20/10/2022- Clubs

Welfare Officer Community Discussion Event Summary October

BF’s community discussion series continued with another Welfare Officer Discussion Event. A big thank you to all those who attended and contributed. Read the summary to find out what was discussed.

Event Updates

A reminder that allocated Event Welfare Officers need to fill this role exclusively and avoid doubling up on duties. It is important that a Welfare Officer is available at all times as they may become involved in a situation that could take time to resolve and action.
Injury Breaks Update – The Medical Committee and the Rules Committee have agreed that for non-ranking competitions and for competitions for age groups U15 and below the organisers may increase the injury break time (from the 5 minutes permitted by the FIE) to 10 minutes. This should be communicated to participants either as part of the published competition details or to the referees, participants and medics at the start of the event. For more information see the news post here.
Ensure your club risk assessment is up to date;

Sample Club Risk Assessment

This document is also only one example of how risks can be documented and mitigation measures recorded, clubs can simplify or change this according to their needs. Risk assessments (Club or Session) must be retained for insurance purposes.

Please check out our video here for more guidance on Risk Assessments.

If you have a risk to mitigate but need some advice please don’t hesitate to get in touch. As always we welcome feedback – what have we missed, what isn’t clear? Email [email protected] and let us know.

BF Welfare Audit

In light of the recommendations of the Whyte Review the Board of BF has requested a report on the status of Welfare provision in all BF affiliated fencing clubs in order that BF can target support for improvements.

It is recognised that COVID has had an impact on our volunteer workforce and as such clubs may be experiencing challenges with recruiting and training Welfare Officers. It is a priority to urgently identify and work with our clubs to address any gaps in provision. The Board of BF therefore has requested an audit of the status of Welfare provision in fencing clubs in the UK.

The audit is not intended to be onerous or time-consuming. We will circulate a link to a form to complete in late October and clubs will have at least 6 weeks to return the information requested.

We will be asking community clubs to confirm the following information which will be cross checked with the information that BF hold on clubs, coaches and welfare officers to ensure that we have the most accurate information possible of the current status:

A list of committee members and their safeguarding qualifications
The name of their welfare officer(s) or lead safeguarding officer and their safeguarding qualifications
A list of coaching staff and their safeguarding qualifications
Any existing safeguarding action plan to improve welfare provision in their club (this should include any scheduling of training courses required to ensure Welfare Officers are fully trained)
Any areas identified by the club where they would like additional support

Club Secretaries and Club Welfare Officers will be contacted directly by British Fencing and we thank you in advance for your support in this matter.

Full news post here.

Future Discussion Event dates

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