Safe Sports Events Management Tool

• Do your safeguarding documents meet the event requirements?
• Does your event safeguarding plan comply with relevant government requirements?
• Have all staff and volunteers read and understood the plan?
  
  

The safeguarding plans should aim to:

• minimise the risk to athletes and team staff
• encourage the enjoyment of all involved
• enable children and young people to participate to the best of their ability

Further links and support

Working together to safeguard children - HM Government

See page 10 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Have you identified the partners that you will be working with?
• Have you agreed which policies and procedures you will follow for your event?
• Have communication plans been agreed before the event?

The Partnership Check and Challenge Tool will help you plan and ensure that you identify and address all key safeguarding elements when you are working together with other organisations to provide sport activities.

• Have you identified a person who will take lead responsibility?
• Has this person undertaken recent basic safeguarding awareness training?
• Will participants and staff know who this is and how to contact them? How will you make this information available?

Further links and support

Choose the right training

See page 24 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Does the policy comply with current government guidance and is in line with Local Safeguarding Children’s Board?
• Does the policy link to the requirements of the national governing body, school or local authority?
• Is it clear who the policy applies to?
• Does your policy link to wider procedures, for example whistleblowing?
• Do your procedures ensure you have a clear, speedy and effective response to dealing with concerns?

Further links and support

Putting safeguards in place

Deal with a concern

Contact your national governing body

See page 11 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Have you outlined expected good practice at the event?
• Is the code of conduct written clearly and appropriately for its audience?
• Have all partners signed up to a common code of conduct?
• Have you developed principles for participation for children and young people?
• Have you developed principles for participation for adults at the event?
• Have you identified ways to challenge unacceptable behaviour, for example bullying, racism, sexism?
• Have you been clear about appropriate relationships between adults and young people?
• Do you have specific guidance for personal and intimate care arrangements for very young or disabled young people?
• Is it clear to all parties how breaches of the code of conduct will be managed?

Further links and support

Sample codes of conduct for parents, children and staff

Anti-bullying in sport guidance

Homophobic and transphobic bullying in youth sport briefing

Parents in sport guidance

See pages 13 - 15 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Does someone have responsibility for ensuring all risk assessments have been undertaken for your event?
• Have you risk assessed the venue(s), facilities and equipment?
• Will you be providing changing room supervision?
• Have you risk assessed transport to and from the event?
• Have you completed a risk assessment for one to one contact?
• Have you completed a health and safety risk assessment?
• Have you considered the risks around communication and how this is done well at your event to ensure information is shared?
• Has a manual handling risk assessment been completed?
• Have you completed a risk assessment for photography?
• Refer to your national governing body if you need support conducting a risk assessment.
  
  

Is your event virtual?

• The virtual events and competitions guidance for activity deliverers will help you understand your safeguarding responsibilities when running virtual events for children.

Further links and support

Photography in sport guidance 

See page 16 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Have all supervising adults been vetted for suitability?
• Have you considered ratios at non-competition time?
• Have you considered ratios when travelling to and from the event?
• Do you know the age of your participants?
• Do you know the abilities within the group of young people at your event?
• Is specialist equipment needed or are there any specialist medical needs?

Further links and support

See pages 16 - 17 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Do you have a flowchart outlining procedures to follow in the event of a young person going missing?
• Have you identified key points in your event where there is a greater risk of young people going missing?

Further links and support

See page 17 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

Registration

• Is there a system in place to track the number and name of any child for whom you are responsible at any point during your event?
• If you are running a drop-in event have you made your expectations clear from the outset, for example registering name and emergency contact details or being accompanied by a parent or adult?
• Is your registration process documented in your safeguarding plan?
• Have you clarified when the responsibility for the participant transfers from the parent to the event organiser and back again at the end of the event?
• Do you ask for details and photos of the participants at least 4 weeks prior to the event?
  
  

Consents

• Have you received written consents prior to the event?
• Do the consents cover all aspects of the event?
• Where consent is not possible have you recorded the steps taken to gain consent?
• Have you introduced alternative safeguards where you don’t have consent?
• Has participation in both sport and non-sport activities been included on the same consent form?
• Have you included photography and the use of personal images on the same consent form?
• Have you included the code of conduct in your consent forms?

