Swim England updated regulations ... how club complaints will be handled

In September, Swim England will be publishing updated judicial and safeguarding regulations.

Here, the new process for how club complaints will be handled is put under the spotlight.

The general structure for the handling club complaints remains largely the same but there are several important changes.

These changes have been introduced in a bid to ease the pressure on members and volunteers when dealing with a complaint, while ensuring a fairer process for everyone involved.

They will come into effect on Tuesday 3 September and are being introduced as part of the next phase of work following recommendations contained in the Weston Report and findings from the Listening Report.

In essence, the club complaints system will become clearer, panels will be supported better and changes to the process for appeals will reduce the length of time it will take for them to be completed.

Volunteers and club officials will also be supported by a significant amount of guidance and standard directions which can be used to manage how a club complaint will be run.

In particular, the revised regulations around club complaints will:

• Lengthen the time limits to give members and volunteers with busy lives more time to deal with matters. However, clubs and members will still be encouraged to respond as soon as they can as it’s in everyone’s best interests to deal with a club complaint quickly.
• Encourage parties to try and resolve matters informally, including through mediation, by pausing time limits while they are trying to do so.
• Clarify the powers of club complaint committees and provide guidance on issuing sanctions, to help clubs deal with conduct issues fairly and consistently.
• Limit the scope for appeal of a club complaint outcome. While in the past an outcome could be appealed and would be heard from scratch, appeals are now limited to allegations that the process has not been followed or was unfair. This will prevent a long, drawn-out process following the club complaint outcome.
• Require club complaint outcomes to be communicated to Swim England to enable us to monitor the health of our sports, identify trends and common areas of dispute, and address them.

Regulations guidance and feedback

Swim England has published its regulations and supporting guidance documents in advance of them taking effect on 3 September to allow clubs and members time to digest the changes.

Please be aware that where forms have had to be amended for the new regulations, these will not be published until 3 September to avoid any confusion.

The Regulations and Guidance may be found by clicking here.

Swim England is keen to hear any feedback from clubs and members on how the guidance documents could be improved.

To send in comments, please email [email protected].

Briefing Sessions

Swim England is hosting a series of briefing sessions throughout August to help raise awareness of the regulation changes ahead of their implementation.

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

• 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.