Group Trips

The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations were introduced in 2018. The Regulations give protection to holidaymakers and ensure that you get what you pay for when you book a package holiday. 

What do the regulations mean for LSE? 

Most if not all of our group travel will fall under the Regulations as we organise regular trips for our students. We book flights, accommodation and transport and in some cases ask students to contribute financially.   

Even if we use a tour operator such as World Strides, the School still has a responsibility in law to our travellers.  

If travel is organised ‘in house’ you need to be aware that the School will have to accept responsibility for services provided by others, such as accommodation and transport. It also creates a liability for events outside the School's control. This could be illness, injury or even death caused by one of the suppliers or their employees.  This could lead to civil proceedings for compensation. You will also need to make sure that any money paid by travellers is protected, failure to do so is a criminal offence. 

If you are using a Tour Operator as a minimum you will need to check the following: 

• The tour operator is an ABTA member, this will ensure that payments are protected in case the tour operator goes bust. 

• If the tour Operator is accepting liability as an ‘organiser’ or what parts of the trip they will accept liability for. 

• If there is air travel you should receive an ATOL Certificate clearly stating which elements of the trip are protected. 

• You will also need to let the Health and Safety Team know about the trip. 

If you are booking flights, accommodation or other transport separately you will need to: 

• Contact the health and safety team as early as possible to discuss the trip and what arrangements you need to have in place. 

• Consider booking flights and accommodation via the School’s contracted Travel Management Company, Diversity who are ATOL protected. 

• Check that the School’s Public Liability insurance will cover the trip – the Health and Safety Team can help with this. 

Group trips that take place in the UK will usually only need one risk assessment to cover activities, accmodation and transport arrangements etc. 

As a minimum and as part of the risk assessment supervisors should consider:

• How they will communicate with participants during the trip. 
• The effectiveness of contingency plans should something go wrong. 
• The implications to business continuity if there is an emergency or incident involving the group or supervisor. 
• The level of assistance that can or will be given by partner organisations or hosts. 
• Codes of conduct for the participants  and what arrangements will be in place to deal with unacceptable behaviour. 
• What checks will be made to ensure the safety of transport, accomodation or activities. 
• What emergency information is needed from the participants, who will hold this information? 
• If any of the participants have medical needs/issues they need to be considered. 
• Considerations for supervising 'down time'. 

Further guidance can be found in the USHA Guidance. 

All participants should complete the Notification to Travel Form. Participants should be instructed to state the trip or programme name in the ‘Please outline your planned activities with dates’ section of the form. This will make it easier for the Health and Safety Team to identify staff and students who are travelling with a group. 

Risk assessments are essential for all travel to High or Extreme risk destinations, and may be required for those rated as Moderate by the insurers. The Health and Safety Team will advise on a case by case basis.

Risk assessments are essential for all travel to High or Extreme risk destinations, and may be required for those rated as Moderate by the insurers. The Health and Safety Team will advise on a case by case basis.

A group risk assessment is acceptable where a group of students is travelling with the direct supervision of staff or where staff are travelling as a group.

As a minimum and as part of the risk assessment supervisors should consider: 

• How they will communicate with participants during the trip. 
• The effectiveness of contingency plans should something go wrong. 
• The implications to business continuity if there is an emergency or incident involving the group or supervisor. 
• The implications to business continuity if there is a significant delay in travellers returning to the UK. 
• The level of assistance that can or will be given by partner organisations or hosts. 
• Codes of conduct for the participants and what arrangements will be in place to deal with unacceptabe behaviour. 
• What checks will be made to ensure the safety of transport, accomodation or activities. 
• What emergency information is needed from the participants, who will hold this information? 
• If any of the participants have medical needs/issues or disabilities that need to be considered. 
• Considerations for supervising 'down time'. 
• Having a reasonable curfew. 
• Pre booking transportation from the airport to the accomodation. 
• A daily check in with the travelling group and with the department at LSE. 
• The group having emergency contacts on paper in case the phone systems go down/are switched off. 

Further guidance can be found in the USHA Guidance. 

Risk assessments are required from all students taking part in an unsupervised group trip.  

As a minimum, supervisors should ensure the following have been considered and addressed in their students risk assessments:

• How the Supervisor/Department will communicate with participants during the trip
• How participants will communicate with each other during the trip
• The effectiveness of contingency plans should something go wrong
• The implications to business continuity if there is an emergency or incident involving the group
• The implications to business continuity if there is a significant delay in travellers returning to the UK
• The level of assistance that can or will be given by partner organisations or hosts
• Codes of conduct for the participants – to include down time- and what arrangements will be in place to deal with unacceptable behaviour
• What checks will be made to ensure the safety of transport, accommodation or activities
• What emergency information is needed from the participants, who will hold this information?
• If any of the participants have medical needs/issues or disabilities that need to be considered
• Transportation from the airport to the accommodation
• A daily check in with the travelling group and with the department at LSE
• The group having emergency contacts on paper in case the phone systems go down/are switched off