Swim England to publish updated regulations in September

Swim England is to publish updated regulations which aim to reduce the workload on club officials and volunteers by offering increased structure and support when dealing with complaints or safeguarding concerns.

The revised Judicial and Safeguarding Regulations will come into effect from 3 September 2024 and aim to ensure a fairer process for all involved.

They have been updated as part of the next phase of work following recommendations contained in the Weston Report, which was published in March, and findings from the Listening Report.

The regulations cover, among other things, club complaints, safeguarding, judicial complaints, a new role of Swim England disciplinary officer and complaints made during water polo matches.

Swim England is to host a series of briefing sessions in July and August to help raise awareness of the changes ahead of their implementation – and the regulations and supporting guidance will be published prior to them going live for all to see and understand the revisions..

The key changes include: 

Safeguarding

Swim England’s safeguarding regulations have been drafted from scratch to provide a fairer, more independent process for all. 

Any temporary suspension imposed is no longer indefinite andfinal sanctions will only be imposed by a judicial committee with safeguarding experience, following a hearing.

Sanctions guidelines will provide clarity and consistency for members – while there are more specifically detailed responsibilities for welfare officers across the sport.

Club complaints

The regulations for club complaints have been reviewed and provide more clarity, structure and time for busy club officials and volunteers.

Swim England will issue guidelines to be used for club complaints, prior to the regulations going live, providing a structure for the hearing, while allowing the chair for the hearing to amend the timeframes if needed in addition to guidance on sanctions to be applied.

An amended appeals process will also ensure that all club complaints are completed quicker.

Judicial complaints

The regulations for judicial complaints have been rewritten for clarity.

Powers attributed to judicial complaint committees have also been more clearly defined within the regulations, supported for guidelines for judicial committees to follow when applying sanctions.

Disciplinary officer

Swim England is to appoint a disciplinary officer.

The purpose of the role is to consider and, where appropriate, investigate cases of serious misconduct which are not safeguarding concerns.

Members will be able to refer cases of serious misconduct to the disciplinary officer, who will then determine the next course of action, which may include investigating the concerns and / or bringing a judicial complaint against the person concerned.

Judicial volunteers

New measures will be put in place to ensure that judicial volunteers receive regular training and have good governance procedures in place.

These include new requirements for training, a code of conduct for volunteers and more clearly-defined roles within terms of reference.

Water polo complaints

Swim England has created a new, faster system for handling judicial complaints resulting from conduct during a water polo match.

This is following feedback from the Swim England Water Polo Leadership Group and will be implemented as part of the wider regulation changes.

Positive step

The current regulations in the Swim England handbook will remain in place until 11:59pm on Monday 2 September.

Lois Jarvis, Swim England’s director of legal, said: “The new regulations are a positive step forward to try offer more structure and support to our volunteers – and we will be providing a significant amount of guidance to help understanding and the rationale behind their introduction.

“We want officials and volunteers to be able to focus their time and efforts on what is most important – the clubs and members involved in all of the aquatic sports.

“The recommendations made in the Weston Report in March 2023 and the findings contained in the Listening Report have helped us to introduce these revised fairer regulations, which aim to reduce the workload for club officers and volunteers. 

“We hope as many people as possible are able to join the briefing sessions over the coming weeks to find out more about the updated regulations.”

The hour-long briefing sessions will take place on the following dates throughout July and August and all are invited to attend:

• Monday 22 July 5pm-6pm
• Thursday 25 July 6.30pm-7.30pm
• Friday 26 July 12pm-1pm
• Monday 12 August 5pm-6pm
• Thursday 15 August 6.30pm-7.30pm
• Friday 16 August 12pm-1pm
• Sunday 18 August 10am-11am

An overview of the changes will be provided and there will be the opportunity to ask questions during the sessions.

To register for one of the sessions, simply click here and choose the date and time.