO (all of their members become Personal Members) the club subscription is waived. There are currently 10% (2006) of ACCEO clubs who pay no annual membership fee due to this benefit.

viii.            ACCEO Companions.

ACCEO offers a category of Personal Membership to provide benefits which include access to a range of specially designed and cost effective Insurance schemes, substantial concessions on camping related goods and services and, by use of ACCEO’s own exemption certificates, the means by which clubs may organise ‘Invitation Rallies’.

In order to take advantage of the latter benefit all those attending an ‘Invitation Rally’ must be Personal Members of ACCEO, as must those who organise the rally.

The success of the Personal Membership Scheme since its introduction following the 1996 Annual General Meeting has resulted in a significant number of members who, for a variety of reasons, have no affiliation to a member club. These include:

ð      Members of clubs which have disbanded, but who wish to retain Personal Membership of ACCEO in order to continue to enjoy concessions and to maintain contact with the caravanning scene.

ð      Members who, having changed their caravan or motor home, are no longer eligible for membership of a single make owner’s club but who, nevertheless, wish to retain Personal Membership of ACCEO.

ð      Individuals who have temporarily or permanently ceased caravanning but who wish to continue to support ACCEO.

ð      Land owners', who may or may not be caravan owners, who support ACCEO by Personal Membership, Advertising, and offer the use of their land for rallies by ACCEO member clubs.

In order to regularise the standing of these members, at the AGM in October 2000 a new subgroup of ACCEO, the ACCEO Companions, was formed to enable the continuity of their Personal Memberships.

Membership of ACCEO Companions is open to individual caravanners, motor caravanners and campers whether members of a club or not.

Active club members are encouraged to apply for Personal Membership of ACCEO through their club but this is purely a personal choice.

As was previously reported, a questionnaire sent to Personal Members who had not declared membership of a Member Club and had, therefor, been enrolled as ACCEO Companions resulted in only limited response but indicated that:

Ø       It could be assumed that a significant percentage of the new Companions were, in fact, members of ACCEO member organisations.

Ø       ACCEO Companions membership was widely spread throughout the UK with relatively small but significant groupings in the southeast, midlands and north east of England.

Ø       A fair percentage of respondents indicated interest in attending an occasional rally, but hardly any offered help in organisation of a rally.

In view of the widespread geographic location of Companions membership, it would probably be unlikely that a single rally for ACCEO Companions would receive popular support. However, with sufficient advertising, a rally organised by Companions could well be favoured by Personal Members as a whole.

 

ix.                N.E.C. Caravan Show

Each year ACCEO arranges a Private Hospitality Lounge at the National Boat, Caravan and Leisure Show held at the N.E.C. Birmingham each February.

This enables members to meet Officers of the Executive Committee, have a sit down with a free cup of coffee or tea and relax. There is a full range of discounts, offers and ACCEO merchandise for sale in a convivial atmosphere. It is also an opportunity to meet members of other clubs and exchange views and experiences etc.

Many members have said that the use of the ACCEO lounge at the show alone is well worth their annual subscription!

x.                  General Assistance to Clubs

Many clubs, whether they are about to join or are long established members, from time to time run into difficulties and need outside help, advice or assistance.

The ACCEO Executive Committee are all long established caravanners and combine to provide a wealth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of our leisure activity and can often help, but if not they have the ability to contact other organisations who can.

A typical example is the terrible foot & mouth epidemic that started in February 2001, many clubs were unsure as to what actions to take. In this regard ACCEO was able, in line with government departments (DETR, MAFF etc) to give clubs advice on what to do.

ACCEO was created partly to help and assist its Member Clubs, and this is an important aspect of ACCEO’s work. No problem is too big or too small so clubs with a problem talk to ACCEO!

xi.                Advice & Assistance to Club Committees

Further to the previous section, ACCEO has found that it is often asked about matters concerning individual club’s constitutional problems, disciplinary matters, breakaway groups and similar sensitive issues.

The ACCEO Executive Committee is able to give club committees assistance in these somewhat difficult areas.

It is also possible for ACCEO to give advice on Constitutions and Rules & Regulations as well as their interpretation. e.g. It may be a club has some procedural difficulties, with a Notice of Motion, problems with committee nominations, members rallying illegally or other issues which may be awkward for a committee to resolve because of friendships, personalities etc, where an independent view might be helpful.

xii.              Information Sheets.

There is a series of ACCEO information sheets available to Members concerning a wide range of caravan and camping topics, which give guidance and advice. A list of these is given below and they are all available from Head Office. 

Sheet Number.     Title.