As we close another financial year, we are excited to share the progress we've made in safeguarding in sport and physical activity and the impact we've created together.
Our impact report highlights our headline achievements and the progress we have made towards achieving our aim to support the sport and physical activity sector to create a caring culture where children and young people are safe and thrive in sport.
All of this could not be achieved without our funding stakeholders and key partners in the sector working alongside us and prioritising the welfare of children and young people.
Child Protection in Sport Unit impact in numbers
This year we have worked with over 250 sport and physical activity organisations in the UK to develop, improve and embed safeguarding standards. We have achieved this through, but not limited to:
- 79 training sessions and learning forums, including for senior leaders, board members, designated safeguarding leads, sport welfare officers and wider organisation staff
- 158 safeguarding annual reviews and check-ins with organisations, including National Governing Bodies and Active Partnerships.
- 747 direct safeguarding enquiries from organisations in Wales and Northern Ireland
- 1,500 conversations with sport parents and local and national events
- 2,600 new followers on our newly launched LinkedIn channel, providing support for our sector
- 100,000 downloads of new and updated resources on our website, including new podcasts and webinars to enhance our digital Continual Professional Development (CPD) offer
- 3.8 million people reached on social media platforms during the annual Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport campaign
Strengthening Support for Sport Welfare Officers
In February 2025, we co-organised a national collaboration event for welfare officers alongside the Ann Craft Trust and the Active Partnership National Organisation. The event aimed to further enhance the strong working relationships between our organisations and provide a platform to highlight examples of best practice, collaboration, and explore options to further improve support for Club Welfare Officers across the country.
"This event was a brilliant opportunity to harness the power of collaborative working. We should encourage each other to be brave, to tell a compelling story to help explain why safeguarding is important and remember that culture change happens through people.
"Success happens when people work outside of their comfort zone and share a common purpose to create safe and inclusive environments, meaning everyone can have fun and thrive in sport and physical activity.” - Liza Ware, Senior Consultant from the CPSU.
Empowering Youth Voices in Safeguarding
This year we have also involved children and young people in projects and decision-making where possible, including speaking at lead officer forums, collaborating on campaign material and leading podcast discussions.
In Wales, the persistent demand for fresh ideas led us to invite three young individuals actively involved in sports and physical activities to share their perspectives with lead safeguarding officers. All three young people attended an in-person forum for safeguarding leads and provided clear and concise advice, information and feedback to over 40 professionals. They all emphasised the importance of keeping children and young people at the centre and forefront of sport.
“Young people are experiencing sport and physical activity environments first-hand; therefore, they can give the greatest and most beneficial insight. We will continue to champion their right to have their say on creating safer sports environments because their experience and contributions are invaluable.
“When young people get the chance to speak up, ask questions, and share their perspectives, it’s not only good for their personal growth; it builds a culture of safety and respect that reflects their needs.” Cerri Dando-Thompson, Senior Safeguarding Consultant for Wales
Uniting for Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport
This year, Active Partnerships, National Governing Bodies (NGBs), sports clubs and even footballer turned presenter Alan Shearer, backed our annual Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport campaign.
A week of action launched with a star-studded event held at British Cycling headquarters in Manchester, where former NSPCC CEO Sir Peter Wanless discussed safeguarding in sport with panels including Team Jamaica weightlifting Olympian Chloe Whylie, the BAFTA winning and former NBA basketball star Fay Greaves and NSPCC lived-experience volunteer David Lean, who was abused by former football coach Barry Bennell.
Last year (2023/24), more than 400 concerns were raised by adults to the NSPCC Helpline about children in sports settings. Over a fifth of these were about sexual abuse and exploitation (22%) and one in seven about emotional abuse (14%).
Through the Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport campaign, we aim to empower parents and carers to feel confident in their role in keeping children safe, while helping clubs and teams understand how they can foster a protective and inclusive environment.
Read more about last year's campaign.
Learnings from research
This year we published our latest research alongside Loughborough University, which showed 55% of child safeguarding concerns raised were from outside of sport. This refers to abuse that has taken place in a different context to the sporting environment, but which relates to an individual who is involved in sport.
These statistics suggest that the sporting environment can be a supportive one, and a safe space for children and young people. External safeguarding issues are often being recognised by people working within the sport setting, and many children and young people feel comfortable reporting safeguarding incidents from elsewhere in their life to figures within sport.
A lot of sports organisations have worked hard to embed safeguarding at every level, and to increase the visibility of safeguarding. This plays an important role in building a community within sport where children and young people feel able to speak out about issues.
What are our plans for this year?
Looking ahead to this year, we’re excited to be welcoming a new head of service, working alongside a new CEO of the NSPCC, launching another year of our annual campaign, supporting even more sport and physical activity organisations than previous years and forever striving to help children to feel safe.
Read our impact report, download our summary infographic and share with your colleagues.
Thank you for your support. Together, we can keep children and young people safer in sport and physical activity.