Further links and support

Photography and sport

See pages 17 - 18 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Have you asked all parents and carers to provide information about any disability, medical condition or allergy their child may have?
• If a young person requires medication during the event have you agreed how this will be stored and administered?
• Have you considered the potential impact on travel or overnight accommodation if the child or young person has a disability?
• Is medical information available to staff who have responsibility for the young person before, during and after the event?
• Have you asked parents to tell a named person about any non-medical and non-sport related issues that may affect the child whilst at your event e.g. family bereavement?

Further links and support

Heatwave advice for event organisers

See page 19 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Have you provided all event staff with identification that includes their photograph (where practical)?
• Have you considered how you will ensure only suitable trained and vetted personnel will have access to zone areas where participants are unsupervised?
• Will specific staff groups or teams wear colour coded shirts or kit to aid identification?

Further links and support

Choose the right training

See page 20 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Have you written clear job descriptions and person specifications?
• Are you conducting interviews or face to face meetings?
• Have you considered employment history?
• Have you checked for appropriate technical qualifications?
• Have you undertaken criminal record checks where eligible? (Pg 102-103)
• Have you checked both professional and personal references?
• Do you have the same procedures for paid and unpaid staff?
• If you are using existing staff and volunteers, have you considered how you gain assurances from employers that they have followed robust recruitment processes?

Further links and support

Safer recruitment resources

See pages 12 - 13 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Are children and parents or carers made aware of their responsibilities? How is this done?
• Do you have a process where young people and parent or carers agree to the code of conduct?
• Is it clear who to contact if a young person, parent or carer has a concern? Are the contact details readily available? (pg54)
• Do young people know that parents or carers will be contacted if they become involved in an accident, breach of the code of conduct or are involved in any illegal activity?
• Do you have written consent from the parent or carer for the young person to participate in your event? (In some rare occasions this may not be possible, for example for events targeting socially excluded or hard to reach children)
• Have the parents provided details on emergency contacts, information on medical conditions or additional needs and consents?
• Have you communicated travel, drop off and collection arrangements to parents or carers?
• Have parents been made aware of the code of conduct for your event and been encouraged to talk to their children about the participant’s code of conduct?
• Is it clear to parents what needs to be provided for the participant to take part in the event?

Further links and support

Sample codes of conduct for parents, children and staff

See pages 21 - 22 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Do you have an event safeguarding plan?
• Has the event organiser undertaken basic safeguarding training?
• Has the person with lead safeguarding responsibility had basic safeguarding training? (This may be the same person as above)
• Have other members of staff and volunteers had an event briefing?
• Do all staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities and what to do in the event of a concern arising? (Pg 50)

Further links and support

Choose the right training

Sample codes of conduct for parents, children and staff

See pages 21 - 24 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Have you considered how safeguarding concerns can be raised at your event?
• Do you have the mechanisms in place to respond to concerns coming from a child?
• Do you have processes in place to respond to concerns that might arise during the recruitment process?
• Do all staff and volunteers know how to respond to a child if they disclose a concern? (pg 50)
• Do you have an incident reporting form to record any concerns?

Further links and support

See pages 52 - 54 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Do you have a whistleblowing policy?
• Does the policy make it clear that concerns will be taken seriously?
• Have you considered ways to encourage all staff and volunteers to feel confident to voice concerns?
• Does the whistleblowing policy cover individuals and the organisation?
• Does it provide step by step processes for raising and dealing with concerns?
• Have you promoted the use of ChildLine to children and young people?
• Have you promoted the 24 hour NSPCC helpline?
• Do all staff and volunteers know what to do if a safeguarding concern is raised?
• Is it clear when statutory agencies should be contacted?
• Are all concerns relating to poor practice reported to the event organiser?
• Are flowcharts available to simplify the processes when an allegation of abuse or poor practice is made?
• Have you considered how a child’s parent will be informed if a concern has been raised (unless doing so would put the child at further risk or affect any police investigation)?

Further links and support

Dealing with a concern - who can support you?

See page 51 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Have you considered how to ensure deaf or disabled young people will stay safe at your event? 
• Have you considered how to ensure vulnerable young adults will stay safe at your event?
• Have steps been made to safeguard and protect young people from minority ethnic backgrounds?
• Have you considered the use and safe recruitment of interpreters?
• Have the suitability of chaperones been checked?

Further links and support

See pages 69 - 73 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.

• Has consideration been made to the use of social media? (Pg 74)
• Have the risks of using social media been considered and addressed?
• Does the code of conduct for the event include online behaviour?

Further links and support

Online safety

Staying safe online – social media policy best-practice example

See page 74 of Safe sport events, activities and competitions.