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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:

Key 1-2-1 Club and NGB Support National and Local Initiative Support National Governing Bodies engaged 10 28 Intensive Club Support
 18 9 Training/ Forum Delivery Light touch support provided 85 Event support provided 8 105

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.

    • 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.

    • Special Olympics GB : Table Tennis Disability Event in conjunction with Special Olympics GB, Table Tennis England.

    • Communication with Regional Safeguarding NGB Leads.

    • 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



"When I hear the word safeguarding, I think of policies and procedures. But what makes me feel safe in sport is people.”


 DRAGONs On The Move participant “I just wanted to say a massive thank you for your support at our roadshows. For me, it really highlighted the benefits of us working together, but also the great support that you are all able to offer to our clubs and the positive things that have already been happening."
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!”

 Club welfare officer "Anita's support has been of huge benefit. Anita has helped us facilitate a training session to create Wellbeing Champions, gather information for a wellbeing board, locate courses for mental health and wellbeing and much more! Anita’s support is invaluable to the club and myself as Club Welfare Officer." Club welfare officer "Anita’s support over the past year has been invaluable in helping ESKA strengthen our approach to inclusion, safeguarding, and welfare. Her knowledge, commitment, and proactive engagement have helped us create safer, more welcoming environments for all participants. We’re incredibly grateful for her input and the difference it continues to make." ESKA Karate "Anita has been a fantastic support in helping us as an organisation navigate the tricky subject of safeguarding.
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." Hoopstars “ Testimonials

Anita Stewart is our Sports Welfare Officer who leads the charge on all of our important work on delivering the Core offer in Norfolk. Get in touch here. Get in touch Take a look at our spotlight studies for our Mindful Clubs and Dragons On The Move focus groups.

 Check out our case studies If your club or organisation could benefit from training or additional support, why not sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about opportunities? Sign up to our newsletter for updates Find out more about our offer to clubs around Norfolk.

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