Almost a quarter of clubs have completed or begun Stronger Affiliation process

Almost a quarter of the Swim England affiliated clubs that need to submit evidence to meet new Stronger Affiliation guidelines have either completed or begun the process.

Swim England has created Stronger Affiliation so its affiliated clubs which are not yet SwimMark accredited, of which there are around 450, can prove they are well run and their personnel have the necessary safeguarding checks and qualifications in place to ensure members’ safety.

Evidence must be submitted and approved by 1 December 2020 or clubs face the risk of being suspended temporarily or permanently at the beginning of 2021.

So far, 20 clubs have met the Stronger Affiliation standards and more than 90 have started the process.

The first club to submit evidence for Stronger Affiliation, Consett ASC in the Swim England North East region, has since gone on to gain SwimMark accreditation.

This has been described as a ‘superb achievement’ in such a short space of time with the club clearly recognising the benefits of becoming accredited and having all the relevant policies and procedures in place to run effectively.

Three months available

Helen Weeks, Swim England Club Governance and Standards Manager, said: “We’re pleased to see almost a quarter of our non-accredited clubs have either completed or begun work on Stronger Affiliation.

“However, there are still many who haven’t yet started the process and we’d encourage them to start compiling the necessary evidence sooner rather than later with only three months available to complete the process.”

The following six pieces of evidence for clubs need to be provided and approved by December 2020 by clubs who don’t have SwimMark essential accreditation.

1. Club Constitution – an approved club constitution by the region ideally from 2018 Swim England Model Constitution onwards.
2. Welfare Officer statement of compliance – signed statement of compliance by the Welfare Officer stating the club is being run in accordance with WavePower 2020-23 guidelines.
3. Club Chair statement of compliance – signed statement of compliance that the club is following Swim England Code of Ethics and has role descriptions within the club.
4. Risk Assessments – provide Risk Assessments relevant to the activities of your club.
5. Club Personnel Report – one document downloaded from the Online Membership System (OMS) giving detail of all club personnel in positions of Governance, Officials, Club and Competition support roles and Coaches and/or Teachers.
6. Safeguarding certificate and Time to Listen certificate from Swim England approved course list for Club Welfare Officer.

To start uploading evidence for the Stronger Affiliation process, clubs need to email the Club Development team and Swim England club officers can then activate access to the portal and guide them through the upload process.

Clubs can also email [email protected] to register their interest in a national Stronger Affiliation information online workshop which is taking place on Monday 28 September at 7pm.