Anti-Racism Statement

Swim England is committed to tackling racial inequalities to create a more welcoming environment for everyone.

Swim England are proud to hold the Advanced Level of the Equality Standard for Sport. However, we recognise there is a need to do more to denounce and fight racism and positively promote equality, diversity and inclusion inside our organisation, within our membership and throughout our sports and activities. Swim England stands against discrimination in all forms and this statement is part of a suite of policies within our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion portfolio.

The participation and enjoyment of aquatics is key to achieving our Vision of “A Nation Swimming”. In order for everyone in our nation to enjoy aquatic activity, whatever their reason for participating, the environment must be accessible, welcoming and inclusive, a safe space for all to be themselves in and around the water. We understand there is much work to be done to achieve this and we are committed to actions which will enable this.

We have set out our Anti-Racism principles that will underpin our work and which we will embed in all strands of our strategy. All tiers of governance within Sport England have collective responsibility for ensuring adherence to anti-racism principles.

Our Anti-Racism Principles

• Everyone is welcome in our sport
• We unite as a sport against racism, discrimination and harassment
• We stand together to prevent and take action against racism

Our Action Plan

• We will openly stand against racism within our sport and organisation and where we see racism happening, we will speak out and address it.
• We will use our position as the National Governing Body for Swimming in England to advocate publicly our commitment to a fair and inclusive society and stand firmly against
  racism.
• We will advocate for greater voice and representation of people from diverse communities in our sports at all levels.
• We will work with partners and colleagues from diverse communities and in partnership, develop inclusive programmes which lead to greater participation by diverse communities in all aspects of our sport, including in-water based activities, volunteering, teaching and coaching.
• We will embed diversity and inclusion throughout all tiers of the organisation, including training programmes on anti-racism, addressing micro-aggressions and raising awareness of the impact words and actions can have.
• We will implement recruitment policies which will encourage more diverse recruitment and we will develop programmes that ensure we retain, promote and provide equality of opportunity.
• We will set targets to increase our diversity throughout our sport and will monitor these targets annually. These targets will be embedded in our equality, diversity and inclusion action plan and appropriate sections of our overall implementation plan. Where targets are not met, remedial action will be taken.

Should you have any questions about this statement, or our principles, please contact [email protected]