sports coach UK was established in Leeds (as the National Coaching Foundation) in 1983 as a sub-committee of the then (GB) Sports Council. It enjoyed the support of all other major sports bodies in British sport and was formed to establish a comprehensive coach education programme throughout the United Kingdom. Its brief was to provide non sports specific information at a number of levels to cater for all coaches from the beginner to the top level national coach. All staff were employees of the Council and its management committee reported to the Council.
In 1989 the (GB) Sports Council agreed to a proposal to establish the Foundation as a Charity governed by the Charities and Companies Acts.
This was in response to:
1 growing pressure from Government on the Council to reduce its overall staffing establishment;
2 the desire by the then Government to "roll back the frontiers of the state" through processes such as outsourcing, competitive tendering and privatisation;
3 a belief that the organisation had the potential to benefit from tax concessions granted to charities and that it would be able to generate a significant amount of earned income through trading activities.
On 1 April 1989 the Foundation became a Charity. As a result it was not permitted to undertake trading activity but was allowed to establish a wholly owned trading subsidiary and Coachwise Ltd was duly created for this purpose. All profits from Coachwise activities are not distributed but covenanted back to the charity for the charity to use in pursuit of its charitable purposes.
In 1995 the NCF reorganised its management structure as follows:
The Foundation - comprising the statutory members of the charitable company. All collective organisations with a strong interest in the work of the NCF are eligible to become members.
The Board of Directors - statutory directors and trustees of the charitable company, responsible for policy direction and governance.
The Corporate Management Team - comprising the Chief Executive, Assistant Chief Executive and the Executive Directors and responsible for policy decisions, implementation and day to day management.
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