We place the safeguarding and welfare of young people high on our agenda. It's the responsibility of every adult involved in football, thus every club is required to endorse and adhere to The FA’s Safeguarding Children Policy.

It’s important to remember that every child or young person, defined as any person under the age of 18, or adult at risk, who plays or participates in football should be able to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from abuse.

We offer a range of safeguarding services and training to help create a safe and enjoyable football experience for everyone. We ensure safeguarding requirements are met as a requirement of club affiliation and we support clubs to maintain these standards. This includes making unannounced safeguarding visits to clubs.

At the beginning of each season, all clubs need to name a Club Welfare Officer (CWO). We recognise that, without volunteer CWOs, football in Essex wouldn't have as many safeguards in place. These people, who are Disclosure and Barring Service- checked (DBS), will be able to advise you of any concerns you may have regarding young people.

They will have, or will be attending, a Safeguarding Children Workshop, enabling them to be able to deal with welfare issues. As well as a CWOs, your league also has a League Welfare Officer. The FA use DBSs, which are conducted on an individual to make sure they do not have any convictions which might mean they are not safe to work with young people. CWOs can also attend a Welfare Officer Workshop.

In early 2020, local youngster Charlie won our design competition with his poster to promote safeguarding services. The content and overall impression of Charlie’s design was exactly what we were looking for! You can download the poster here.

He captured all the messages in such an eye-catching way. We're always looking out for more new designs… so be creative! Ideally, the artwork should be really appealing to young people, with a football theme. They need to be simple, and contain all the vital information. We're looking forward to seeing what the young people of Essex can come up with!

NHS England Safeguarding App: This app continues to support frontline staff and citizens with 24-hour, mobile access to up-to-date safeguarding guidance and local contacts to report safeguarding concerns. It is accessed by over 300 users daily and has had over 61,000 downloads.

The app provides an overview of necessary legislation and guidance covering both children's and adults' safeguarding as well as an NHS staff guide and contains regional contact information on how to report a safeguarding concern. It also includes links to national bodies. You can access the app via Apple iOS or Google Play or it can be downloaded by visiting your device’s appropriate app store and searching for ‘NHS Safeguarding’.