Coach's Guide to LTA Coach Accreditation All ages 2026

The LTA Coaching Qualifications Pathway runs from Level 1 to Level 5:

• Core training is delivered by Workforce Development Centres. Assessments are booked separately with the LTA and are done in real sessions at your own venue, with video submitted on LTA Learn.
• Readiness Tests let coaches without the required playing rating be assessed against a qualification's entry criteria.
• Coaches with overseas or non-LTA qualifications can have them checked against an ITF comparison to access Accreditation.

How to join:

1. Achieve an eligible qualification (LTA, or a non-LTA qualification recognised against the ITF comparison).
2. Complete the criminal record check, first aid and safeguarding training.
3. Complete the process in your Coach Hub.

You can't join without a recognised coaching qualification. Accreditation is renewed every year, and it's the coach's responsibility to buy and maintain it.

Which check:

• England and Wales: an LTA DBS check (Enhanced, with barred list for regulated activity)
• Scotland: a PVG check, requested through Tennis Scotland
• Coaches who've lived abroad may also need an overseas criminal record check.

Joining Accreditation: the check must be less than 12 months old (used within 12 months of issue).

Staying accredited: once you're accredited, the check stays valid for 3 years from its date of issue, provided you renew your Accreditation on time every year. Each year you complete a self-declaration, telling the LTA about any relevant change to your criminal record.

At renewal: if your check will be more than 3 years old when your Accreditation is due to expire, you need a new check, or, if you subscribe to the DBS Update Service, a Status Check (which also lasts 3 years if you renew on time each year). Let your Accreditation lapse past the grace period and the 3-year extension no longer applies.

The change (England and Wales only): from 1 September 2026, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 removed the "supervision" exemption from regulated activity. People who work frequently with children while supervised by someone else are now in regulated activity, and so are legally required to have an Enhanced DBS with a barred list check. Scotland isn't affected.

The barred list isn't a criminal record: it's a register of people legally barred from working with children, and someone can be barred without a conviction. The change closes a loophole that let barred people work with children under supervision.

What it means for venues: review any role involving children that hasn't needed a DBS before, such as assistant coaches, helpers and parent volunteers, to see whether one is now required.

Roles the LTA processes DBS checks for (all assessed as regulated activity, except "Supervisor", which depends on the level of supervision and frequency): coaching professional, officiating professional (referees, competition organisers), Tennis Activator, Tennis Leader, medical professional, Welfare Officer and Supervisor (for example, a parent supervising junior sessions or someone transporting children to competitions). Each has a volunteer version.

LTA DBS fees: volunteers £13 to £25 depending on ID method; non-volunteers £54 to £64.22 from 5 October 2026.

Safeguarding training is required for Accreditation and must be renewed every 3 years. It covers how to recognise, respond to, refer and record concerns about children and adults at risk in a tennis environment.

Which course you take depends on your last one:

In practice, if you keep it up to date, you alternate between tutor-led and online. Choose the online refresher for your role (coaches, welfare officers or officials).

Training from other providers may be accepted if it was basic-awareness safeguarding, led live by a qualified safeguarding tutor, roughly three hours long, completed within the last three years, and included the Prevent Duty. The UK Coaching "Safeguarding and Protecting Children" course and local authority safeguarding training are accepted if they included Prevent. If yours didn't, you can complete the Prevent course separately and submit both certificates.

You need a valid first aid certificate that is no more than 3 years old, from one of these courses:

• Online first aid courses are not accepted. Training must be delivered face-to-face by a recognised provider in Great Britain.
• The certificate must show the training provider, the qualification name, your name, a validity period of three years from completion, and a statement that teaching followed currently accepted first aid practice.
• Upload it through your Coach Hub. Courses booked through the LTA website update your record automatically.
• If it expires while you're accredited, renew it as soon as possible and before your next Accreditation renewal.

Accreditation includes an insurance package. The LTA lists:

• £60 million public liability
• £10 million professional indemnity
• personal accident cover
• employers' liability cover.

Other benefits the LTA lists include a profile on the LTA Find a Coach pages, free advertising on the LTA coaching jobs page, access to LTA product and programme resources (such as LTA Youth), business, tax and legal support, ClubSpark programme management (Level 2 and above), a wellbeing helpline, kit discounts and major-event ticket opportunities. Some benefits are only available, or are enhanced, at the Accredited+ tier.

Annual fees (2026): Accreditation £47, Accreditation+ £75.

Not at LTA sanctioned competitions. Under the Competition Code of Conduct in the LTA Competition Regulations 2026:

• Players must not receive coaching during a match, including the warm-up, except when play is suspended and the players have left the court.
• "Coaching" is interpreted widely: any communication, audible or visible, between a player and someone off court (a coach, relative or representative) may be treated as coaching.

It's your player who pays. Coaches are "Player Support Personnel", and a player is responsible for their support personnel's conduct. A breach by you can lead to a code violation against your player (warning, point penalty, game penalty, up to default) plus Code Violation Points.

Your own conduct at competitions: Player Support Personnel must behave professionally at the venue and must not make comments, including on social media or to the media, that attack, disparage or criticise players, organisers, officials or the LTA. Breaches can be dealt with under the LTA Disciplinary Code.

Accredited coaches are also bound by the LTA Code of Conduct for Accredited and Accredited+ Coaches and Assistants.

The LTA's Safeguarding Team takes reports through its online "Report a concern" form on the LTA website, or by email to safeguarding@lta.org.uk.

Recognising, responding to, referring and recording concerns about children and adults at risk is what LTA safeguarding training teaches, and keeping that training current (every 3 years) is a condition of Accreditation.