Earlier this year, Swim England launched the Coaching and Teaching Register. This covers all coaches and teachers operating within affiliated clubs, regardless of qualification or discipline and currently more than 8,000 coaches and teachers from clubs across the country have signed up.
There are still a number of clubs in the region who have not yet registered any coaches or teachers on the system or; whose submission to the coach register shows that there are teacher(s) and or coach(es) within their club that either have no DBS check registered or have one that is more than three years old and therefore may not be not compliant with Swim England’s Child Safeguarding Policies and Procedures, Wavepower.
If your club has coaches or teachers operating within it, it is a requirement that they are registered and that information is complete. The register gives clubs an online and live record of their delivery workforce and of their workforce’s DBS and child safeguarding training (if appropriate) status. Both of these are a requirement of Swim England’s Child Safeguarding Policies and Procedures, as set out in Wavepower and therefore must be up-to-date.
In either of the above cases it is important that your club submits complete and accurate information to the coach register and/or address any gaps in DBS checks for your clubs coaches and staff. This must be completed by the 31st October 2019 at the latest.
Please also note that all individuals who are required to have a DBS check must complete approved child safeguarding training within a reasonable timescale of taking up the position. Swim England will be further analysing the data received from the Coaching and Teaching Register and will address any issues regarding child safeguarding training in the coming months. In the meantime, if you notice that one of your coaches or teachers does not have child safeguarding training recorded on the Register, the individual will need to provide proof of training to renewals@swimming.org and it can then be added to their record
All relevant information on the Coaching and Teaching Register (including and “Common Questions and Answers” document) can be found on the following web page : https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/coaching-teaching-register/
If you have any questions about DBS checks, please see the following web page: https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/dbs-faqs/ or email dbs@swimming.org
Notes
It may be that a coach does has a DBS check with another organisation and has registered for the DBS Update Service but has not shared this with Swim England. In this case, please ask the coach/teacher to request a DBS Update Service Consent Form from dbs@swimming.org and ensure that it is returned by 30 September 2019.
If you have coaches and teachers who only work with those over 18 years of age not deemed as ‘adults at risk’ then they must be included on the Coaching Register but they do not require a DBS check or child safeguarding training (definitions of adults at risk can be found at the following location https://swimming.org/library/documents/2747/download ). Swim England requires you to send in written confirmation of this to renewals@swimming.org. If you do not have any coaches or teachers at your club or there is any other reason preventing the club from using the Register, then again contact renewals@swimming.org
