Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

Keeping children and adults safe from abuse in our organisation and in the organisations we fund.

The Triathlon Trust is committed to protecting children and adults from suffering or being likely to suffer abuse from within our organisation and those we work with and fund. The purpose of this policy is to set out our approach to, and responsibilities for safeguarding and protecting children and adults.

Definitions

  • “adult” is defined as anyone who is aged 18 years of age or older.
  • “child/ren” is defined as anyone under the 18 years of age.
  • “abuse” is defined as when a person or organisation harms a child or adult. The NSPCC and the Ann Craft trust have identified a number of types of abuse that may affect children or adults.

Policy statement

  • The Triathlon Trust takes its responsibility to safeguard and protect children and adults seriously and is committed to ensuring all children and adults we work with directly or indirectly are kept safe and protected from abuse. All allegations or suspicions of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly, fairly, and appropriately.
  • The Triathlon Trust will ensure that every organisation we fund or work with has in place robust safeguarding policies and procedures designed to keep children and adults safe from abuse.

This policy applies to all Triathlon Trust staff, trustees, volunteers, donors and beneficiaries we fund or work with – Safeguarding and protecting children and adults is everyone’s responsibility.

To safeguarding children and adults the Triathlon Trust will:

  • Appoint a Designated Safeguarding Officer (a non-executive director) with responsibility for safeguarding and protecting children and adults.
  • Ensure robust systems are in place to manage safeguarding concerns and that where a safeguarding concern is raised within the trust the procedure set out in this policy is followed.
  • Ensure children their families and adults know where to go for help if they have a concern.
  • Require that all beneficiaries maintain adequate safeguarding policies and procedures, and to notify the Triathlon Trust of any safeguarding concerns linked to activity funded by the trust and how they have been dealt with. The Triathlon Trust will also ask about safeguarding on review visits to beneficiaries. Lack of response to safeguarding concerns, or failure to disclose them, may mean the Triathlon Trust will not consider further funding to an organisation until improvements are made.
  • Ensure where the Triathlon Trust is alerted to a safeguarding concern in a funded beneficiary the Trust will refer the concern to the organisation in question so that its own procedures can be followed. If the Safeguarding issue or the organisation’s approach to addressing the issue raises further concerns, the Designated Safeguarding Officer will decide on the severity of the concern if appropriate, contact the Safeguarding Team of the relevant local authority and/or police if necessary.

Responding to a safeguarding concern

Everyone has a responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of children and to take appropriate steps to ensure that concerns regarding the risk of and/or actual abuse or harm are taken seriously and responded to quickly, appropriately and reported, even if it may not have occurred recently. If you think a child is in immediate danger or requires medical attention, you should call the emergency services.

It is important to remember the safety and welfare of children is paramount and must be prioritised at all times. You should not decide whether or not a child has been abused, nor it is not your responsibility to investigate any safeguarding concerns or allegation, nor determine whether abuse or harm has taken place, but rather report concerns appropriately.

Contacts

Triathlon Trust’s Designated Safeguarding Officer:

Phone Number: +44 771 218 8081
Email: steverice@triathlontrust.org
Emergency Services: 999
You can also ring the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.

NSPCC trained helpline counsellors are available 24 hours a day by email. You can call the Helpline Monday to Friday 8am – 10pm or 9am – 6pm at the weekends.

Reporting and dealing with safeguarding concerns

Examples of safeguarding concerns include:

  • A failure to safeguard and protect the safety and welfare of a child or adult from abuse or harm.
  • Harm was caused or was likely to have been caused to the safety and welfare of a child or adult.
  • An actual, probable, or potential risk of harm to the safety and welfare of a child or adult.
  • Behaviour or conduct which indicates an organisation, club, or individual may not be suitable to work with children or adults.
  • A failure to uphold the Triathlon Trusts’ safeguarding policy.

In any of these circumstances, the person who first becomes aware of the safeguarding concern should inform the Triathlon Trust’s Designated Safeguarding Officer (unless the child or adult is in immediate danger or requires medical attention– see above). If the concern relates to the Triathlon Trust’s Designated Safeguarding Officer the report must be made to the Chair of the Triathlon Trust. The Designated Safeguarding Officer will:

  • Where necessary trigger the Triathlon Trusts Serious Incident Reporting Policy
  • Where the safeguarding concern relates to (or is notified to us by) a beneficiary the Designated Safeguarding Officer will contact the safeguarding lead at the beneficiary organisation and require assurance that appropriate measures to investigate the safeguarding concern have been taken, including notifying relevant statutory agencies.
  • Where they have reason to think that an organisation may not deal appropriately with a safeguarding concern raised, or the organisation fails to follow notification procedures or provide follow up to the Triathlon Trust, or it is considered that the Triathlon Trust might reasonably be expected to do so, they may decide to inform relevant statutory agencies directly.
  • If the safeguarding concern relates to an external person not linked to a funded beneficiary, the Designated Safeguarding Officer will refer the matter directly to the appropriate statutory agency.
  • If the safeguarding concern relates to alleged conduct by a volunteer or trustee of the Triathlon Trust, the Designated Safeguarding Officer will report the matter to the Chair (or in their absence, or if the allegation is about the Chair, the CEO of British Triathlon) who will consult with the board to determine on appropriate process to follow which is proportionate to the concern raised.
  • Ensures that records are kept in line with the Triathlon Trusts confidentiality and data protection policies.

Monitoring and review

The Triathlon Trust will monitor the effectiveness of this policy regularly to ensure its suitability, adequacy and effectiveness. Any improvements identified will be made as soon as possible. The policy will be reviewed by the Board every year.

Policy name: Triathlon Trust Safeguarding and Protection Policy
Version: 1
Date approved: 06 June 2024
Next review due: 06 June 2026