Swim Wales

Swim Wales is the National Governing Body for Aquatics in Wales which includes Swimming, Water-Polo, Para Swimming, Diving, Artistic Swimming, Open Water, and Masters Swimming and is based at the Wales National Pool, Swansea.

The challenge: managing multiple safeguarding environments

Swim Wales aims to provide an environment to keep all children and young people safe, a place they can thrive in their chosen sport free from harm.  All clubs and organisations affiliated to Swim Wales are governed by Swim Wales and must meet certain criteria.  Swim Wales’ policies and procedures are in place to protect members and also the general-public. 

The types of safeguarding concerns managed can vary from low level concerns right up to where child protection procedures need to be instigated. Serious cases are fortunately few and far between. Upholding a strong position for values and culture within our affiliated organisation’s is a ‘must do’.

Ensuring Safeguarding Policy and effectiveness is consistent across their member’s multiple environments is vital. Therefore, having a proactive safeguarding approach is seen as very important to mitigate any risk and is a key requirement for Swim Wales.  

The solution - Tes MyConcern

“MyConcern has meant no more notebooks or storing information on home computers. It means that if any concern is raised, I am aware of it immediately and can easily identify any trends in any club or organisation and provide specific support", said Zita Cameron, Head of Governance at Swim Wales. It protects not only the individual’s personal information in a secure way but those in a position of responsibility managing a concern have a method that is supportive of data protection.

All clubs must now sign a declaration confirming they are adopting the Swim Wales’s child and adults at risk safeguarding policies. This helps to share good practice between all the affiliated clubs and organisations. “We try to ensure that everyone involved understands their responsibility around safeguarding,” explains Zita Cameron. “To help, we keep Club Welfare Officers up to speed with any new legislation or regulation and run educational forums for them every quarter.”   We have an ‘open door’ policy enabling Welfare Officers to speak directly with myself.

Having a secure system that is GDPR compliant was vital to Swim Wales, as everyone in the clubs are volunteers and our duty of care must at all times extend across the breadth of membership.

The outcomes

"The impact of MyConcern has been absolutely massive! It has created an improved awareness of the concerns our clubs manage. That allows me to have a good picture of what is going on and to take action about some very positive actions we can put in place to support any club with training and for all welfare officers to learn about the concerns coming through and maintain confidentiality when providing learning opportunities."