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We are committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and adults at risk in basketball. As an organisation we have policies and regulations that set out the key principles that our organisation adheres to as well as providing best practice guidance. We also have guidance for our clubs, parents, players, staff and welfare officers.
Please take a look at the various sections below for information and updates, and if you see something in the game that you feel we should know about, please use the report it button.
Basketball England’s improved safeguarding standards have been recognised by the Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU).
The rigorous annual review, which is conducted on a five-point rating system, rated the organisation as a four, with some areas scoring a five out of five.
The outcome is an improvement on the rating of last season, with recognition amongst other things that we have improved the safe recruitment process through the introduction of the membership portal.
We have undergone our annual review of the Safeguarding Policy. There a number of amendments and new considerations which have been added on reflection of cases. Please take time to read through the new policy and update your club/associations policy.
Areas to note include:
To view the our updated Safeguarding Policy, please click here
Our Code of Ethics and Conduct applies to all those involved in the sport of basketball under the jurisdiction of Basketball England.
All individuals have a responsibility to act according to the highest standards of integrity, and to ensure that the reputation of basketball is beyond reproach.
Basketball England is committed to maintaining the highest possible standards of behaviour and conduct at basketball games so that the sport can be enjoyed by all.
It is widely accepted that in relation to children and young people sports organisations have a duty of care.
The purpose of our duty of care document is to clarify what that duty entails and to provide some guidance as to what steps can be taken in order to demonstrate that this duty is being met.
Basketball England is fully committed to equality in terms of opportunity and open access. This includes commitment to protecting and tackling discrimination and ensuring that no employee, job applicant, volunteer or member receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of the protected characteristics of age, sex, race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins), disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity.
It is the responsibility of Basketball England to regulate participation of persons as competitors in basketball to ensure that it provides fair competition and has due regard for the safety of all competitors.
To find out more and read our Transgender Policy ahead of the new season, please click here
We are pleased to announce that we will be running Time to Listen (TTL) courses for Welfare Officers. TTL is the course which we recommend all WOs complete to prepare you for your role.
We will be running these courses via a Virtual Classroom. We are keeping the cost as low as possible, and are offering this 3 hour course at just £20.00 per person.
The courses will be run at times to suit members. If you are interested in attending, please complete the following form: https://basketballengland.wufoo.com/forms/r1dy2m7o0g7gkx3/
Please state in your response if you are available on weekdays, evenings or weekends. The courses will run in October.
The Safeguarding Team currently accepts DBS checks issued by other employers for licensing, if they are of the correct type and level. This presents a challenge as the Head Office team are often unable to check in-person the authenticity of the certificates.
We are going to be asking members with DBS certificates issued by other employers to either post these to Basketball England or present their certificates to a club/league representative.
The club/league representative will be required to check the certificate’s authenticity and send the required information to the Safeguarding team for licensing.
The club/league representative must be a Welfare Officer or a Club/League administrator who holds a current DBS certificate (issued in the last 3 years).
For full guidance on how to check DBS certificates, click here
We would like to thank everyone who provided feedback this summer about the proposed changes to licensing requirements for Safeguarding.
On the whole, there was a consensus of opinion about the changes and we are grateful to all for explaining the challenges these will pose to individuals and organisations.
We know that all members share a common goal, which is that we want to ensure our sport is as safe as it can be for children. There are points which the respondents raised, which require action by Basketball England, in order to make all of the proposed changes possible. For example, respondents have asked us to look at how we can reduce the cost of DBS checks and Safeguarding training.
For the time being, of the proposals put forward, we can confirm that:
Anyone who licenses as an Officiating Tutor, Officiating Observer, Officiating Coach, Coach Tutor or Coach Assessor will be required to complete the following Safe Recruitment steps prior to licensing for the 2020/21 season
Announcements about other changes will be made at a later date.
Our Data Protection policy is to ensure that Basketball England complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, Data Protection Act 2018, and associated guidance and Codes of Practice issued under the legislation.
In order to operate as a Governing Body and register members, we need to collect and store certain pieces of information.
Our Privacy Notice has been written to inform members of Basketball England about what we do with your personal information in relation to membership management.
Thank you to all of the Welfare Officers that took the time to complete our Welfare Officer’s survey this summer. The winner, who will receive £30 off the BE shop, was a member from Sutton Storm. Congratulations!
The results of the survey have given us a good insight into the level of training and confidence of those taking on the WO role. We have also been given valuable feedback on our service to you, which we will use to make further improvements.
We will be getting in touch shortly with everyone who offered to share examples of good practice and we will be shining a spotlight on the variety of approaches that clubs and associations are taking to bring to life awareness of safeguarding.
We will also be setting up a Yammer group for Welfare Officers on a trial basis. Many of you said that you would like the opportunity to share ideas and network with other Welfare Officers, so from the start of November, we will be contacting Welfare officers to ask if you wish to be added to the network.
