Sport Welfare Officer event to be held in Birmingham

On 21 May the Sport Welfare Officer network will come together once again for a learning and connectivity event in Birmingham.

The network, which is funded and supported by Sport England through the National Lottery, will use next week’s event to reflect on the emerging findings from recent evaluation activity, recognise the role of safeguarding and welfare in wider agendas, and explore how Sport Welfare Officers are integrating into the wider work of Active Partnerships.

The Active Partnerships National Organisation (APNO) leads and co-ordinates the work of the Sport Welfare Officer network and has organised next week’s event.

Laura Middleton, Strategic Lead for Welfare for the APNO, said: “In recent months the Sport Welfare Officer network has gone from strength to strength as they’ve become more established in their roles. They’ve been building new relationships with local sports clubs and connecting them together, and they’ve provided information and support.

“We are really looking forward to next week’s event and we are particularly pleased that we’ll be joined by representatives from some of the national governing bodies who we have been working closely with in recent months such as British Gymnastics, Swim England, British Judo, the LTA, and the RFU.”

The Sport Welfare Officers support Club Welfare Officers to create safe, inclusive spaces for everyone involved in sport and in recent months they have been enhancing the understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures within local clubs and facilitating the sharing of good practice between different sports.

Katy Thompson, Programme Manager for Welfare for APNO said: “We are really looking forward to bringing the Sport Welfare Officers together again. It is a fantastic way of connecting the officers so that they can share the important work they are doing to support Club Welfare Officers in their local area and so that we can all work together to continue to strengthen our network.”

The SWO network is a nationwide workforce employed through Active Partnerships across England, to support national governing bodies (NGBs) and local clubs. This workforce promotes good practice and safe sport for children, young people, and adults at a local level.

The Sport Welfare Officer network was set up with the support of the Ann Craft Trust and the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit, following the commitments made by Sport England and UK Sport in response to the Whyte Review. It now has more than 60 officers who between them cover every region of England.