Sports Welfare Officer: Impact summary 2024/2025
In response to The Whyte Review, Sport England announced an investment of £14.83 million of National Lottery money into a national network of welfare officers and Active Partnerships are playing a major role in managing this project.
The Sport Welfare Officers will mentor and support clubs across England to ensure the welfare of all their members (children, young people and adults) and they will assist Club Welfare Officers in promoting good practice and safe sport at a local level.
Alongside Sport England, the Active Partnerships network has been collaborating with a number of partners, including national governing bodies (NGBs), the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit, and the Ann Craft Trust.
Active Norfolk’s Sports Welfare Officer is now building on these relationships and working at a local level with Norfolk’s key organisations, such as Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnership, Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board, LADO and Prevent.
Through the network of 43 Active Partnerships, the project will recruit and train 59 Sport Welfare Officers. This will run for three years, from October 2023 until March 2027. An evaluation study will be put in place to track its progress and measure the effectiveness of the project.
2024 – 2025 Sports Welfare Officer data insights
Our Sports Welfare Officer, Anita, has achieved some fantastic things since being in post. Some of the main highlights include:
What is the CORE offer?
CORE stands for Connect, Offer Support, Raise Awareness and Enable. Here are some examples of how the core offer could work for clubs.
Forums for cross-sport learning and sharing of best practice
Networks for Club Welfare Officers
Collaboration with other organisations working locally to safeguard children, young people and adults
Club visits with 1-2-1 bespoke support
Help with developing safer and more inclusive club cultures
Joint club visits with NGB staff / volunteers
Local point of contact for NGBs, to support preventative work with clubs
Attendance at sporting events, to speak to parents/carers and participants about welfare
Supporting clubs to promote local and national campaigns
Training and development opportunities for Club Welfare Officers
Signposting to the right advice and guidance
Impact Summary: Sports Welfare Officer
The Sport Welfare Project has made significant strides across the four core areas defined by the Sport Welfare national team.
During the 2023/24 period, the Sport Welfare Officer Network successfully established Regional Clusters and focused on key areas.
These included Communication, Data Collection, Core Offer, and NBG Engagement. All areas have been effectively established and are functioning well.
The Core Club Offer provides Sport Welfare Officers (SWOs) with a clear understanding of their roles within their local networks.
Read on to find out more about how our Sport Welfare Officer has implemented the Core offer in Norfolk.
Core offer in Norfolk
Here’s an example of the core offer in Norfolk in action:
- The Safer (Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnership): Raising awareness with partner organisations across Norfolk.
- Big Norfolk Holiday Fun Providers: Safeguarding sessions, sharing best practice and supporting organisations with training and signposting.
- Dragons on the Move: Focus group session to raise safeguarding with children and adults at risk
- Norfolk Adult Safeguarding Board: Raising awareness with a partner organisation
- Prevent Co-ordinator for Norfolk: Delivered at a regional cluster to share best practice for clubs.
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- Leisure Providers: Delivering Safeguarding sessions to Leisure Providers to support providers to improve their communication with Clubs who use their facilities, helping to create safer club environments.
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- Special Olympics GB : Table Tennis Disability Event in conjunction with Special Olympics GB, Table Tennis England.
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- Communication with Regional Safeguarding NGB Leads.
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- Attending Norfolk County Club Welfare Officer Forum Meeting, in person with the LTA Safeguarding Manager.
- Big Norfolk Holiday Fun Providers - Deliver Child Protection in Sport Unit, Keeping Children Safe in Sport Campaign
- Judo: Attended Judo County Event in Norfolk to speak to club members, parents and CWO. Met with Judo Development Officer.
- Safeguarding and Protecting Children UK Coaching: Training East Regional Welfare Series. Sharing best practice.
- Tri Regional CWO Network sessions: Sharing best practice
Key Reflections from our Sport Welfare Officer
- Connecting with others through sport has been a highlight – There is a clear commitment from Club Welfare Officers to make a difference in their clubs, through collaboration and willingness to learn.
- I’ve been inspired by the dedication of volunteers who work tirelessly to create safe and welcoming environments for their club members and participants.
- There is strong local commitment to collaborative working. Key partners, including the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnership, Safer Programme, the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board, and the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) have shown a clear willingness to engage with the Sport Welfare Officer programme and support local clubs. Together, we are progressing well to create greater understanding and collaborative working.
- Positive change is already visible. As clubs focus on creating safer and more inclusive spaces, I am sure their clubs will grown from strength to strength.
"When I hear the word safeguarding, I think of policies and procedures. But what makes me feel safe in sport is people.”
Bowls alliance
“Last night’s training was super. I’ve booked onto the Lunch and Learn and am sending one of our team to the learning disability workshop too. Loving all the learning opportunities; refreshing and exciting!”
From our initial call, to working on a whole club presentation, Anita’s expert guidance has allowed us to expand our knowledge and show our members how serious we are about safeguarding."
Safeguarding offer
