In Our Position As A Governing Body

As an organisation, we ensure the following to do everything possible to uphold the highest safeguarding standards;

• • We take our position as a large governing body seriously and will always advocate, advise and participate in industry level discussions around safeguarding in martial arts. This involves remaining active on panels and committees to ensure our best practice guidance is in-line with the highest standards deliverable in martial arts.

• • We pay for a nominated safeguarding body to act as our safeguarding advisory experts. This ensures we’re always seeking guidance from the best-in-class experts and professionals on all matters safeguarding.

• • We have built into our safeguarding policy since 2014 the compulsory obligation to escalate all safeguarding reports and concerns to our nominated safeguarding provider. This ensures all issues are passed to an external, impartial organisation who advises on our recommended course of action. We believe this helps us act in an unbiased and objective way, removing any inter-organisational conflicts of interests.

• • We always take any and all safeguarding concerns brought to our attention seriously, and will never fail to escalate a relevant concern to the LADO or Police where necessary. 

• • We effectively record-keep on all safeguarding matters and have a clear and specific confidentiality agreement in place with partners and employees to protect the integrity of safeguarding incidents.

• • We have a nominated safeguarding lead who is properly qualified available 24/7, 365 days a year should there be any form of critical issue requiring immediate action.

• • All of our staff and consultants are qualified and vetted to the highest possible standards, ensuring everyone on the end of e-mails, phones and support channels feel equipped and confident to deal with safeguarding questions and queries from the public.

• • We have a clear reporting procedure in place which allows members of the public to confidentially report an instructor or club’s conduct, with clear and impartial guidance available online freely to help a parent or participant understand what standards they should expect at club level.

• • We co-operate and fully support Sport England’s Martial Arts Safeguarding Code, and have been one of the first registered (and a very vocal) participant since the programme’s release.

• • We have a nominated safeguarding countersignatory from our voluntary committee to help provide direct assistance and support to students and parents.
  • We regularly review our safeguarding policies, procedures, risk assessments and priorities, liaising with our expert safeguarding advisors on all matters relating to best practice guidance.

• • We hold effective insurance for our Directors and Officers, as well as provisioning abuse extension insurance for instructors if required.

• We provide national record databases that can be searched in real-time by any members of the public, allowing anyone to confirm an instructor’s vetting status and whether or not they’re insured, licensed, DBS checks, safeguard qualified, first aid trained and more.

How We Support Our Clubs & Instructors

We know that safeguarding can seem like an endless, complicated and difficult matter for clubs who are often stripped of time and funds. To assist in the delivery of the best possible safeguarding standards we provide the following to member clubs and instructors;

• • Completely free and unbiased advice and guidance on all matters relating to safeguarding best-practice.

• • Template documents and forms to help clubs construct effective safeguarding policies and procedures as quickly as possible.

• • Access to specialist abuse extension insurance for clubs and instructors to protect from wrongful allegations.

• • Access to specialist support tools, such as guidance from our safeguarding expert body.

• • Access to heavily discounted safeguarding qualifications and training.

• • Access to basic, standard and enhanced DBS checks to enable clubs to perform background vetting on instructors, staff and volunteers.

• • Guidance and best practice on how to escalate safeguarding concerns to relevant government and council authorities.

What We Expcet Of Our Members

We expect complete compliance with our approach to safeguarding. All instructors, coaches, students and volunteers must comply. Accordingly, we expect all members to;

• • Follow our national guidance on safeguarding best practice, including taking the the time to read and digest our national safeguarding policy.
  • Undertake any safeguarding qualifications or training recommended by the association based on their role, and to ensure the relevant course or qualification is kept up to date.
  • To comply fully with any safeguarding enquiry, investigation or audit
  • To ensure martial arts safeguarding remains a key priority for any club or instructor teaching adults at risk or young persons.