Small groups, classes and standing bookings: running a timetable that stays fair

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check with your insurer and professional body for your own situation.

Small group or class timetable?

These are two different ways of working, and it helps to choose deliberately.

• A small group is two to four people booked into the same session, usually on a regular day. Everyone is known to you, you can adjust the work for each person, and you keep one diary.
• A timetable of classes has a fixed schedule, a larger number of places, and people who may come and go. It needs more structure: a register, a way to hold places, and a way to deal with a full class.

There is no official figure in the sources we could read for how many people one instructor may safely coach at once. That depends on the activity, the space and your qualification, so ask your insurer for the number they cover and write it into your procedure.

Standing weekly bookings

A standing booking is a regular slot, such as Tuesday at 7am, that a client keeps week after week. It saves both of you from rebooking, but only if the terms are written down. Settle these points before the first week:

• how many weeks are booked ahead, and when more are added;
• how much notice either side gives to change or end the slot;
• what happens on bank holidays, your own holidays and the client's holidays;
• when and how payment is taken, and whether a missed week is charged.

Holidays and days off

Decide your days off for the year early, and tell standing clients well before they fall. Say plainly whether a skipped week is rescheduled, credited or lost. The rule matters less than the fact that it is written down and the same for everyone. Keep a short note in each client's record when you agree an exception.

Late cancellations and no-shows

Pick one rule and keep it simple. A common shape is a notice period, such as 24 hours, after which the session is charged or deducted from a pack. Two cautions apply:

• Under section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an unfair term in a consumer contract is not binding on the client. A term is unfair if, against good faith, it causes a significant imbalance to the client's detriment. Keep charges proportionate and explain them before the client books.
• A practical point, not a rule: in a group, one person's absence may not free up the session, because the others still attend. Say so, so that a charge for a missed place does not come as a surprise.

Apply your rule consistently. If you make an exception, make it deliberately and note why. For wording that holds up, ask a qualified adviser.

How we help

A small-group session takes two, three or four people, as you choose when we set it up, and they book it online like any other session. For bigger groups on a timetable, class booking adds places, a waiting list, class passes and a register. Set up a regular slot, such as Tuesday at 7am, on the client's card, and it is booked eight weeks ahead and topped up as time goes on. Your days off are skipped, and the client is told. A late cancellation or a no-show from a one-to-one or small-group session follows the cancellation terms you chose. Class places have their own cancel-by time, 12 hours unless you choose another. See our page for personal trainers.

Do this next

1. Decide your group size and check the number your insurer covers.
2. Write one page of standing booking terms: weeks ahead, notice, holidays and payment.
3. Choose a late cancellation rule, state it before booking, and apply it the same way each time.
4. Put your own days off in the diary for the next term and tell standing clients.

Sources

• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 62 (unfair terms) (read 22 Oct 2026)

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

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