Safeguarding Officer

Applications closing date: Wednesday 7th January 2026

Contract: Permanent

Working Pattern: Minimum 37.5 hours per week. Some travel, out of office hours & weekend work may be required

Location: Nationwide, with occasional travel to Manchester office

Reports to: Safeguarding Senior Manager

PURPOSE

To manage safeguarding and child protection concerns in a timely manner in line with Basketball England policies, procedures and guidance.

To provide support to member organisations and partners to help create a safe and enjoyable environment where everyone understands their safeguarding responsibilities.

To contribute to reviewing and promoting policies, procedures and guidance in line with legislation for safeguarding of young people, adults at risk, and groups with protected characteristics.

To support in the development and delivery of the Safeguarding plans for the Sport, contributing to progress reports for Board, Ann Craft Trust and the Child Protection in Sport Unit.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Deputy Lead Safeguarding Officer:

• To work alongside Safeguarding & Welfare Manager to assist in shaping the strategic direction of Safeguarding in the Sport.
• To support in the development and delivery of Safeguarding plans to embed a safeguarding culture at all levels of the game and ensure National Safeguarding Standards are exceeded.
• To monitor, review and improve policies, procedures and guidance in line with UK Legislation and best practice.
• To be the first point of contact for safeguarding concerns and complaints which come into the service, ensuring an appropriate and timely response.
• To work with partner agencies to ensure investigations are completed to a high standard.
• To work in partnership with the Child Protection in Sport Unit, the Ann Craft Trust and other safeguarding partners, to maintain and develop knowledge and best practice and disseminate to member organisations.

Leading and overseeing investigations:

• To triage cases reported to the service and determine the most proportionate course of action.
• To lead investigations on behalf of the governing body, including conducting interviews.
• Where an investigation is assigned to an external investigator, to set out the Terms of Reference and maintain oversight of the investigation

Monitoring and review:

• To record cases accurately to enable analysis of data and identify trends in reporting.
• To work with the LSO to improve safety in the sport through using safeguarding by design methods.
• Support Basketball England’s Case Management group, utilising the expertise within the group to come to decisions on risk assessments and complex safeguarding cases.

Training and education:

• To work alongside staff and partner organisations to assist in the development of the Safeguarding Training and Education plan.

Communications and engagement:

• To work with the Communications team and member organisations to deliver the communications and engagement plan.
• To ensure appropriate and timely communication on policy updates, new guidance, education and campaigns.
• To engage with the Welfare Officer network, and other member organisations, to communicate updates and provide support

Development of sport-wide standards:

• To work with staff and partners on the development and embedding of further Safeguarding standards for the sport.

Disciplinary processes:

• To work alongside the Disciplinary Officer to contribute to the resolution of complex disciplinary cases in basketball.

DBS and Vetting:

• Contribute to the review of safer recruitment practices for the Sport.
• To support in the licensing and recruitment processes for the organisation by ensuring that those who have access to children and adults at risk within Regulated Activity are appropriately vetted, and outcomes are managed and recorded appropriately.

GDPR: 

• To ensure that Basketball England complies fully with GDPR regulations and to manage subject access requests.

OPERATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Project Management: Where required contribute to projects from concept through to design and implementation.
• Decision Making: Ability to make appropriate key operational decisions to meet the service objectives, in liaison with the Safeguarding Senior Manager and departmental colleagues.
• Customer Service: Lead and set the standard for consistent and excellent experiences for participants and spectators throughout all levels of the game and deliver to appropriate standards and in line with all Basketball England policies.
• Managing Complaints: Managing safeguarding and escalated complaints that come into Basketball England.
• Communications: Delivery of consistent, tailored, frequent key messages in all internal and external communications across all partners, ensuring a one team approach to delivery and a positive impact on our customers.
• Governance, Risk & Compliance: Abide by all of Basketball England’s rules, regulations and policies (Including but not limited to, Equal Opportunities & Equity Policy; Safeguarding Policy; Code of Ethics & Conduct; Anti-Doping, Anti-Betting, Betting and Anti-Corruption and Confidentiality).
• Other Duties: Any other duties as required by the line manager that are commensurate with the grade.

