Safeguarding & DBS - ACTION REQUIRED

Safeguarding Children Qualifications for ALL Coaches and Assistants

As discussed at our recent CWO meetings, for affiliation next season ALL coaches (coaches, assistants, managers and assistant managers) will need both an FA DBS check and Safeguarding Children qualification to be aligned to an affiliated team.

We are, therefore, encouraging clubs to ensure that coaches have completed this course before the end of the season in order to avoid delays in affiliating for next season. The course can be accessed via: https://learn.englandfootball.com/courses/safeguarding/safeguarding-children-course and costs £30, renewal is free.

We realise that clubs will be keen to spread the cost of these courses across the season, so please start to encourage course completion now. We will be starting to contact clubs individually to highlight coaches who have yet to complete the qualification.

DBS checks

We are aware of delays in the completion of DBS checks across the county so are again urging clubs to begin renewal of DBS’ as soon as possible. Renewals can be started up to 6 months before expiry with applicants receiving notification of the need to renew 3 months beforehand. Please keep an eye on your club officials’ DBS status and seek to start renewals asap to avoid disruption. 

Once an applicant has received their DBS certificate, the club needs to ensure that the DBS is showing as green and accepted on the Club Portal before allowing that person to engage in coaching activity. We have seen an increase in club charges where coaches have been permitted to coach without a DBS check in place – this is something that we all want to avoid!