Safeguarding

Details of our commitment to safeguarding are available below. 

Sporting Equals Policy Statement

Sporting Equals works in partnership with a wide range of individuals and organisations throughout the UK. We recognise that some of the people we encounter, including children, young people, and adults at risk, may be experiencing, or be vulnerable to, abuse, harm, or neglect.  

All staff, volunteers and Trustees of Sporting Equals play an important role in promoting the welfare and protection of the children, young people, and adults at risk with whom the Charity works. The Board of Trustees holds the ultimate responsibility for safeguarding in the organisation.  

Our policy sets out how Sporting Equals prevents, recognises and responds to safeguarding concerns.  

Sporting Equals is an organisation focused on race equity and as such, we recognise that racism, racial discrimination and racialised bias are, in and of themselves, safeguarding concerns, and that individuals from racially and ethnically marginalised backgrounds experience additional and specific barriers to being heard and adequately protected. Thus, this policy commits Sporting Equals to safeguarding practices that are anti-racist, anti-discriminatory, and culturally competent.  

It provides a framework so that everyone within Sporting Equals’ scope has the information and support they require to act.  

Going beyond our duties to children, young people and adults at risk, Sporting Equals considers the potential harm to any individual affected by our work and takes proportionate measures to prevent it. 

Contact Information

If you need to speak to a member of our safeguarding team we can be contacted on safeguarding@sportingequals.org.uk or on 0121 777 1375. We will aim to respond by the next working day.  

Reporting Safeguarding or Prevent Concerns

If the individual(s) are at immediate risk of danger or require medical treatment, please call 999. 

If you would like to make a report to Sporting Equals about a safeguarding concern you have or that has been reported to you, please complete the safeguarding reporting form. 

If your concern is relating to a Prevent referral please use this form. 

Please note that Sporting Equals working hours are Monday-Friday 9am-5:30. Reports received outside of these hours may not be actioned until the next working day.  

If your concern requires urgent action, you can contact the police on 101 or your local authority safeguarding teams; 

Contacts for suspected child abuse can be found via https://www.gov.uk/report-child-abuse-to-local-council 

Contacts for suspect adult abuse can be found via https://www.anncrafttrust.org/resources/find-your-nearest-safeguarding-adults-board/ 

Who do we share information with and what do we do with it?

If we receive a safeguarding or Prevent report, we have a duty to act. Information may be shared with appropriate internal or external parties to support those affected, investigate concerns and take appropriate action. 

For anyone under 18, or an adult with a legal guardian due to disability, we will undertake appropriate discussion with parents and carers before involving another agency, unless doing so could increase the risk to the child or adult at risk or exacerbate the situation; in which case advice will be sought from social care first, in line with the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership inter-agency procedures.  

Where the incident involves an adult with capacity to make their own decisions, we will respect requests to keep the matter confidential, unless we have reason to believe that not escalating the concern could lead to someone else being injured or abused or the individual themselves coming to more serious harm. In these cases, we will consult with the local safeguarding adult authority for advice and guidance.    

External parties may include the police, local authorities or organisations responsible for non-Sporting Equals events if the incident has happened outside of our jurisdiction. Internal cases will be overseen by the Designated Safeguarding Lead and managed by the Safeguarding Case Management Group, which will be formed of appropriately qualified internal and possibly external members if required. 

Only information necessary to investigate a concern will be shared, however all reports will be recorded and stored securely in line with GDPR. Sporting Equals may use information to conduct research into trends or issues that the organisation may need to be aware of, in these cases all identifying information will be removed and only relevant data will be retained and shared.  

Discharging the Prevent duty fairly and without discrimination

Sporting Equals endeavours to discharge its Prevent duty in a way that does not stigmatise or disproportionately target any specific community. Prevent concerns all forms of terrorism and is not directed at any one faith or ethnic group. In practice: 

  • A referral must be based on genuine, evidenced concern about a person’s susceptibility to radicalisation. It should never be based on a person’s race, religion, nationality, appearance, or political or religious views alone. 
  • Before any Prevent referral is made, the DSL will consider whether the concern could reflect bias or assumption and will satisfy themselves that the referral threshold is met. 
  • Sporting Equals will monitor the demographic profile, including ethnicity and religion of Prevent concerns raised and referrals made, and report this to the Board as part of safeguarding assurance, so that any disproportionality can be identified and addressed. 
  • Prevent training will include awareness of the documented concerns about disproportionality and of the duty to apply the threshold consistently and without discrimination. 

Policies and Safeguarding Documentation

Our Safeguarding Policy can be found here. 

Our Code of Ethics can be found here. 

Our Safer Recruitment Policy can be found here. 

Support Organisations

If you would like support in relation to any incident or disclosure the following organisations can help:  

MIND have compiled a full list of support services which can be found at https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/abuse/#AbuseSupportForAllAdults  

Or specifically for young people (11-18) https://www.mind.org.uk/for-young-people/how-to-get-help-and-support/useful-contacts/   

For all and open 24/7: 

For children: 

 

For parents/ guardians/ carers of children, or those concerned about a child: 

 

 For anyone impacted by crime  

 

Support relating to a PREVENT disclosure