Following changes to the Working Together to Safeguard Children Act 2018, STA has updated the STA Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults Policy, online programme and resources.

The following resources / documentation has been updated:

• STA Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults Policy
• STA Swimming Teaching Code of Practice v21.1
• STA Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults Portfolio including Answer Portfolio v21.1
• STA Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults PowerPoint v21.1
• Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults Online Programme.

The updated versions of the new resources can be found on STA Online.

The three main changes are:

Definition of a child or young person;

In England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland a child or young person is considered in law to be anyone aged 17 years or under.

Designated Safeguarding Officer

A Child Protection Officer is now referred to as a Designated Safeguarding Officer.

Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH)

Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB) or Safeguarding Adult Boards (SAB) have been replaced by Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH).

MASH is a single point contact to improve the way that local safeguarding partnerships deal with child protection referrals, bringing a range of partners together into a single multi-agency safeguarding hub to share information quickly and efficiently as possible. If there is an immediate safeguarding concern where a child / young person or vulnerable adult is deemed at risk or has potentially suffered significant harm, the local MASH team should be contacted immediately.

Members may also contact their local MASH team for advice regarding safeguarding concerns.

If you have any questions regarding these requirements, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.