Purpose
Cambridge NCI Cricket Club (The Club) is committed to ensuring all vulnerable people and children (persons under the age of 18) participating in sport have a safe and positive experience.
Aims and Objectives
- Recognizing that all people participating in sport (regardless of age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, ability or disability) have the right to have fun and be protected from harm in a safe environment.
- Ensuring individuals working within sport at, or for, our Club provide a welcoming, safe, and fun experience for everyone.
- Adopting and implementing the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) “Safe Hands – Cricket’s Policy for Safeguarding Children” and any future versions of this.
- Appointing a Club Welfare Officer and ensuring they attend all current and future training modules required.
- Ensuring all people who work in sport at, or for, our Club (such as staff, officials, volunteers, team managers, coaches and so on) have a responsibility for safeguarding, and understand how the “Safe Hands Policy” applies to them.
- Ensuring all individuals working within sport at, or for, the Club are recruited and appointed in accordance with ECB guidelines and relevant legislation.
- Ensuring all individuals working within sport at, or for, the Club are provided with support, through education and training, so they are aware of, and can adhere to, good practice.
- Ensuring the name and contact details of the Club Welfare Officer is available:
- As the first point of contact for parents, children and volunteers/staff within the club.
- As a local source of procedural advice for the Club, its committee and members.
- As the main point of contact within the Club for relevant agencies in connection with safeguarding.
- Ensuring correct and comprehensive reporting procedures exist for raising and managing safeguarding concerns.
- Providing an environment where the views of children, parents and volunteers are sought and welcomed on a range of issues. This will help us create an environment where people have the opportunity to voice any concerns to the Club Welfare Officer.
- Ensuring all suspicions and concerns and allegations are taken seriously and dealt with swiftly and appropriately.
- Ensuring access to confidential information relating to child safeguarding matters is restricted to those who need to know in order to safeguard people – including the Club Welfare Officer and the appropriate external authorities.
The Club Safeguarding Officer is:
- Responsible for maintaining the Safeguarding Policy (this document) in line with ECB policy, taking into account best practices and legislation.
- Required to maintain their own training, and advise others at the club of policies for other leadership
- The Club’s main point of contact for the County Safeguarding Officer, the Cricket Regulator Safeguarding Team and other external safeguarding agencies.
- The person responsible for ensuring correct and comprehensive reporting procedures exist for raising and managing safeguarding concerns.
- The first point of contact for all children, parents/carers volunteers, and members at the Club
- Expected to raise safeguarding at the AGM [as/and?] a member of the Club committee.
- Invited to attend committee meetings in case any safeguarding implications arise, but also as a club commitment to principles such as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
- Responsible for communicating safeguarding requirements to all captains, and providing access to this document.
- An active participant in the recruitment and monitoring of all roles which work with under-18s. This can include making enquiries such as with the County Safeguarding Officer, and Safeguarding Officers of other clubs.
Safeguarding requirements for members
Participation of under-18s should be discussed with the Safeguarding Officer, who will be the main point of contact for parents/guardians and children. Parents/guardians must arrange transport to and from fixtures, only in emergencies will lifts be arranged by the club, and in this event it must be by someone with an ECB DBS check, and preferably with a second club-member as witness.
Juniors (under-18s) are eligible for any team within the club, and therefore all captains and vice-captains require ECB DBS checks and must undertake safeguarding training. Even if a captain or coach maintains a DBS check for other reasons such as their main employment, an ECB DBS check is required for their role in the cricket club.
The Safeguarding Officer must maintain their own DBS check and assist in the process of ensuring all captains know this process and take responsibility for themselves and their vice-captains each season.