CHILD PROTECTION AND SAFEGUARDING VULNERABLE ADULTS POLICY
While the primary function of Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club is to promote chess, it recognises its responsibility for the welfare of children and vulnerable adults attending meetings and events it organises. It is the policy of Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club to safeguard the welfare of all people attending its meetings and events by protecting them from physical, sexual and emotional harm.
Guidelines
The guidelines that follow apply to any person acting in an official capacity on behalf of Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club.
What happens if……………?
a) you suspect a child is being abused:
1) immediately inform a supervising club official;
2) record the facts as you know them and give them to the club official;
3) ensure that the child has access to an independent adult;
4) ensure that no situation arises which could cause further concern;
5) ensure access to confidential information is appropriately restricted.
b) a child tells you about abuse by someone else:
1) allow the child to speak without interruption, accepting what is said;
2) alleviate feelings of guilt and isolation, while passing no judgement;
3) advise that you will offer support, but that you must refer the matter;
4) as Section a), 1-5.
c) you receive any allegation of abuse about any adult or about yourself:
1) immediately inform the Chairman of Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club;
2) record the facts as you know them and give a copy to the Chairman of Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club;
3) try to ensure that nobody is placed in a position that could cause further compromise.
The Chairman of Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club will take action, which may include contacting Social Services or the Police.
Code of Conduct
• Do put the guidelines into practice;
• Do treat everyone with respect;
• Do provide an example you wish others to follow;
• Do plan activities which involve more than one other person being present
or at least are within sight or hearing of others. This applies to activities such as one-to-one training and travelling to or from chess events;
• Do respect a young person’s right to privacy;
• Do have separate sleeping accommodation for adults and young people;
• Do provide access for young people to talk to identifiable, responsible adults about any concerns they may have. Deal with any concerns in a sympathetic and appropriate manner;
• Do encourage young people and adults to feel comfortable and caring enough to point out attitudes or behaviour they do not like;
• Do avoid situations that compromise your relationship with young people and are unacceptable within a relationship of trust;
• Do remember that someone else might misinterpret your actions, no matter how well-intentioned;
• Do recognise that caution is required even in sensitive moments of counselling;
• Do recognise that children with differing abilities have differing needs;
• Do recognise that children from different backgrounds may have differing
values;
• Do NOT permit abusive peer activities (e.g. bullying, ridiculing);
• Do NOT play physical contact games with young people;
• Do NOT have any inappropriate physical or verbal contact with others;
• Do NOT allow yourself to be drawn into inappropriate attention seeking behaviour such as tantrums;
• Do NOT show favouritism to any individual;
• Do NOT make suggestive remarks or gestures even in fun;
• Do NOT let suspicion, disclosure or allegation of abuse go unrecorded or unreported;
• Do NOT rely on just your good name to protect you;
• Do NOT believe that ‘it could never happen to me’.
Notes on Unacceptable Behaviour by Children
• Participants should be encouraged to develop a sense of right and wrong behaviour;
• Where unacceptable behaviour does take place, appropriate sanctions, decided by a consensus of responsible people present, should be applied to modify the behaviour;
• Sanctions applied to each case should take account of the age and stage of development of the young person, be given at the right time, be relevant to
the action and be fair;
• The participant must always be told why the behaviour is unacceptable and the reasons for applying a particular sanction;
• Corporal punishment (smacking, slapping or shaking) is illegal and therefore should never be used. It is permissible to take necessary physical action in an emergency to prevent personal injury, either to the young person, other participants or adults, or serious damage to property;
• Participants should not be shouted at directly, though raising of the voice is permissible in instances where it is necessary to be heard.
Chairman date 2014
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY
- Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity to all members, who are expected to implement this policy as a condition of club membership.
- All members will be considered in all respects on their own merits and abilities. No member should receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, age, marital status, mental or physical disability, religion or sexual orientation.
- Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club believes that all members should be treated with dignity and respect.
