Bird & Bird Guide to Safeguarding Regulation in Sport

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Bird & Bird Guide to Safeguarding Regulation in Sport.

For nearly a decade, Bird & Bird has been helping national and international sports clients with their approach to safeguarding and their management of safeguarding cases. The content of the Guide is informed by that experience, our wider experience in sports regulation, and our experience of dealing with other professionals in respect of safeguarding matters.

We understand that responsible sports organisations take safeguarding seriously and wish to protect everyone involved in sport, particularly those who might be more vulnerable to abuse. However, we also recognise the significant challenges sports organisations face in implementing effective safeguarding measures, particularly because there is no uniform approach to safeguarding regulation in sport and resources are finite. In that respect, while we do not claim to have all the answers, the launch of the Guide might be particularly timely against a backdrop of increasing calls for more consistency in approach to safeguarding and safeguarding regulation across sport. We hope that the content of the Guide is useful to all those concerned with or interested in safeguarding in sport.

The Guide is organised into clear, practical sections covering key areas of safeguarding regulation in sport. These include:

• Scope of persons covered by safeguarding regulations
• The ‘harm’ provision
• Supporting provisions
• Provisional suspensions
• Safeguarding investigations and expert risk assessments
• Dealing with Participants of concern who are, or become, subject to physical and/or mental health issues
• Agreed safeguarding outcomes
• Safeguarding procedures/proceedings
• Exceptional material
• Burden and standard of proof, and admissibility of evidence
• Risk management measures and sanctions
• Decisions and publication of decisions
• International and national jurisdiction, and giving decisions worldwide effect

Whether you are updating your safeguarding policies, regulations and/or procedures, or starting from scratch, the Guide is designed to support you.

Of course, if you have any queries about the Guide, or we can otherwise support your safeguarding efforts, please do not hesitate to contact any of the team members profiled in the Guide.

Click here to access the Guide

Click here for Episode 1 of our new sports podcast series ‘Safeguarding – what sport needs to know’