As the local Independent Sports and Fitness Trust for Perth and Kinross, we are committed to assisting in the delivery of quality sporting opportunities for everyone across the communities we serve. As part of this agenda, we have recently relaunched the Perth and Kinross Accredited Club Excellence Scheme (PACES), bringing it online and making it more accessible for clubs of all sizes and levels to access and use.

For those who know the scheme, you will be happy to hear that the basic premise is the same. PACES still has three levels of accreditation but these have changed to Bronze, Silver and Gold, each with their own criteria and associated benefits.

Phil Coleman, our Sports Manager for Live Active Leisure explained a little more:

“Having strong, sustainable sports clubs in Perth and Kinross is key to providing quality opportunities for children and adults to enjoy sport at whichever level they choose to.   The rationale behind PACES remains to provide a straight forward quality assurance system to help sports clubs operate efficiently and effectively, offering guidance on policies and procedures; and providing support for development”

The relaunch of the scheme will provide existing PACES members with an easier route to gaining reaccreditation, as well as offering new members the opportunity to benefit from the support and advice of the LAL Sports Development team as they work towards accreditation.

In a drive to ensure these standards are met, any club wishing to access our venues will be required to have achieved bronze accreditation by August 13th this year.  This minimum standard requirement will also be rolled out to clubs working with Active Schools and clubs associated with local Community Sports Hubs.

Phil explains, “The criteria for bronze level PACES accreditation provides clubs with clear guidelines on the minimum standards a club should have in place to ensure it is well organised, caters for its members and has a strong base from which it can grow and develop.

Many of the excellent clubs across Perth and Kinross will already be achieving these standards and we look forward to accrediting them very soon. We will work with all clubs to help them achieve the level of PACES that is relevant to them.  By working together, we are confident we can further develop the already fantastic club offering that exist across Perth and Kinross.

Our approach has been applauded by sportscotland CEO, Stewart Harris who commented,

"At sportscotland we work with local and national partners to ensure that sport clubs are an integral part of their local community, providing high quality opportunities for all those who wish to take part. The commitment from Live Active Leisure to support all clubs that engage with schools, community sport hubs and local facilities to achieve the minimum criteria set out in their PACES scheme can only help to raise standards locally, and contribute to developing our world class sporting system for everyone in Scotland.”

GET YOUR CLUB INVOLVED

PACES has three levels of accreditation; Bronze, Silver and Gold - make sure to click over to the website to find out about the additional benefits and why your club should get involved - www.paces.org.uk.

By Monday 13^th August 2018 all clubs in Perth and Kinross clubs will be required to be accredited through PACES in order to access LAL facilities and to work with the Active Schools team to develop ‘school to club’ links.

This applies to both existing PACES clubs, who will be asked to go through accreditation again with this new system in place, and new members.  The team here at Live Active Leisure will provide full support to all clubs in order to ensure the bronze standard is achieved.

All queries relating to PACES should be directed to Logan McConachie, Live Active Leisure’s Sports Development Officer on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by telephone on 01738 472243.