Sports club safeguarding policy template

1. How to use this

Copy the policy below into a document. Fill in the square brackets. Add the paragraph for your sport from section 3. Have the committee adopt it, minute the adoption, and publish it on the website with the welfare officer’s contact details next to it. Review it every year at the AGM and change the date.

It is deliberately short. A policy nobody reads protects nobody.

2. The policy

[Club name] safeguarding policy
Adopted [date]. Review due [date + 1 year].

1. Our commitment. [Club name] believes that every child and adult at risk who takes part in [sport] should be able to do so safely, and that the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. We follow [governing body]’s safeguarding policy and procedures, which take precedence over anything in this document.

2. Who this covers. Every member, coach, official, volunteer, parent and spectator, at every session, match, tour and social event run in the club’s name, and in any online space the club runs.

3. Our welfare officer. [Name], [role title as your governing body names it], [phone], [email]. Any concern about the welfare of a child or adult at risk should go to them. If they are unavailable or the concern involves them, contact [deputy or governing body safeguarding team, phone]. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

4. Recruitment. Everyone in a role that involves contact with children completes an enhanced DBS check through [governing body] before starting and renews it every three years, completes [governing body]’s safeguarding course, and provides two references. The welfare officer keeps the record.

5. Codes of conduct. We adopt [governing body]’s codes of conduct for coaches, players, parents and spectators. Breaches are dealt with by the committee under our constitution and reported to [governing body] where its rules require.

6. Good practice. Coaches are never alone with a child out of sight of others where it can be avoided. Changing rooms are supervised from outside. Transport to away fixtures is arranged by parents. Communication with under-18s goes through parents or a group with a second adult in it, never by private message.

7. Photography and social media. We take and publish images of children only with recorded parental consent. Names are not published alongside photos of children without that consent. Anyone may ask for an image to be removed and we will remove it.

8. Reporting. Concerns are recorded in writing the same day, using [governing body]’s referral form, and passed to the welfare officer, who decides with [governing body]’s safeguarding team whether to refer to children’s services or the police. We do not investigate ourselves.

9. Review. This policy is reviewed each year at the AGM and whenever [governing body] changes its own.

Signed: [Chair]   [Welfare Officer]   Date: [date]

3. What your sport adds

• Rugby union (RFU). The role is the Club Safeguarding Officer. Add the eighteen-question RFU safeguarding audit, due in late October, and the RugbySafe Lead and first-aid arrangements (Level 3 first aiders with the Headcase concussion module, a medical emergency action plan, an AED). Note the age-grade rules on playing up and the 17-year-old-in-adult-rugby approval.
• Rugby league (RFL). The Club Welfare Officer sits on the committee and holds two RFL safeguarding courses. The RFL requires the Safeguarding Policy Statement and the CWO’s contact details on the club website and noticeboard. Add the First Aider per match, the 21-day minimum concussion stand-down, and injury reporting through GameDay.
• Hockey (England Hockey). The “Call to Action” minimum standard: a policy, a named Welfare Officer with accessible contact details, safe recruitment, training and a reporting route. Add the GMS consent rule: under-18 names on public team sheets only with parental consent recorded in GMS.
• Netball (England Netball). The policy is submitted to the leagues you enter. Enhanced DBS every three years, and from 1 September 2026 for every coach and volunteer regardless of supervision. CAPS accreditation checks all of it.
• Basketball (Basketball England). The Club Welfare Officer has enhanced DBS and Basketball England training, and the club names a DBS verifier. Level 1 accreditation requires published safeguarding policies. Add the Game Day Delegate per fixture.
• Water polo (Swim England). The framework is Wavepower. Club Affiliation needs a Welfare Officer Wavepower statement and the welfare officer’s identity communicated to members. Add the coaching age minimums (Assistant 16+, Coach 17+, Head Coach 19+).
• Cricket (ECB). The framework is Safe Hands; the role is the Club Safeguarding Officer, with the online course, a workshop and a three-year refresh. Twenty-four roles are DBS-vetted, including captains, vice-captains, scorers and umpires. Add the under-18 helmet rule and the fast-bowling limits by age. Compliance is due by 30 April.

4. Putting it on the website

One page called Safeguarding. On it: the welfare officer’s name, role, phone and email; the policy as text on the page, not only as a PDF; the governing body’s safeguarding page and its reporting phone number; the NSPCC helpline (0808 800 5000) for anyone who would rather talk to someone outside the sport. Link it from the footer of every page.

5. What this template is not

It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for your governing body’s own policy, procedures and forms, which you should read and which win in any conflict. It does not cover adults at risk in the detail a disability section needs; ask your governing body’s safeguarding team for that. And it does not make anyone safe on its own. The welfare officer’s training, the DBS list with dates on it, and the habit of writing things down the same day do that.