Become a Welfare Officer

All BF-affiliated Clubs & Events must have a Welfare Officer in place. If you are a club seeking to understand what the club needs to do, please click here.

1. Hold a valid BF membership
2. Get a valid up to date criminal record check
3. Start reviewing existing club policies and procedures.
4. Book into attend (and attend) training
5. Ask club to assign you as Welfare Contact in the Club profile on the BF Membership Platform (Sport80)
6. Contact BF and request addition to the BF Welfare Officer Register

1. HOLD A VALID BF MEMBERSHIP

The membership type can be Supporter or any level above that. Memberships are renewed on a yearly basis. Please make sure yours is renewed before the expiry date to avoid becoming non-compliant on the Welfare Officer register.

A valid membership ensures that you agree to follow BF policies and are covered by the BF public liability insurance (subject to appropriate checks and qualifications being in place).

2. HAVE A VALID UP TO DATE CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK:

Click here to read more about the criminal record checks valid for each Home Country.

For England and Wales, you will need to obtain an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check certificate and sign up for the online Update Service. The online Update Service is free for volunteers and will automatically roll over. If you do not join the online Update Service, BF is only allowed to see the original certificates which have to be sent to and returned by BF have to return by recorded post. You will then need to have apply for a new certificate in 3 years.

3. START REVIEWING EXISTING CLUB WELFARE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

If these exist, they will be provided by the club as part of your induction. We recommend bringing them to your training.

If they do not exist, we recommend booking onto the En Garde Ready course as soon as practically possible. This training works as a guide through these documents and will give welfare officers the information that they need to support their clubs to implement, maintain and execute fencing-specific welfare policies and procedures.

BF Welfare policies and guidelines can be found here.

4. BOOK IN TO ATTEND THE REQUIRED TRAINING FOR WELFARE OFFICERS

In order to show you have an understanding of safeguarding and protecting children in the sporting context you need to have attended the required training described here.

Primarily, the courses accepted are the ones explained here and anything different will be assessed on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the BF Lead Safeguarding Officer. Welfare training from outside the sport sector will not be accepted as it will not cover the sport specific elements of safeguarding.

BF will grant a 6 month “in training” period for identified volunteers who already have a criminal record check and a Safeguarding and Protecting Children certificate (or Home Nation equivalent) to train up to meet the full Club Welfare Officer standard. 

All the certificates must be uploaded by you to the BF Membership platform (Sport80). More details on how to do that here.

• Safeguarding and protecting children training (Home Nation specific, more info here) valid 3 years
• En Garde, Ready? (EGR) course no expiration
• Welfare Officer training (Home Nation specific, more info here) valid 3 years

BF courses can be found here. Additional courses will be run on-demand, so please contact us if you can’t find a suitable course in your area.

5. ASK YOUR CLUB SECRETARY TO ASSIGN THE WELFARE OFFICER AS THE WELFARE CONTACT ON THE BF MEMBERSHIP PLATFORM: The person who has permission on the Sport80 platform to assign roles is the Club Secretary.  Ask them to appoint you as the Welfare Contact for your club. If you need help in this process, please contact headoffice@britishfencing.com.

6. REQUEST TO BE ADDED TO THE BF WELFARE OFFICER REGISTER

Please contact the BF Development Team here and ask to be added to the BF Welfare Officer Register. As a minimum you must have a valid criminal record check, a safeguarding and protecting children certificate (or Home Nation equivalent) uploaded into your Membership profile and be booked into attending EGR and Welfare Officer training courses within the following 6 months.