Welcome to the July Safeguarding update from BJA Safeguarding Lead, Keith Eldridge, which includes a round up for Club Welfare Officers, Time to Listen course updates and a reminder about the DBS process.

I want to start this update with a personal thank you to all Club Welfare Officers. You are the eyes and ears of Safeguarding at club level. You do an amazing job and I thank you for this. I am here to support you and I’m happy to chat over any issue or concern anytime.

You may be aware that a recent Independent review of BJA Safeguarding policies and procedures recommended that we make Club Welfare Officers a compulsory post for all clubs and, we believe, that this idea has much merit. However, we would prefer that clubs made that decision of their own accord and in their own time. It is recognised however, that it is likely that it will be made a compulsory post within a year or two for clubs that have junior members. I would therefore urge any of you that do not currently have a CWO, to try and recruit one as soon as possible.

Marina Dain, my Deputy, is the BJA lead for Welfare Officers and she and I will do all we can to assist clubs in the recruitment process, their registration and with any training needs. Please let us know what we can do to help you. You can contact Marina at marina.dain@britishjudo.org.uk.

I know that many of you already have a Club Welfare Officer but some of them are not registered with us and some have let their training lapse. We are here to help with this in any way we can. I would therefore ask that if you do already have a Welfare Officer that you let Marina know so that we can ensure that BJA records are up-to-date and we can direct support wherever it’s needed.

I recently raised the idea of Area Welfare Officers when I met with the English Area Chairs. This would be an additional post that would sit on Area Committees and provide support to Club Welfare Officers. Please contact your Area Committee if this is something that might interest you.

Time to Listen (TTL)

Time to Listen courses are a qualification required to be a Club Welfare Officer (CWO). There is an expectation that you will have completed a Safeguarding and Protecting Children (SPC) course prior to attending any training course. The BJA does not provide this training but will accept any course delivered by another NGB for sport delivering the training in a multi-sport format.

We will also accept a qualification delivered by a local Active Partnership. The majority of courses are currently being delivered via a virtual classroom platform, so a quick search on the internet will identify all training currently available. Whenever we are made aware of any relevant courses we add them to the website so always check the event diary to see what courses may be available.

DBS Process

Do you need a DBS as part of regulated activity as a coach or Club welfare Officer for the British Judo Association? Simply provide your full name and a personal email address to marina.dain@britishjudo.org.uk

You will be issued with an electronic link to complete the process.

Once it has been completed, then to save time and money in the future, please consider signing up to the DBS update service, which allows you to provide your consent for us to access your DBS electronically. Providing you don’t receive a criminal conviction and maintain the subscription you will never need to apply for a DBS again.

I know this will be a busy time for most of you as we take the next steps on the return to the mat. I wish you every success with that. Please do get in touch if we can assist with anything.

Keith Eldridge
BJA Safeguarding Manager
Keith.eldridge@britishjudo.org.uk