Guide

Personal training admin: health screening, session packs and standing bookings

Screen clients properly, keep their health information private, and write terms that are fair and honest about risk.

4 min read · Last checked 22 October 2026 · Sources at the end

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Your insurer or professional body can tell you what applies.

Why screening comes first

Screening before the first session tells you whether a client should see a doctor first, and gives you a record that you asked. Many trainers use a recognised screening questionnaire, such as the PAR-Q+, and refer a client to a doctor where the answers call for it. Ask your professional body and your insurer what screening they expect.

About the PAR-Q+

The PAR-Q+ is a copyrighted form. The PAR-Q+ Collaboration's website carries the notice "Copyright PAR-Q+ Collaboration 2007-2026. All rights reserved", calls the PAR-Q+ and ePARmed-X+ "copyrighted documents", and warns that copies posted elsewhere may be outdated or modified. The Collaboration's pages do not set out terms for reusing the questions, so do not copy them into your own form or app. You have three sensible options: send clients to the official versions on the Collaboration's own site, ask the Collaboration, through its contact page, about using the questions, or write your own screening questions.

Keep health information private, and ask separately

Health details are "special category" data under official UK data protection guidance, which needs extra protection and a specific condition for using it. The guidance puts particular weight on explicit consent. Valid consent should be a clear opt-in, not a pre-ticked box, kept as a record, easy to withdraw, and not bundled into your general terms. In practice:

Put health consent on its own tick box or signature, separate from your booking terms.
Store screening answers where only you can see them, not in a shared notes file.
Keep a record of what the client agreed to and when.

Only ask what you need to train them safely. A practical suggestion: do not prompt for drug use, and keep questions to health, injuries and anything affecting safe exercise.

Acknowledgement of risk, not a "waiver"

Many trainers use a form called a waiver, which suggests clients give up their rights. The law does not allow that for the most serious outcomes. The Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 65(1), says a trader "cannot by a term of a consumer contract or by a consumer notice exclude or restrict liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence". Section 65(2) adds that a person is not taken to have voluntarily accepted a risk merely because they agreed to or knew about the term. The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, section 2(1), says similarly that a person cannot by a contract term or notice exclude or restrict liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence.

So write an acknowledgement instead: the client confirms they answered screening honestly, understand exercise carries some risk, will tell you about changes in their health, and may stop at any time. Do not use it to try to escape responsibility for your own carelessness.

Session packs, with fair rules

Under section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an unfair term in a consumer contract is not binding on the client, and a term is unfair if, against good faith, it causes a significant imbalance to the client's detriment. So write pack rules plainly and keep them balanced:

State the price, number of sessions and expiry date before payment.
Explain what happens if you cancel, if the client is ill, or if they need to pause.
Explain how late cancellations are handled, and apply it consistently.

Standing weekly bookings

Set out when it renews, how much notice either side must give to end or change it, what happens on bank holidays and holidays, and when payment is taken.

Under-18 clients

One practical approach is to have a parent or guardian as the account holder, who agrees the terms and consent and handles payment, with the young person named as the participant. This is a suggestion, not a rule. Check with your insurer and governing body before taking on under-18 clients, as their requirements vary.

Never promise outcomes

Describe what you offer: sessions, programming and support. Do not promise results or timescales.

Do this next

Decide your screening route this week: official PAR-Q+ from its own site, a licensed form, or your own questions.
Split your paperwork into booking terms, an acknowledgement of risk, and a separate health information consent.
Replace any "waiver" wording that says you are not liable for injury.
Write your session pack and standing booking rules in plain English, with expiry and notice periods.
Ask your insurer what they require for screening records and for under-18 clients.

Want screening, consent forms, packs and standing bookings built into one back office you own? See how it works for personal trainers: our page for personal trainers

Sources

Official UK data protection guidance on special category data and valid consent (read 22 Oct 2026)
PAR-Q+ Collaboration, home page (read 22 Oct 2026)
PAR-Q+ Collaboration, how to cite (read 22 Oct 2026)
Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 65 (read 22 Oct 2026)
Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 62 (read 22 Oct 2026)
Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, section 2 (read 22 Oct 2026)

Last checked 22 October 2026. General guidance, not legal or tax advice.

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