Ensuring Your Project Activities are Safe

Sally ProudloveChild Protection in Sport Unit

Child Protection in Sport Unit

Mission:

To build the capacity of sport to safeguard children and young people in and through sport to enable sport to lead the way in

keeping children safe from harm.

All organisations providing services for children, parents or families, or work with children, should have in place

Safeguarding & PromotingChildren’s Welfare

Culture of listeningto and consulting with

children

Effective recruitment,selection & contractual procedures

including safeguarding checks

Clear lines of accountability

Senior board lead onsafeguarding

Arrangements to share information with

other organisations

Effective support, supervision and training

for staff/volunteers

Clear safeguarding policies including how to respond to concerns

in line with LSCB requirements

Designated safeguarding lead (with support)

Working Together to Safeguard

Children (2013) Section 2.4

Duty of care

• Legal Duty of Care – focus on health and safety• Moral Duty of Care – responsibility for safety and welfare.

The duty upon an organisation to take all reasonable to ensure that individuals will be safe to participate in activities for which it is responsible

There is a higher duty of care owed to children and young people

Question…….

At what point does your duty of care begin?

1. Safeguarding plan

2. Recruitment guidelines

3. Codes of conduct

4. Registration and consent

5. Event manager/coordinator

6. Event safeguarding lead

7. Reporting procedures

8. Advice and support

9. Additional vulnerabilities 10. Travel and overnight stays

Case studies

Slide 10Legislative changeSafeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006• created the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)• created new Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) and replaced

existing barring lists with single, independent system.

Protection of Freedoms Act 2012•Combined the CRB and ISA into the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS)•Redefined regulated activity•Single disclosure of checks•Continuously updated service

Regulated Activity (RA) before 10 September 2012

Permitted but did not legally require sports

organisations to undertake enhanced CRB

checks (including barring status) as part of

safe recruitment practice. Roles that

never met

eligibility

criteria for

checks

Regulated Activity (RA) from 10 September 2012

Revised RA def’n. Eligible for DBS

check and a barred list check which - a legal requirement.

Permits DBS checking of those formerly in (but now not in) RA - but

not a barred list check

Checks for both groups can be for

work with children, adults at risk or

both

Roles that

never met

eligibility

criteria for

checks

Criminal Records Checks:What hasn’t changed?

• Organisations’ wider safeguarding responsibilities• Duty to refer concerns• Illegal to seek RA work if barred• Illegal to knowingly employ a barred person in RA• Still a body (now DBS) assessing risk and making

barring decisions

Criminal Records Checks:What has changed?• Revised definition of Regulated Activity

(frequency, intensity of contact and supervision)• Revised (reduced) eligibility criteria (under 16s

excluded, number of roles/titles reduced)• Two tiers of checks (with or without Barred List

status)• Applicant only disclosure• Online status check service

All clear so far?

Online Disclosure Status Checking Scheme• Annual service requiring individual’s subscription (within two weeks

of issue of DBS disclosure) • Free for volunteers• Provides option for individual to give any eligible employer ability to

check status of DBS disclosure• Status check undertaken electronically• Outcome describes changes (or not) to disclosure – not what new

information is• Changes prompt organisation to undertake new DBS check• Organisations need to decide to require use of scheme, not to use

scheme, or optional for staff/volunteers.

Child Protection in Sport Unit

www.thecpsu.org.uk