Welfare Officers

Welfare Officers have an important role in club governance and in keeping everyone in the sport safe.

Scottish Fencing is keen to support volunteers in this role. One way we can help is to provide policy templates and resources. We can also provide guidance and support should an incident occur and we can advise clubs on the next steps to take.

Anyone wishing to be a club’s Welfare Officer needs to get a Disclosure Check before undertaking the role. It is not sufficient if the volunteer has a check with another organisation. In situations where the volunteer has a check with another organisation Scottish Fencing and consequently the club would not be informed if they were barred from working with children or under consideration for listing. Only the organisation they have a check with will hear about any convictions.

Training

To become a Welfare Officer a volunteer needs to complete the following training:

Child Wellbeing and Protection in sport (CWPS)

Child Wellbeing and Protection Officer (CWPO)  

Welfare Officers can also do British Fencing’s safeguarding courses however we recommend completing sportscotland’s training first. Welfare officers attending British Fencing’s training must also be aware of the differences in the English and Scottish systems.

ID Checks

Part of a Welfare Officer’s role is to undertake ID checks for other volunteers working in the club. You can read more about the Welfare Officers role in the recruitment process guide.

Welfare Officers need to return an ID checker agreement before Scottish Fencing can process any PVG applications made by a club.

Applicants need to show three pieces of ID, one photographic and one to confirm the applicant’s address and one other item: driver’s licence, passport and bank statement are ideal documents. On-line documents can be used, ask the applicant to log in to show that they have access and you can use on-line statements as one form of ID.

When checking make sure full names are used (check for middle names, hyphens), dates of birth match and addresses are full.

Please note that a Disclosure Certificate is not accepted as a form of ID.

Child Wellbeing and Protection in sport tool

This is a free self-assessment and action planning tool which provides a step-by-step guide to help your club meet best safeguarding and child protection practices. The tool:

• Takes your club through a set of simple questions,

• Provides an instant overview of how well your sports organisation is meeting the Standards for Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport,

• Helps your club identify areas for development based on the responses,

• Links your club to advice and resources to help improve policies and practice, and

• Enables your club to create your own action plan with assigned tasks.

Your club can revisit as many times as you need to review and update your progress

Find the Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport tool here.

Low Level concerns

There is some historical evidence to suggest if people who had noticed poor behaviour or judgements had acted earlier  organisations could have prevented more serious incidents of abuse. If you see or hear something which “doesn’t feel right”, isn’t what you would expect of a coach/adult/parent volunteer this could be a low level concern.

If there is something that is a “niggle” you can discuss these with Scottish Fencing. It could be that retraining will improve poor practice or even highlighting something may bring about a necessary change in behaviour.

By creating a culture in a club which listens and responds to all concerns hopefully this will prevent poor practice from escalating into a more serious allegation.

In the first instance please discuss any low level concerns you may have with your club’s Welfare Officer or if they do not respond and you feel action is necessary you can report these to Scottish Fencing’s Lead Safeguarding officer using Scottish Fencing’s low level concern form.