Consett ASC are first club to submit evidence for Stronger Affiliation process

Officials from the first swimming club to submit evidence for Swim England’s Stronger Affiliation guidelines have told how easy the process was.

As secretary of Consett ASC, Julie Tait was tasked to complete the procedure which is being introduced to show clubs are well run and have necessary safeguarding checks in place.

Julie said it was the first ideal step for the club to take to ensure they will remain affiliated with Swim England in 2021 while they continue to work towards SwimMark.

Clubs who are not currently SwimMark accredited must show evidence that they comply with six elements of Stronger Affiliation before 31 December – or face the risk of them being suspended temporarily or permanently at the beginning of 2021.

Swim England is to stage a number of webinars to help clubs through the process – something Consett ASC took full advantage of.

Julie said: “When Swim England announced the introduction of the Stronger Affiliation process, this seemed like the ideal first step for the club to achieve an accreditation while continuing to work towards SwimMark.

“We found that a lot of the information required was already available within the club but just needed to be pulled together.

“Once collated, the process of uploading it onto the SwimMark portal was very easy.

Follow their lead

“The portal also includes templates and examples of the information we needed to provide, and any items which we were unclear about could be referred to our North East Regional Development Officer, Sarah Small, who we found to be extremely helpful and supportive during the process.

“For clubs looking into the Stronger Affiliation process, I would highly recommend attending an Online Information Workshop as once everything is explained, and you can see how the process works, it shows how achievable it is.

“The elements within the accreditation, combined with internal policies, give a club structure and foundations upon which to build to ensure both compliance with Wavepower and the wellbeing and safety of all its members.”

Jon Keating, Swim England Club Development Director, said: “We’re thrilled that Consett ASC have found the whole process simple to use and would encourage others to follow their lead.

“The webinars are an excellent way to find out how straightforward it is to submit evidence and also gives clubs an opportunity to ask any questions they may have.”