Set up in 1936 to send a team to the Berlin Olympics, the BCU is the lead body for canoeing and kayaking in the UK. Since then the organisation has grown considerably, and the range of canoeing opportunity has increased tremendously.

Today the BCU has an individual membership of over 25,000, 469 affiliated clubs and 145 approved centres. There are an estimated 2 million people take to the water in a canoe each year (paddlesport Review). The vast majority do so under a watchful eye of one of the 13,000 BCU Qualified coaches or as part of an affiliated organisation.

In 2000 the BCU federalised to become the umbrella organisation for the Home Nation Associations in Scotland (SCA), Wales (WCA) and Northern Ireland (CANI). In England, Canoe England was set up, on a par with the other National Associations, as a division of the BCU, to support the development of canoeing in England.
The BCU is responsible for leading and setting the overall framework for the National Associations; representing canoeing interests such as coaching and competition at UK and international level.