Having started his own youth boxing club, Darren finds that more young people are interested in joining, and therefore he needs more coaches and volunteers to help out. He asks one of his friends to help, who used to box when they were younger, but his friend says they have something a bit ‘embarrassing’ on their criminal record, that they do not want to talk about or bring up. Darren says that as they will be supervised by another coach during the sessions, they would not require a DBS.
Is this right? Is there anything else that Darren should be considering as part of taking on new coaches and volunteers?
There are a few things to unpick here.
Put simply, Darren is right, for now, in that up until 1st September 2026, assistant coaches who were sufficiently supervised by a head coach, do not require a DBS certificate to work or volunteer with children. However, the rules will change on the 1st September to mean that even under supervision of another coach, Darren’s friend would require to complete a DBS certificate. You can read more about the rule changes here.
With the friend having something potentially ‘embarrassing’ on their criminal record, should this prevent the friend from applying for a DBS, and should Darren be worried about what this content might be? Click through to the Sport Welfare page of our website to read a bit more.
What might the ‘embarrassing’ content be on Darren’s friend’s criminal record? Maybe they stole a packet of sweets from a shop when they were younger, or maybe the offence was something a lot more serious, which might mean that they pose a potential risk to children if they were to now be involved in regulated activity with children. The friend is not obliged to tell Darren, and they can submit their DBS application (through England Boxing in this situation), and either wait for the green light to go ahead, or comply with any additional investigation or controls set by England Boxing, which might even prevent them from being involved.
Assuming the DBS is accepted, from Darren’s perspective, there are also some steps that he might wish to take alongside this to help to ensure that the friend is suitable to be involved at his club; to ensure that they will be a good fit, and that the club’s values and ethos are not compromised by the appointment. Even if people are friends, this should not mean that safer recruitment checks do not need to be carried out.
Some of these steps might include:
- Carrying out online searches of an individual and their social media; do you really want someone who expresses hate speech or support for individuals or organisations that do not align with the club’s morals and standards, for example?
- Providing a self-declaration form to the potential applicant, to share any information they consider a club or organisation may need to be aware of; they might not share anything, but you as a club can demonstrate due diligence here.
- Giving the potential applicant a safeguarding or welfare scenario to see what they might do; even if they suggest a solution that is unwise, this provides an opportunity to share a more appropriate response, and opens up a discussion about safeguarding being everybody’s responsibility, and how to respond to concerns raised.
- Asking for character references.
- Ensuring they agree to your code of conduct, and know about your safeguarding policy.
Remember too that Safer Recruitment is an ongoing process, so you may wish to incorporate initiatives such as a trial period / supervision / regular check-in with the applicant once they are in the role. Just because someone has started in the role, it does not mean that a club or organisation are obliged to keep people involved, especially if they are a volunteer.
The Sport Welfare Team are offering a free, bitesize ‘1 hour’ learning session about Safer Recruitment later next month; please see here for more details and to sign up.
