Safeguarding requirements to work or volunteer in basketball
The safeguarding for different roles in basketball, including coaches, officials and safeguarding officers.
There are safeguarding requirements for anyone licensing to work/volunteer in basketball and for some roles outside of licencing.
The requirements differ, depending on the license you are applying for or the role you are undertaking. The table below explains what is required for each role.
Please note that Officials' licenses are transferrable, meaning that they can be used in Junior and Senior competition, and therefore the Safeguarding checks apply to all Official’s licenses. For anyone U18 please read below.
| ROLE | AGE CATEGORY | DBS | SYSTEM REQUIREMENT | SAFEGUARDING CERTIFICATE | SYSTEM REQUIREMENT | PLAYHQ REGISTRATION |
| Junior | YES | See below – DBS criteria | YES | See below – Safeguarding certificate criteria | YES | |
| Senior/Junior | YES | See below – DBS criteria | YES | See below – Safeguarding certificate criteria | YES | |
| COACH | ||||||
| Senior | NO | CWO to email safeguarding team confirming no U18s in team. Please note, CWO/club retain responsibility for ensuring appropriate checks are then put in place should an U18 join. | NO | CWO to email safeguarding team confirming no U18s in team. Please note, CWO/club retain responsibility for ensuring appropriate checks are then put in place should an U18 join. | YES | |
| Junior | YES | See below – DBS criteria | YES | See below – Safeguarding certificate criteria | YES | |
| Senior/Junior | YES | See below – DBS criteria | YES | See below – Safeguarding certificate criteria | YES | |
| BENCH PERSONNEL | ||||||
| Senior | NO | CWO to email safeguarding team confirming no U18s in team. Please note, CWO/club retain responsibility for ensuring appropriate checks are then put in place should an U18 join. | NO | CWO to email safeguarding team confirming no U18s in team. Please note, CWO/club retain responsibility for ensuring appropriate checks are then put in place should an U18 join. | YES | |
| REFEREE | All | YES | See below – DBS criteria | YES | See below – Safeguarding certificate criteria | YES |
| TABLE OFFICIAL | All | YES | See below – DBS criteria | YES | See below – Safeguarding certificate criteria | YES |
| All | YES | See below – DBS criteria | YES | See below – Safeguarding certificate criteria | YES | |
| STATISTICIAN | ||||||
| CLUB WELFARE OFFICER | Link for full requirements for this role | |||||
| TEAM MANAGER | SAME AS COACH/BENCH PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS, SEE ABOVE | |||||
| OTHER CLUB ROLE | WORKING WITH CHILDREN – There may be other roles within your club that don’t necessarily fall into one of the above categories but involve working with children and satisfy the requirement for an enhanced DBS check. This is not an exclusive list but this could include people who help drive a club minibus, a first aider/medic, the club physiotherapist, the assistant club welfare officer, parent ‘helpers.’ These people MUST meet the same requirements as the above roles, for example, DBS, safeguarding certificate, register with PlayHQ. If you are unsure whether someone meets the requirements for any of the above, please contact the safeguarding team. NOT WORKING WITH CHILDREN – this may include roles such as the club secretary, treasurer, club administrator. However, please be aware that some people doing these roles may ALSO work with children in their capacity and involvement in the club. While people often request an enhanced DBS check for these positions they are not coaching, teaching, or instructing, caring for, or supervising, advising or guiding on wellbeing, driving or providing first aid and therefore do not qualify for a check. Please see https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-eligibility-guidance These people MUST meet the same requirements as the above roles, for example, DBS, safeguarding certificate, register with PlayHQ. If you are unsure whether someone meets the requirements for any of the above, please contact the safeguarding team. |
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If you are under 18 and work with juniors, once over 16 years old you are required to obtain a DBS check and you are required to register via PlayHQ. You are required to complete the Basketball England safeguarding course once 18.
DBS criteria
Coaches, Bench Personnel and Officials who are over the age of 16 must either;
1. Register under our membership system, PlayHQ (https://www.basketballengland.co.uk/membership/). A DBS check will be generated upon registration.
2. Outside of registration, if your DBS expires mid-season, please contact the Basketball England safeguarding team on [email protected]. You need to send us your full name, email address, role in basketball and confirm whether you are a volunteer or non-volunteer. To qualify for a volunteer check, you must not: benefit financially from the position for which the application is being submitted or receive any payment (except for travel and other approved out-of-pocket expenses)
3. If you have a DBS from another employer, if this is valid within the last three years and enhanced, with a check of the children’s barred list, this can be verified for licencing purposes/role requirements. Your original certificate must be shown in person to your BE registered club welfare officer and they will email [email protected] with the required details.
Your CWO will need to send the safeguarding team the following information as seen on the certificate:
- Full Name
- DBS certificate number
- Date of issue
- Role as presented on the certificate
- Confirmation of level of children, does this include the Children's Barred list?
- Any content on the DBS in any section
If you are on the update service please email [email protected]. Please note if we have not previously verified the certificate on the update service you will also need to follow the above step.
Safeguarding certificate criteria
Any requiring a safeguarding certificate are required to complete the Basketball England safeguarding course. If you are new to coaching, you must complete a 3-hour tutor-led Safeguarding and Protecting Children course as your introduction to safeguarding. Please see our Safeguarding Training and Research page. Please note you can sign up to Basketball England courses via PlayHQ.
Your safeguarding certificate is valid for three years once completed. Basketball England will update your membership profile upon successful completion of this course.
If your role requires addition modules, such as the club welfare officer module, please follow the above link to access this course.
Self-declaration forms
The content of what was previously Basketball England SG1/SG2 forms is now incorporated into membership registration on PlayHQ. Please note, if you answer yes to the following questions you must contact the Basketball England safeguarding team, any failure to do so may result in membership/licence suspension:
- Have you been the subject of any disciplinary investigation and/or sanction by any organisation due to concerns about your behaviour towards children or vulnerable adults? This includes any Basketball England investigations. This includes being know to Children’s Services or Police as being a risk or potential risk to children or vulnerable adults.
- Have you ever been convicted or apprehended under the following offences which are not eligible for DBS filtering such as - Offences involving violence / Safeguarding offences / Sexual offences / Drugs offences that involve supply
- Since the age of 18 years old, have you lived overseas for a duration of more than 6 months in any 12 month rolling period