Northants Cricket

Safeguarding Newsletter- Spring 2011.

From Martin Reece, County Welfare Officer for Northants Cricket.

With the evenings beginning to get lighter, I’m sure your mind is turning to another season and you’re starting to make plans. As Club Welfare Officer, you will want to be raising awareness of Safeguarding and making sure all is in place prior to the season starting.

You will have seen in the press recently Government announcements about potential changes to Safeguarding. At the present time, these are simply proposals for discussions and no changes are likely for at least 12 months. So, it’s a case of doing all the usual things such as crb’s etc until we’re told otherwise.

This newsletter will help you clarify what you need to do and think about for the coming season. If you have any queries or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

If urgent- please phone 07912 623617 (NB new number)

or 01536 481618

NB new e mail address

(please note this is not checked very regularly so it’s better to call me)

If you’re the Club Welfare Officer and have attended “Time To Listen” in the last 3 years, you should have received a complete updated copy of the “Safehands” contents recently (ie this winter). This would have been a shrink wrapped pack of the pages to go into your yellow ringbinder (NB throw the old pages away but keep the binder). If you have not received this, please contact Derek Styman at the county ground.

There are a few key changes to be aware of

  • Section 2 “A Clubs Duty Of Care” is a useful checklist for your committee to think about how good your club is with regards to Safeguarding.

Section 3:

  • The list of posts needing a crb has been shortened. You can do others but must include a cover letter explaining why that particular extra post/ person needs to be crb’ed.
  • PLEASE NOTE- as Club Welfare Officer, you must be crb’ed.
  • No more “self declaration forms”- not worth the paper it’s written on!
  • Overseas are now referred to as “non-UK”
  • These must be checked and vetted through the ECB if coming in to contact with youngsters at your club (see Kitbag for procedure)
  • ECB Directives- these must be adhered to. Some tweaks to the guidance (See Kitbag documents for detail);
  • Age at which child can play in open age cricket
  • An 11 year old at last Septembercan only play if
  • Already been selected for a level above District this year
  • AND written consent from parents.
  • Bowling
  • Helmets
  • Fielding
  • New section on e-safety. This is one of the most common areas of poor practice and so needs your careful consideration.

Time To Listen- has changed.

I’m delighted to say that the course for Club Welfare Officers has been rewritten and I think it looks far more useful than the old one. If you’ve done TTL recently (ie in the last 2 years), then there is no need to do the new one until your 3 year renewal comes up (unless you really want to!)

The next dates locally for the new course- called “Safehands Workshop for Club Welfare Officers” are

  • Wednesday 30th March
  • Thursday 21st April

Please contact Derek Styman to reserve your places.

CRB checks- verifying the forms

Each persons crb form has to be checked and verified by a named verifier. Although we have about a dozen of these across the county, the ECB is happy for us to increase this number by allowing some Club Welfare Officers to be nominated by us to be verifiers. This would obviously make it easier for you and your members to get their forms verified. You may also be contacted by other people local to you asking you to sign their forms off. If you would like to be considered for this, please contact Derek Styman.

CRBs- How can I check if people in my club have been checked and have an up to date certificate? (ie within 3 years).

SIMPLE- drop me an e mail with FULL names and I can check them on the ECB secure database for you. You need to regularly monitor your list of people who should have a crb- at least three times a year; maybe March, June and December.

What should I be doing prior to the season?

Remember, Safeguarding isn’t only about crb’s or abuse- it includes good practice in every regard

  • Make the committee talk about Safeguarding- its not all your responsibility- they all have a part to play- your role is to keep it on their minds.
  • Pick a part of the Safehands guidance to review at each committee meeting- make people engage with it and decide how things could be made better.
  • Check any displays in the clubhouse regarding Safeguarding-
  • is it clear who someone could turn to for help (parent or child)?
  • Is it clear what your club expects of every member regarding appropriate behaviour and conduct with children?
  • Draft a letter to parents to reassure them your club takes its responsibilities for Safeguarding seriously.
  • Please check that your details are correct on and provide an e mail address so I can keep you up to date with safeguarding issues.
  • Make up your list of who should have a crb and when they are due for renewal- contact Martin Reece if you need help.
  • Plan an awareness-raising session for all your coaches to check they are clear of their responsibilities and your club’s expectations.
  • Do they know what to do if they have any concerns? See pages in section 3 of Safehands on “Responding to, Recording and Reporting Concerns”
  • Again use parts of the Safehands guidance to stimulate discussion.
  • Review and refine your youth player profile system- advice in Safehands Kitbag.
  • Carry out and record risk assessments for all areas of club, especially nets.
  • Review and refine policy and practice on the various topics identified in Safehands Kitbag eg. Supervising children, changing rooms, mobile phones, transport etc.

Thank you for all that you do to make cricket as fun and enjoyable as possible for youngsters and above all ensure that they have a safe place to enjoy this great game.

I wish you all the best for the coming season.

Martin Reece.

County Welfare Officer for Northants Cricket.