The following suggestions are guidelines for clubs in the county that have juniors attending.

If your club has already achieved Premier Club status, then most of the below will have already been implemented.
If you are a non-Premier Club with juniors you should have at minimum the following.

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A Welfare Officer.
This person must have a valid DBS certificate and must have attended a Badminton England approved safeguarding course.  Although it is not essential that the welfare officer belongs to the club it generally helps as it is good practice to offer "time to listen" on club nights to the members should they need it.
The club coach, (should your club have one) must be a different person to the Welfare Officer!
For all safeguarding information as laid out by Badminton England click here.

Badminton England approved safeguarding courses are run on a regular basis in the county. Check on the WASP or Badminton England website for the next available course. The course usually takes 2-3 hours, costs about £40 and is valid for 3 years.

Club constitution.
Regarding documentation, it’s best to amend the club constitution to reflect the changes, so the addition of a safeguarding paragraph similar to the following...

"All concerns, allegations or reports of poor practice/abuse relating to the

welfare of children and young people will be recorded and responded to

swiftly and appropriately in accordance with the club’s child protection

policy and procedures. The Club Welfare Officer is the lead contact for

all members in the event of any child protection concerns. "

The above paragraph refers to the club’s child protection policy. The link below is to a template document that you can amend to suit your club.

Child protection policy template.

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General advice for all other clubs / volunteers / officials.

For all other clubs & persons connected with junior players they should adopt Badminton England’s safeguarding policies. This is a fairly extensive list which can be viewed using this link click here.

We should as a club or county ensure that all staff/ volunteers working with young people are recruited according to the Badminton England Recruitment Guidelines; this includes ensuring those working in regulated activity with young people complete an enhanced DBS disclosure application with Badminton England and that all coaches are on the Badminton England coaching register. The key words here are “Regulated activity”. Regulated activity in badminton includes roles that regularly involve coaching, training, instructing, giving advice or guidance. Regular means once a week or more, 4 times in a month, or overnight.

Based on this guidance you should be able to identify who in your organisation needs either a DBS or safeguarding training. Irrespective of this we should all be familiar with and abiding by the Badminton England’s safeguarding policies.

Badminton England recommend that any officials / volunteers in infrequent contact with children should attend the NSPCC online course.
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/get-expert-training/child-protection-sport-online-course/

If you have any further questions or guidance please email the county Welfare Officer here.