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Standards for Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Sports
The need for a recognised system of assessing an organisation's commitment to safeguarding has been recognised by all the Home Nations and each have embraced standards appropriate to the legislation and structure in each country. Although the structure of the standards assessment process may differ, the principles are consistent.
The standards provide a framework or audit tool for all those involved in sport to help them create a safe sporting environment for children and young people and protect them from harm. The standards also seek to provide a benchmark to help those involved in sport make informed decisions, promote good practice and challenge practice that is harmful to children.
Our Standards Mapping Tool (PDF, 96KB) lists the criteria required of each of the standards or frameworks in England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
The NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) is committed to advising and supporting sports organisations in this important work and we hope these standards and frameworks will provide them with the confidence to safeguard children in their care. On these pages you can view the standards in:
England
Northern Ireland
Wales
Scotland
England
Standards for safeguarding and protecting children in sport (PDF, 5.43MB)
The need for standards for sports organisations was originally identified in the 2000 National Action Plan for Child Protection in Sport. Initial work was carried out by Sport England Governing Body Services, including consultation with stakeholder groups. This work was then taken forward and built on by the Sport Task Force on Policy and Standards.
The Task Force is co-ordinated by the CPSU. The first version of the standards were approved by NSPCC, Sport England and the Sports Minister in September 2002, and published in February 2003. This second edition of the standards incorporates an additional tenth standard. Standard 10 reflects the changes within sport and the growing role some sports organisations have in influencing the delivery of local sports. Through this sport organisations have the opportunity to encourage and promote the adoption and implementation of measures to safeguard children by partner organisations.
Sport England has made working towards achieving the standards a condition of grant aid and they are mandatory for English governing bodies and County Sport Partnerships. The ten areas covered are:
policy
procedures and systems
prevention
codes of practice and behaviour
equity
communication
education and training
access to advice and support
implementation and monitoring
influencing.
The CPSU publicationStandards for safeguarding and protecting children in sport gives full details of the standards for England, including their purpose, principles, use, and other relevant information resources.
Northern Ireland
Getting it right: standards of practice for the protection of children and young people (PDF, 504KB)
Sport Northern Ireland (SNI) recognises its responsibility in protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse. Their commitment to ensuring safeguarding standards are incorporated into any assessment of a Sports Governing Body receiving funding is based on the recognition that all children and vulnerable adults have the right to protection from abuse regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religious belief, nationality, sexual orientation or disability. It is also recognised that the needs of children with disabilities and others who may be particularly vulnerable must be taken into account.
Sport Northern Ireland has made working towards achieving the standards a condition of grant aid and they are mandatory for NI based governing bodies.
The CPSU NI have worked as part of a steering group sponsored by the DHSSPS and coordinated by the Volunteer Development Agency to develop agreed standards for safeguarding in Northern Ireland for the voluntary sector. This document has been reviewed in 2009.
Getting it right: standards of practice for the protection of children and young people (PDF, 504KB) are the standards endorsed by the DHSSPS as the best practice for the voluntary sector. As an organisation working with children/young people you will want to provide the best care for them, support your staff and volunteers through appropriate procedures and guidelines and reassure parents that your organisation is child centred. Getting It Right is intended to help you to meet recognised and agreed minimum standards for child protection and will guide you towards improving your practice where necessary.
There are six standards within Getting It Right :
safe recruitment
effective management of staff and volunteers
reporting concerns
code of behaviour
sharing information
general safety and management of activities.
For further information please contact Paul Stephenson on 02890 355 756 or pstephenson@nspcc.org.uk
Wales
A framework for safeguarding and protecting children in and through sport in Wales (PDF, 5.43MB)
Fframwaith ar gyfer diogelu a gwarchod plant mewn a thrwy gyfrwng chwaraeon yng Nghymru (Welsh language version) (PDF, 3.3MB)
This framework has been developed in order to help safeguard and protect children and young people in sport. The framework is based on current good practice and is informed by legislaion and guidance, evidence from research and experience of what works, drawing from the field of safegaurding and sport.
When implemented fully the framework should provide parents with increased confidence and peace of mind. Most important of all, they should help create safer environments for children, where they can enjoy and get the very best from their involvement in sport in Wales.
Purpose of the Framework:
to help create a safe sporting environment for children and young people and protect them from harm
to provide a benchmark to assist those involved in sport to make informed decisions
to promote good practice and challenge practice that is harmful to children
to provide clarity for all those involved in sport about how to recognise and respond to concerns.
Principles:
children and young people have a right to enjoy sport, free from all forms of abuse and exploitation
everybody has a responsibility to support the care and protection of children and young people
sporting organisations have a duty of care to children and young people who take part in sport.
Use and application of the standards
This is an overarching framework, which is intended to be relevant to all sports at all levels. They apply to sporting activity that takes place in an organised setting.
Umbrella, funding and controlling bodies may choose to use them for a variety of purposes, for example, to raise standards, to assist in decision making or for enforcement purposes. Currently the attainment of the standards outlined in the Framework are not a mandatory requirement for funding for the sport's national governing bodies in Wales.
The safeguarding framework
The framework consists of five areas of action that a sports organisation should be able to demonstrate it undertakes at all levels of its sport. Each of these actions will be promoted and supported through effective communication with all those benefiting from the safeguarding activities of the sports organisation:
policy
procedures
practices
education and training
implementing and monitoring.
For further information please contact the Child Protection in Sport Unit Wales. Telephone 029 20 267000 or email cpsuwales@nspcc.org.uk
Scotland
2006 Accord for the Protection of Children in Scottish Sport (PDF)
Since the launch of Children and Young People - Safe and Secure in Sport (National Action Plan, 2002) many sports organisations have taken action to fulfil their responsibility to keep children safe in and through sport. Whilst much has been achieved, changes in legislation and national guidance, and the outcomes of the Scottish Executive's Child Protection Reform Programme have introduced new challenges for all organisations which provide services to children and their families, including sport.
The 2006 Accord for the Protection of Children in Scottish Sport (PDF) presents a support framework to help organisations work towards recommended good practice in protecting children and to fulfil responsibilities introduced as part of the Reform Programme.
The Child Protection in Sport Steering Group encourage all organisations to sign up to the 2006 Accord. Those who wish to sign up should in the first instance contact the Child Protection in Sport Service. It is now a requirement of sport scotland investment that all lottery funded Scottish Governing Bodies sign up to the 2006 Accord.
Within 12 months of signing up, organisations are encouraged to develop, formally adopt and publish an action plan which sets out how they intend to achieve each of the outcomes, with clear and realistic timescales for completion. For some organisations, these may already be reflected within, or can be added to existing strategic plans for example, local authorities’ Children’s Services Plans or Child Protection Committee Business Plans.
To help organisations get started, CHILDREN 1ST and sportscotland have produced a list of suggested tasks to help deliver on each of the areas contained in the 2006 Accord:
people
policies
procedures and practices
participation
partnerships.
Currently the attainment of the standards outlined in the Accord are not a mandatory requirement for funding for the sport's national governing bodies in Scoland, though there is a legal requirement to ensure those working with children in Scotland are appropriately recruited using the Disclosure Scotland service.
For further information please contact Child Protection in Sport Service. Visit www.childprotectioninsport.org.uk
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/cpsu/HelpAndAdvice/Organisations/Standards/
Standards_wda60694.html
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