Safeguarding For Clubs

Make sure your Club is safe and support your coaches

Minimum standards for deployment (MSD) have been recommended for use by organisations engaged in the employment, deployment and development of coaches. These have been developed by National Governing Bodies, The Child Protection in Sport Unit and Sports Coach UK.

Please ensure your coaches meet these minimum standards and help them to keep their knowledge, insurance, practices and health and safety up to date.

For further information see:

For more detailed guidance check with your sports national governing body.

Safeguarding Deaf and Disabled

Working Together to Safeguard Children was updated in March 2010. This government document shows what responsibilities organisations have in terms of safeguarding and what they must have in place. In additon it highlights that young people with disabilities are more vulnerable and organisations must be aware of this.

The particularly relevant sections for sports organisations are:

section 2.11 - roles and responsibilities of organisations providing services to young people
section 6.43 - the particular vulnerability of disabled children to abuse.

The CPSU has many resources to support organisations in their work with children with disabilities.

These include a new resource Safeguarding Deaf and Disabled Children in Sport check the document for more details which would support your club.

Support for Organisations to Comply with Legislation

A self-assessment tool has been designed to enable organisations/agencies/groups, however large or small, to ensure that the services they provide for children and young people are compliant with current legislation (the Children Act 2004) and best practice as set out in the national guidance “Working Together to Safeguard Children” (2010) and the National Safe Network Standards.

You can download the organisation self-assessment below.