It’s important for weightlifting coaches and officials to hold a Licence with British Weight Lifting. This demonstrates to athletes, parents and other partners that you meet the minimum expected standards to coach or officiate in the UK. A licence costs £40 and is valid for 2 years. You can apply for your licence from your Membership profile – it takes just a few minutes.

What you need

To be eligible to apply for a Coach or Technical Official Licence, please ensure you hold the following:

‘Club’ or ‘Unattached’ British Weight Lifting membership
Proof of your BWL recognised L2 Coach or Technical Officials qualification*
Proof of completing a basic Safeguarding qualification* (for example UK Coaching’s Safeguarding & Protection Children course (online classroom. Courses can be completed online but must be interactive, e-learning is not accepted)

*You don’t need a qualification to apply for a ‘Para Coach Licence’

*You don’t need a safeguarding qualification’ to apply for a ‘Technical Official Licence’

Once you’ve applied for a Licence, a member of staff will contact you about how to apply for an enhanced DBS check.

How to apply

You can apply for a Licence from your membership profile.

Once logged in, selected ‘View Profile’
If you don’t have a membership, you purchase this by selecting the ‘Membership’ tab and ‘Add Membership’ then follow the instructions.

Select the ‘Qualifications’ tab and ‘Add Qualification’

Upload a copy of your Safeguarding Certificate

Select the ‘Licences’ tab and ‘Add Licence’

Complete the form
Upload evidence of your coaching/officiating certificate and a recent passport-style image as a minimum.
Tick the box to agree to the Code of Conduct and then click the ‘Add’ button

Your licence will be added to your profile and appear as ‘Pending Approval’. Our team will review your application and you will be notified by email once it’s been approved.

DBS certificate

Coaches and Officials require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, this establishes if the person is considered suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults.

To apply for a British Weight Lifting enhanced DBS certificate, you must first apply for a Coach and/or Technical Official licence through your BWL account as detailed above.

Once you have applied for a Licence:

BWL will access your license application and if required, will set up an enhanced DBS application through online checking company, First Advantage.
You will be required to 1) complete the online application through First Advantage and 2) submit ID documents to BWL for verification - the DBS will not be processed until both steps have been completed. An enhanced DBS check costs £15.30 which is First Advantage's admin fee.
BWL accepts existing DBS checks provided they are 1) of an enhanced level and 2) are registered on the online update service. You will be required to submit a copy of your DBS certificate to authorise BWL to check your existing DBS on the update service.
For those living in Northern Ireland, DBS checks will be processed by Access NI and have an admin fee of £10.00.

Government guidelines for DBS checks are currently stating that they can take up to 90 days to be completed.

Enhanced DBS checks are valid for two years from date of issue or the date of an online service update check by British Weight Lifting.

All adults who wish to continue to work in a role which requires a DBS check must renew their application prior to its expiry after two years.

Receiving your licence

Approval of your licence can take up to two weeks from when the DBS check has been confirmed.

Once your licence has been approved you will receive a notification email that includes the details of your licence, as well as a link to download an e-licence to the wallet app on your Apple or Android smartphone.

If you have any questions, then get in touch. Click here to contact a member of our team to talk about your licence.