Key safeguarding updates

As we move from the summer season into the winter season of cross-country, winter training and the indoor competition, England Athletics’ Head of Clubs and Participation, Emma Davenport, provides an update on the work done with regards to safeguarding, welfare and compliance this year, in partnership with UK Athletics (UKA).

England Athletics continues to work with, and invest in, the safeguarding case management team at UKA, supported by the Home Country Athletics Federations (HCAFs) in their countries.

Here in England, our welfare and compliance team continues to deal with low-level safeguarding concerns, licence breaches and to support our clubs and member bodies in dealing with disputes and poor practice in their environment.  

We are all extremely driven to work with our members, athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers to ensure our sport is as safe, welcoming and inclusive as possible for everyone to take part - whether as a young athlete, coach, official, committee member or supporter.

Safeguarding case update

We are working through a consistent volume of cases:

• We currently have 62 safeguarding cases open; while 34 cases have been closed so far in 2024. Over half of all cases have ongoing police involvement.
• Within welfare and compliance, we have 34 open cases; and 319 have been closed so far in 2024

These numbers indicate an increase in individuals starting to come forward to report their concerns and disclosure issues they have faced within the sport.

We know and acknowledge that the time it takes to work through some cases can be a source of frustration and – in some cases – worry. While we recognise the impact that this has, and we are working hard to improve efficiency where possible, the high volume of disclosures and the complex nature of some cases mean that our priority has to be approaching a case thoroughly and comprehensively, rather than simply looking to speed the process up.

Key for us is to balance this need for accuracy with the required levels of support and empathy to those involved, ensuring that they are signposted to avenues which may provide additional help and support where needed.

Compliance cases managed by England Athletics now have an average completion period of one month.

Policy updates

This year saw the review and updating of the UKA Child Protection Policy, UKA Adult Policy and UKA Regulations. This was to reflect changes needed in process and a changing landscape in this area of work. Here in England, we have updated our Complaints Policy and, more recently, Discipline Policy.

We have continued to invest in our resource through an increase in staff numbers, which has given us enhanced ability to deal with incoming cases more efficiently, and clubs on a day-to-day basis with disputes and poor practice locally.  

The team at England Athletics have continued to support our membership through webinars, Club Hub resources, club visits and online support.

Club Standards

Looking forward, over the coming months we will be focusing on supporting clubs to achieve club standards, with a real focus on Standard 6: Welfare. This will see the continuation of support webinars and the roll-out of our updated Child and Adult Welfare Officer training to better reflect and support the training needs of our clubs.   

We are supporting the Ann Craft Trust’s Adult Safeguarding Week in November, aiming to highlight that safeguarding processes are applicable to people of all ages, and underlining the support that is available within our sport.

We will continue to work with UKA on case management, ensuring cases here in England are managed as quickly, and effectively as possible.