- Carlisle Austin Friars Chess Club aims to respect and consider the views of all members when making decisions.
Any member who feels that they have been discriminated against or treated disrespectfully should discuss this with the Chairman, who shall decide what appropriate action should be taken. Any person accused of behaving in a way that is discriminatory may be asked to leave the club, but not prior to having the opportunity to make representations to the committee.
Chairman date 2014
_______________________________________________________________
Data Protection – The New Rules
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25th May 2018. The GDPR applies to all clubs and counties as separate organisations, regardless of their size. Further information is available on the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office at ICO – GDPR . Please note that the following guidance does not constitute legal advice and if you are concerned about any of these matters you should seek advice from the ICO or other specialists.
General information:
• All information you collect relating to your members is “personal data”. Keep it secure and only use if for the purpose for which it was collected. Do not pass it on to anyone unless that was explicitly part of the reason for collecting it – e.g. passing on membership details to the ECF to facilitate membership renewals or grading are both purposes for which the data was collected.
• Information relating to guests is also “personal data” and covered by the same requirements as that of members, though likely to be more limited in scope.
• If you keep paper records they should be secure – if on club premises they should be locked, with a note taken of who are key-holders.
• If you keep your records on a computer, they should only be accessible by appropriate people – the computer and/or the folders in which they are contained should be locked and/or encrypted. There is more information about this available from the ICO – see – ICO – Encryption
• Only appropriately authorised people should have access to members’ records. Passwords should be changed whenever these roles are filled by new people.
• Emails should not be sent to groups of people in a way that makes their email addresses visible. To avoid this, either use a mailshot program or blind copy (bcc) all the recipients.
• For committees where you would like them to be able to reply to all recipients to continue a discussion, it is acceptable to copy them all in the usual fashion provided they give their consent. Similarly, personal contact details should only be displayed on websites if specific consent has been obtained. It may be sensible for this information, if it must be available, to be in a password-protected area of the website, only available to members.
• Clubs should not issue lists of members’ contact details (telephone number and email address) to all their members without the specific consent of the members concerned. Any clubs
that currently publish such a list should contact all members on it to ask whether they wish to remain on the list. They should be asked to “opt in” to this – it is not permissible for the default to be to include them unless they opt out.
• Do not keep data in more places than necessary – not only does this weaken your security, it also increases the possibility that the data will get out of sync and will not be consistent in different places. It is however sensible to have a backup of your data providing that you have a system to ensure it is backed up regularly and kept in a secure place.
• Not all clubs and counties will need to register with the ICO but you can check on your particular circumstances at – ICO – self assessment. Specific information relating to the GDPR
• The legal basis on which you collect most of your data is likely be that it is in the organisation’s “legitimate interest” to do so. In order to rely on there being a “legitimate interest”, this should be supported by a “legitimate interest assessment” – for further details, refer to the ICO – see ICO – Legitimate Interests. • You must inform everyone from whom you collect data: o The legal basis for doing so; o What data you collect; o How it is stored; o To whom you pass it on and for what purpose; o For how long you keep the data; o What they can do to limit how you use your data. This will usually be achieved via a Privacy Notice, which may be on your club’s website, but a printed copy should also be available in the club and be sent to those who request it. Your members should be directed to this Privacy Notice on every occasion when you collect data, so it should be referred to on your membership application forms.
You need to take all reasonable measures to ensure that your members are aware of this, so you do need to contact them one way or another. While email is convenient, you should also contact those members for whom you do not have valid email addresses, if necessary by post.
• Clubs act as Data Controllers with regard to their own data. They also act as Data Processors on behalf of the ECF, to whom they send members’ data and results for grading.
• We intend to implement as much of the rest of our GDPR strategy as possible as soon as we can, rather than waiting until the ICO contracts are ready, and we advise clubs and counties to do likewise. The sooner we all start to implement this, the more time we will have to deal with unforeseen circumstances and work to resolve problems that may arise.
June 7th 2018