Safeguarding Children Polices & Procedures

Skills Coach Ltd acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person who has been entrusted to its care and is committed to working to provide a safe environment for all members. A child or young person is anyone under the age of 18 engaged in any sports activity. We subscribe to The Football Association’s Safeguarding Children – Policy and Procedures and endorse and adopt the Policy Statement contained in that document.

The key principles of our Safeguarding Children Policy are that:

  • The child’s welfare is, and must always be, the paramount consideration
  • All children and young people have a right to be protected from abuse regardless of their age, gender, disability, culture, language, racial origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientation
  • All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately
  • Working in partnership with other organisations, children and young people and their parents/carers is essential.

We acknowledge that every child or young person who plays or participates in our activities should
be able to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice and
abuse. Skills Coach recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our company.

We endorse and adopt a Safer Recruitment Policy and guidelines for recruiting volunteers and
coaches. As such we will:

  • Develop a role profile and job description.
  • Request identification documents.
  • As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible conduct interviews before appointing.
  • Request and follow up with two references before appointing.
  • Require an FA CRB Unit Enhanced Disclosure where appropriate.

All our current members who are regularly caring for, supervising, training or being in sole charge of children and young people will be required to complete a CRB Enhanced Disclosure via The FA CRB Unit. If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of our club, guidance will be sought from The Football Association and our Welfare Officer. It is noted and accepted that The FA will consider the relevance
and significance of the information obtained via The FA CRB Unit Enhanced CRB Disclosure and that all decisions will be made in the best interests of children and young people. Welfare Officers. Skills Coach supports The FA’s Whistle blowing Policy. Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can ‘whistle blow’ by contacting The FA Safeguarding Team on 0844 980 8200 4787, by writing to The FA Case Manager at The Football Association, Wembley Stadium, PO Box 1966, London SW10 9EQ or alternatively by going direct to the Police, Children’s Social Care or the NSPCC. Our company encourages everyone to know about this information and utilise it if necessary. Skills Coach has appointed the following member of staff as our Designated Safeguarding Officer:

Julie Rose
juliebefc71@outlook.com
07835338381

This member of staff has completed the Safeguarding Children and Welfare Officers Workshop. The post holder will be involved with Welfare Officer training provided by The FA and/or CFA. The DSO is the first point of contact for all staff, parents, and members regarding concerns about the welfare of any child or young person. The DSO will liaise directly with the CFA Welfare Officer from The FA and will be familiar with the procedures for referring any concerns to local authorities where needed.
They will also play a proactive role in increasing awareness of Respect, poor practice and abuse amongst the staff at Skills Coach.

Staff Procedures

Reporting concerns about the welfare of a child or young person – Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Staff at Skills Coach are expected to report incidents or worries to the DSO above in the first instance of a safeguarding concern. No action is not an option.

  • If you are worried about a child then you need to report your concerns to the DSO above.
  • If the issue is one located at a school site the DSO will:
    • Bring the issue to the attention of the Schools DSO immediately.
    • Seek advice from the CFA Welfare Officer.
  • If the concern is more serious – possible child abuse – they will, where possible, contact the CFA Welfare Officer first, then immediately contact the Police or Local Authority Children’s Services
  • If the child needs immediate medical treatment take them to a hospital or call an ambulance and tell them this is a child protection concern. Let your CFA Welfare Officer know what action you have taken.
  • If at any time the DSO is not able to contact the Club Welfare Officer or the matter is clearly serious then she can either:
    • contact your CFA Welfare Officer directly
    • contact the Police or Children’s Social Care
    • call the NSPCC 24 hour Helpline for advice on 0808 800 5000 or text 88858 or email help@nspcc.org.uk
  • County Football Association’s Welfare Officer
  • www.TheFA.com/Footballsafe
  • Footballsafe@TheFA.com
  • The FA Safeguarding Children general enquiry line 0845 210 8080