The Fa Charter Standard Safeguarding Policy and Procedures - June - 23

Safeguarding Children
Policy and Procedures
This policy template is provided as a form fillable PDF so you can add your Club name to
the relevant sections. It is not recommended that you make any other changes unless
you discuss these first with your County FA Welfare Officer and have them agreed. It is
important that you discuss this policy as a committee ensuring that you are clear about
your responsibilities as a Club and that you adhere to this policy in full. Appointing a
Club Welfare Officer is an integral requirement of this policy.
1. Heacham Minors
FA Charter Standard accredited Club 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 Club football activity.
We subscribe to The Football Association’s Safeguarding Children - Policy and Procedures and endorse and
adopt the Policy Statement contained in that document.
2. The key principles of The FA 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 football should be able to
take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice and abuse.
Heacham Minors
FA Charter Standard Club recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our club.
1 THE FA CHARTER STANDARD: SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN POLICY AND PROCEDURES

3. Heacham Minors
FA Charter Standard accredited Club has a role to play in safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people by
protecting them from physical, sexual or emotional harm and from neglect or bullying. It is noted and accepted that The
Football Association’s Child Protection Regulation (see The FA Handbook) applies to everyone in football whether in a paid
orvoluntary capacity. This means whether you are a volunteer, match official, helper on club tours, football coach, club
official or medical staff.
4. We endorse and adopt The FA’s Responsible Recruitment guidelines for recruiting volunteers and we will:
• Develop a role profile
• 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 in line with FA guidelines.
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. It is noted and accepted that The FA will consider the relevance and signifi cance
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.
It is accepted that The FA aims to prevent people with a history of relevant and significant off ending from having contact
with children or young people and the opportunity to influence policies or practice with children or young people. This is to
prevent direct sexual or physical harm to children and to minimise the risk of ‘grooming’ within football.
Please note: The policy on CRB Enhanced Disclosures will be subject to change, in light of the Protection
of Freedoms Act 2012. Further information will be provided on this via TheFA.com and via the County FA Welfare Officers.
5. Heacham Minors
FA Charter Standard accredited Club 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 club encourages everyone to know about this information
and utilise it if necessary.
6. Heacham Minors
FA Charter Standard accredited Club has appointed a Club Welfare Officer (CWO) in line with The FA’s role profile and
required completion of the Safeguarding Children and Welfare Offi cers Workshop. The post holder will be involved with
Welfare Officer training provided by The FA and/or CFA. The CWO is the fi rst point of contact for all Club committee
members regarding concerns about the welfare of any child or young person. The CWO will liaise directly with the CFA
Welfare Officer and will be familiar with the procedures for referring any concerns. They will also play a proactive role in
increasing awareness of Respect, poor practice and abuse amongst their Club members.
7. We acknowledge and endorse The FA’s identification of bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any kind is not
acceptable in our league. If bullying does occur, all players or parents/carers should be able to tell and know that incidents
will be dealt with promptly. Incidents need to be reported to the CWO or alternatively, in cases of serious bullying, we may
contact the CFA Welfare Officer.
8. Respect codes of conduct for Players, Parents/Spectators, Officials and Coaches have been implemented by our Club.
In order to validate these Respect codes of conduct the Club has clear actions it will take regarding repeated or serious
misconduct at Club level and acknowledges the possibility of potential sanctions which may be implemented by the CFA in
more serious circumstances. All registering members will be required to adopt the Respect codes.

9. Reporting your concerns about the welfare of a child or young person - Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. If you are
worried about a child it is important that you report your concerns - no action is not an option.
• If you are worried about a child then you need to report your concerns to the CWO
• If the issue is one of poor practice they will either:
a. Deal with the matter themselves or
b. 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 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 you are not able to contact your Club Welfare Offi cer or the matter is clearly serious then you can either:
a. contact your CFA Welfare Offi cer directly
b. contact the Police or Children’s Social Care
c. call the NSPCC 24 hour Helpline for advice on 0808 800 5000 or text 88858 or email help@nspcc.org.uk
Please note: The FA’s Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures is available via www.TheFA.com/Footballsafe.
Click on the ‘downloads’ under Policy and Procedures. It outlines in detail what to do if you are concerned about the welfare
of a child and includes flow diagrams to describe this process. This is also covered within the Safeguarding Children workshop,
where participants are given the opportunity to discuss how this feels and how best they can prepare themselves to deal with
such a situation.
10. Further advice on Safeguarding Children matters can be obtained from:
Bex Alexander
T: 07904645765
E: HMRC.welfare@outlook.com
County Football Association’s Welfare Officer

T: 01603 704050 / 07777 607567
E: CountyWO@ Ken.D’Rosairo@NorfolkFA.com
www.TheFA.com/Footballsafe
Footballsafe@TheFA.com
The FA Safeguarding Children general enquiry line 0845 210 8080.

The Fa Charter Standard Safeguarding Policy and Procedures - June - 23

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Fa Charter Standard Safeguarding Policy and Procedures - June - 23

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Fa Charter Standard Safeguarding Policy and Procedures - June - 23

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Safeguarding Children

Policy and Procedures

2. The key principles of The FA Safeguarding Children Policy are that:

1 THE FA CHARTER STANDARD: SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN POLICY AND PROCEDURES

2 THE FA CHARTER STANDARD: SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN POLICY AND PROCEDURES

10. Further advice on Safeguarding Children matters can be obtained from:

County Football Association’s Welfare Officer

3 THE FA CHARTER STANDARD: SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN POLICY AND PROCEDURES

You might also like