Explore key safeguarding insights from the Sheldon and Whyte Reviews.

As we head into Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games, I thought it would be a useful exercise if we all took the opportunity to refresh our memories and reconsider the Recommendations set out in the UK’s largest two Safeguarding in Sport Reviews in recent times; the Sheldon Review, commissioned by the English FA into abuse in Football, and the Whyte Review, commissioned by Sport England, as a result of abuse allegations in British Gymnastics.

 

Sheldon Review – Background

The first disclosures to media occurred in November 2016, to a number of different outlets, outlining serious sexual abuse over a number of decades. The FA commissioned Sir Clive Sheldon KC to carry out the review into what took place in football between 1970 to 2005. As of August 7th 2020, there were 240 suspects and 692 survivors within football. The sole behaviour focussed on was child sexual abuse, covering both grassroots and professional football.

A number of themes were highlighted in the Report:

  • Where abuse did take place, it was not witnessed by others involved in the game;
  • Abusers created opportunities to spend time alone with young players;
  • Contemporaneous disclosure was rare. Some felt ashamed, or were frightened of repercussions of violence to them or their families.

Sheldon Review – Recommendations

Training at all levels
  • The FA should make arrangements to encourage the following groups to receive safeguarding training:
    • Parent/Carers;
    • All players and young people;
    • FA Board and Senior Management Team (at least every 3 years);
    • The Board of professional clubs to receive safeguarding training at least every three years, and should encourage professional club boards to engage in safeguarding strategy and implementation;
    • All those engaging in regulated activity to receive safeguarding training as part of their Club’s affiliation to their County FA;

     

A Child Centred Culture
  • One member of the FA Board should be assigned the role of Children’s Safeguarding Champion;
  • FA to develop a 5 year strategy with specific intervention to support the voices of children. It should be monitored and at the end of the five year period to assess its success;
  • All grassroots clubs to make their safeguarding policy and the contact details of the Welfare Officer readily available to parents and carers of all junior players. It should clearly lay out the steps to raise a safeguarding concern or complaint;
  • The FA should, on an annual basis, widen the system of spot-checks for grassroots clubs to review the club’s safeguarding policies and practices;
  • Safeguarding Lead in professional clubs to report on a regular basis to the club’s Board on safeguarding matters.
  • The Safeguarding Lead in both Premier League and EFL should be a dedicated full time officer (Part time in Leagues 1 and 2), with qualified suitable experience;
  • FA should launch a media and online campaign to direct all those involved in football, including parents and families towards information and advice on safeguarding and minimising risk.
Transparency and Accountability 
  • Safeguarding Report to be published annually, including a statement from the Chair;
  • National day of Safeguarding (in football).

Whyte Review – Background

The background of the Review came from a number of athletes within the British Gymnastics community raising disclosures to the press in the summer of 2020, following the airing of Athlete A on Netflix, covering the abuse in USA gymnastics. Allegations in the Whyte Review focused on emotional and physical abuse by coaches. One common theme that ran through the disclosures was the failure of British Gymnastics to prevent such behaviours but had encourage them and supported them in their individual pursuits in national and international success.

 

The various themes highlighted in the Report were:

  • Athlete welfare was not a paramount priority, and although some coaches did have their gymnasts’ interests at heart, the context in which these gymnasts were training and competing, allowed for their maltreatment;
  • The culture in which the gymnasts practised allowed for a reticence in reporting, lack of objective management of complaints, and therefore a lack of objective handling of complaints, leading to failures in process, ultimately causing these behaviours to continue without sanction in some cases.

Whyte Review Recommendations

I have not repeated the Recommendations verbatim, but have put in bullet point form, in order for any person, in any sector, to be able to quickly form an overview, and perhaps task themselves to attain some of these targets.

 

Safeguarding and Welfare
  • Reassess the level of responsibility delegated to volunteers
  • Employ sufficient staff, especially at regional level, with appropriate professional expertise
  • Revise and update mandatory safeguarding courses to be more relevant to the sector
  • Training should be mandatory for Owners and Managers
  • Revise and improve welfare provision for high performance athletes, and their parents
    • More thorough induction process
    • Access to an independent disclosure service
    • Access to a dedicated Welfare Officer
  • Review the types and level of support provided to non-Olympic disciplines to ensure these are improved
Complaints Handling 
  • Ensure Case Management Systems for complaints is fit for purpose
  • Enable a record to be kept of nature and number of complaints received
  • Handling processes to be monitored and patterns of behaviour to be identified
  • Provide better guidance in internal policies about how to investigate complaints and concerns, particularly when handling concerns about members of staff/volunteers/those in positions of trust.
  • Mandatory complaints policy for safeguarding concerns
  • Neutral reporting of low level concerns about an individual and their conduct towards children and adults at risk
  • Ensure all welfare related complaints about its employed coaches are independently investigated and, where relevant, determined by a wholly independent panel
  • Ensure that it notifies complainants and respondents involved in a complaint about actions, developments and outcomes in a consistent and prompt manner.
Standards and Education
  • BG must appoint a Director of Education with overall responsibility for the education and training of coaches and Welfare Officers and for ensuring that education is adequately coordinated with Standards of Conduct and Policy.
  • Review the Policies
  • Produce and make available a Handbook to Gymnasts which should be reviewed and updated at least every four years and must include:
    • Standards of Conduct
    • Policies
    • Information about the role of Welfare Officers and obligations to report, pathways for reporting, safeguarding concerns; and
    • Any other information that BG think is important for the gymnastics community to be aware of
    • Revise and update its educational programme for coaches and Welfare Officers to address the gaps and weaknesses that are identified in this report.
    • Increase its direct contact with registered clubs to promote and monitor compliance with the information set out in the Gymnasts Handbook
Governance and Oversight
  • The Board must assume responsibility for implementing these recommendations and publish at 6, 12 and 24 months the progress it has made to comply with the report’s recommendations, by which time these recommendations should have been implemented.
  • BG must appoint independent Board members with relevant professional expertise in safeguarding and athlete welfare
  • BG must introduce effective governance pathways to ensure that the views and interests of athletes and parents, any patterns and trends in complaints, and BG performance in complaint handling, are known to the Board and are taken into account in relevant decision making.

Insights

When considering if Horizon Scanning at Board level is ‘worth it’ from a safeguarding perspective, please look at how these Recommendations would look in your organisation. These are really pragmatic suggestions:

  1. Safeguarding Training, at every level;
  2. Board Safeguarding Champion;
  3. Five year safeguarding strategy;
  4. Spot checking for good practice, and where to improve;
  5. Annual Safeguarding Report.
  6. Those with Safeguarding Responsibility must have safeguarding experience;
  7. Training should be mandatory for Board and Owners;
  8. Create a culture where people feel listened to, and the systems you use enable you to track themes and trends in safeguarding complaints;
  9. Independent advice and investigation is paramount to achieve an objective and fair result;
  10. Listening to the voice of children, adults at risk and survivors, and practically embedding those outcomes in your service.

 

These are 10 Simple Safeguarding Steps to move towards creating a safer culture within any organisation.

Looking for Further Assistance?

If you need support implementing any of the recommendations discussed, our expert teams in Training, Supervision, Consultancy, and Investigations are here to help. Contact us for professional guidance on all aspects of safeguarding.