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Internal Team: Build relationships with Basketball England colleagues to understand all requirements and expectations across the business, to continuously improve the standards of safeguarding and compliance and ensure excellent delivery, including impact on other colleagues and work plans.

External Stakeholders: Build strong relationships with key stakeholders, including the Child Protection in Sport Unit and the Ann Craft Trust and other organisations in the fields of equality, anti-doping, safeguarding and child protection, and conduct within sport. Contribute to national and specialist steering groups to improve standards and share best practice. Work with regional management committees, leagues, associations, clubs, local authorities and facility operators, to strengthen their relationships with Basketball England and manage risk to build a thriving network of support partners. 

ROLE REQUIREMENTS

Qualifications

• Degree level qualification or compensating work experience in a relevant, related field.
• Minimum of a Level 2 qualification in Safeguarding or equivalent.
• Level 3 (desirable). 

Experience:

Demonstrable experience of:

• Safeguarding & Child Protection: Experience of supporting systems, contributing to the development of policies, training and delivery. Previous knowledge or work in a safeguarding environment. Good knowledge of referrals system, working with LADO’s, police and social services, multi-agency work.
• Case Management: Good knowledge of case management processes. Ability to manage a disclosure or concern from beginning to conclusion.
• Investigations: Ability to plan and lead investigations and write comprehensive reports.
• Project Management: Contributing to the planning and management of large and complex projects, with a track record in both setting and delivering relevant objectives and targets.
• Relationship Management: Experience of building trust and strong relationships with a range of stakeholders internally and externally at all levels, especially volunteers, and the ability to deal with disputes and complaints accurately.
• Policy development: Experience of conducting a cyclical review of policies, processes and guidance, such as safeguarding and child protection policies and guidance including Adults at Risk.
• Delivering Training and Education: Experience of contributing to the development of safeguarding training.
• GDPR: Managing GDPR compliance and processing subject access requests.
• Managing Escalated Complaints.

Personal Skills

• Confident & Motivated: Confident with a high degree of self-motivation, self-awareness and initiative.
• Mental Agility & Initiative: Excellent mental agility with the ability to use own initiative to self-organise, plan and work effectively, taking account of changing and competing priorities. Able to work with confidential material, cases and matters of a child protection nature calmly and efficiently.
• Management & Teamwork: Excellent ability to motivate, manage and lead others to work effectively, as well as working as a member of a team, with an understanding of what behaviours contribute to effective teamwork.
• Solution Development: Excellent ability to anticipate issues, problem solve, manage ambiguity and make sound judgements on sensitive matters.
• Attention to Detail & Personal Organisation: High level of demonstrable attention to detail and personal organisation to ensure prioritisation, time management and that all outputs of work are of appropriate standards.
• Customer Service: Excellent ability to demonstrate high levels of customer service and to motivate others to put the customer at the centre of all delivery.
• Confidentiality: Able to maintain the highest ethical standards for confidentiality, transparency, and equality.

Technical Skills

• Interviewing children: Interviewing practices appropriate to child protection situations is desirable.
• Communications: Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, demonstrating an ability to communicate at a senior level and relate to a wide range of people and organisations in the right appropriate format.
• Advanced ICT: Significant advanced expertise in the use of Microsoft packages (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and other related ICT software (systems);

• Numeracy & Literacy: Excellent literacy, spelling and presentation in typewritten and other work.

Other

• Passionate about people and helping to build great teams and culture.
• Commitment to Basketball England’s values, including safeguarding, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and the highest standards of governance and conduct.
• A flexible attitude to working, willing to work evenings and weekends as a result of the nature of the role and event timings.
• Job offers will be subject to completion of a satisfactory, current Basketball England DBS check and completed every three years.

We’re working to build a team that reflects the rich diversity of the basketball community in England, where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to be their full, authentic selves at work. We value diversity and are committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive work environment. We make all employment decisions regardless of age, national origin, race, ethnicity, religion, belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.  Basketball England is an equal opportunities employer. 

Research shows that some people don’t apply for a role if they feel they do not meet 100% of the person specification. We encourage you to apply, even if you feel you don’t meet every requirement in the job description. We are a supportive and inclusive organisation, and we want to break down barriers to people joining us.  We encourage you to highlight what you can bring to the role and if this role excites you, we look forward to receiving your application.