The FA seeks to build a safe, enjoyable and inclusive environment for all children and young people, whether they are players, young referees or qualified coaches.

To help guide those working with children and young people, The FA provides courses in safeguarding children. Sometimes these are required as part of a qualification e.g. for coaches and referees, however, there are courses suitable for everyone, whatever their role.

All FA safeguarding courses are football-focused and child-centred. They are relevant, engaging and designed to help learners act appropriately and with confidence.

Over 450,000 people have now attended our courses – that’s a lot of people who are more safeguarding-aware and helping make football fun and safe, fun and inclusive.

Safeguarding Children Workshop - CURRENTLY ON HOLD

This three-hour interactive workshop is suitable for anyone over the age of 16, including managers, club officials, medics, parents, referees and those with roles in the professional game such as stewards and club mascots. It is a requirement for people taking on the club welfare officer role.

The workshop helps learners to;

• Identify and build on best practice in football;
• Recognise signs of abuse and identify behaviour that causes concern;
• Identify the actions to take if concerned about a child;
• Develop an action plan for change.

It can also be booked by clubs so that groups of people can take or renew their training together. To attend this course, or book a club-based workshop, follow the link below to your County FA website or contact your County FA.

View County FA details

Online Safeguarding Children Re-certification

The FA recommends that everyone working with under-18s renews their safeguarding education every three years. FA Licensed Coaches and coaches working in under-18s’ teams in FA Charter Standard clubs are required to do this.

Referees must update their training to register for the 2021/22 season.

Re-certification can be done by completing the free online course which can be taken in the learner’s own time, at their own pace.

This online course is available to anyone who has an existing Safeguarding Children Workshop (SCW) qualification or re-certification that is more than two years old.

It includes material on:

• Safer practice with under-18s;
• Safer use of social media;
• Listening to children;
• Recognising and responding to poor practice and abuse;
• How and when to report safeguarding concerns.

To take this course, please follow the below link. This course will accredit your FAN account, so please do make sure you are logged into your FAN account before you access the course via this link.

If you have forgotten your FAN password, you can reset it, here. If you have forgotten your FAN account or have lost your login details, please don’t create a new profile. Instead, use our FAN finder tool, to retrieve your details. Once you have successfully logged in to your FAN account, you can access the course, here.

Welfare Officer Workshop - CURRENTLY ON HOLD

This workshop requirement for everyone volunteering to be a club welfare officer. The course explores the skills, attributes, roles and responsibilities of the welfare officer and the toolkit available to support the role. It focuses on the importance of safe recruitment, building blocks that help make a safer club, addressing concerns, as well as building the welfare officer’s confidence regarding how and when to seek help and advice.

Before enrolling on this course, learners must have completed the Safeguarding Children Workshop or the safeguarding element of the Level 1 for coaches and have an accepted FA DBS check. To attend this course, follow the link below to your County FA website or contact your County FA;

View County FA details

Safeguarding for Committee Members

This free online course is written for Secretaries, Chairpersons, Treasurers and Club Welfare Officers in clubs with under-18 teams.

The course explores the key safeguarding building blocks in clubs such as;

• Effective committees;
• Safer recruitment;
• Building safe environments;
• Recognising and reporting concerns;
• Whistle-blowing

The course also stresses how important the committee is in supporting the Club Welfare Officer to embed safeguarding.

Secretaries, Chairpersons, Club Welfare Officers and Treasurers must complete this course to enable clubs with under-18 teams to affiliate.