Safeguarding Children Policy

Table of Contents

1. Our responsibilities

As an England Accredited Club, Briercliffe Community Football Club acknowledge our responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person directly connected with our club and are commited to providing a safe environment for all.

We recognise that those aged 16/17 years-of-age are legally defined as children and therefore we have a responsibility to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. As such we subscribe to The Football Association’s (The FA) Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures.

Our football club endorses and adopts the following key safeguarding principles:

  • The childs 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, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital status or civil partnership, race, nationality, ethnic origin, colour, religion or belief, ability or disability, pregnancy and maternity;
  • All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately; and Working in partnership with other organisations, children and young people and their parents/carers is essential.

Briercliffe Community Football Club 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 inappropriate behaviour and abuse. This is the responsibility of every adult involved in our club including the parents/carers of our players and we will effectively communicate this to our members throughout the season.

We commit to ensuring that young people have the right to take part, be heard and have their views and
opinions taken into consideration when making club decisions and actions that concern them.

2. Our role

Briercliffe Community Football Club has a responsibility to safeguard 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 FA’s Safeguarding Children Regulations (see The FA Handbook) apply to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity, including coaches/managers, volunteers, match officials, helpers on club tours, or medical staff or other club officials/helpers.

3. Safer recruitment

We endorse and adopt The FA’s Safer Recruitment guidelines and where an individual is going to take on a specific role for the club we will:

  • Specify what the role is and what tasks it involves;
  • Request identification documents;
  • As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible interview people before appointing them;
  • Ask for a follow up with 2 references before appointing someone; and
  • Where eligible require an FA-accepted DBS enhanced with barred list check, in line with The FA’s current Safeguaring Children Policy and Regulations.

Briercliffe Community Football Club members working in eligible roles with children and young people, such as coaches/managers, first aiders and physiotherapists, are required to hold an in-date FA accepted DBS enhanced with barred list check as part of safer recruitment practice and we commit to managing
this consistently with individuals in current roles and those new to role.

If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of a club official who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of Briercliffe Community Football Club, guidance will be sought from the County Football Association (CFA) Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO).

It is accepted that The FA aims to prevent people with a history of relevant and significant offending 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 football being used in the grooming of children.

4. Whistle-blowing

Briercliffe Community Football Club supports The FA’s Whistle Blowing policy (as described in this paragraph), which requires any adult or young person with concerns about an adult in a position of trust
within football can ‘whistle blow’ by contacting The FA Safeguarding Team by writing to:

The FA Case Manager at The Football Association,
Wembley Stadium, PO Box 1966, London, SW1P 9EQ

They can also email Safeguarding@TheFA.com, or alternatively by going direct to the Police, Children’s Social Care or the NSPCC.

Briercliffe Community Football Club encourages everyone to know about The FA’s Whistle Blowing Policy and to utilise it as necessary.

5. Bullying

We acknowledge and endorse The FA’s identification of bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any kind is not acceptable at our club.

All players and parents/carers will be able to access our anti-bullying policy and know that incidents will
be dealt with appropriately. Incidents need to be reported in accordance with paragraph 7 below. In
cases of repeated and/or serious bullying the CFA DSO may be contacted.

6. Acceptable behaviour when working with young people

Everyone who works or volunteers with children is responsible and accountable for the way in which they behave around and towards them and every child has a right to be treated with respect and dignity. We always require adults within our club to exhibit acceptable behaviour.

We adopt The FAs ‘Acceptable Behaviours When Working With Young People; Guidance for Grassroots Football (5.7) available here.

Codes of conduct for Players, Parents/Spectators, Officials and Coaches have been implemented by our Club. To police these 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.

7. Reporting concerns

In this Club, Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and we know that inaction is not an option and if anyone is worried about a child it is important that they report their concerns to the Club Welfare Officer or a member of the Club committee, who will deal with reported concerns as follows:

  • The Club Welfare Officer (“CWO”) or a member of the Club committee will manage poor practice and where necessary seek advice from the CFA DSO;
  • The CWO or a member of the Club committee will make referrals about more serious concerns to the CFA DSO, or in an emergency contact the Police or Children’s Social Care;
  • We will ensure that if the child needs immediate medical treatment that we take them to a hospital or call an ambulance and tell them it is a child protection concern;
  • The CWO or a member of the Club committee will keep records of the actions taken and keep the CFA DSO informed; and

If the CWO or a member of the Club committee is not available at any time, or the matter is clearly serious, all our members should be aware that they can:

  • Contact the County FA Designated Safeguarding Officer directly;
  • Contact The FA’s Safeguarding Team via Safeguarding@TheFA.com;
  • Contact the Police or Chidlren’s Social Care; and/or
  • Call the NSPCC Helpline (Monday to Friday 8am-10pm or 9am-6pm at the weekends) for advice on 0808 800 5000 or text 88858 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.

8. Our commitment

As an England Football Accredited Club, our Committee understands and accepts our collective responsibility to adhere to our safeguarding children policy and procedures and ensure that
safeguarding is always an agenda item at our committee meetings.

We commit to ensuring our members are aware of and have access to our policies.