What does a cricket Club Safeguarding Officer in England or Wales need to know to keep junior players (under 18) safe? The role and training, ECB DBS checks, reporting concerns, supervision ratios, juniors in adult teams and the ECB Safeguarding Regulations.
Yes. Under the ECB Safe Hands Policy 2026 (updated March 2026):
Safe Hands is made up of the policy itself plus the guidance and templates in the ECB's Safeguarding Kit Bag (for example a club safeguarding policy statement, transport policy, anti-bullying policy and guidance on missing children, social media and photography). It sits alongside the ECB Safeguarding Regulations (effective 24 March 2026), which every club, county board and league must also adopt.
Every ECB-affiliated club must recruit, appoint and train a Club Safeguarding Officer. Under the ECB Safe Hands Policy 2026 and guidance, the role is to:
The ECB recommends that the Club Safeguarding Officer doesn't hold other club roles, that their name and contact details are displayed on the club noticeboard, and that, where possible, they are present at junior sessions, matches and registration events. Clubs may appoint more than one to reflect the diversity of their membership. The Club Chair and committee keep ultimate responsibility for safeguarding.
The ECB requires Club Safeguarding Officers to:
Contact your County Cricket Board to book courses. If you hold an active accreditation from the older Safeguarding for Specialist Roles (SSR) course, you don't need to do SGL2 until your re-accreditation window opens.
Clubs must appoint you through a safer recruitment process, including references and ECB vetting. The ECB recommends displaying your training certificates and contact details publicly at the club.
Anyone in Regulated Activity with children needs an ECB Enhanced DBS check with a Children's Barred List check. The ECB lists these roles:
Club roles
County, league and specialist roles
The Club Safeguarding Officer is responsible for making sure everyone in these roles is vetted and that members know which roles need a check. ECB safer recruitment guidance also recommends a clear role description, an interview, references, checking qualifications and, for coaches, a supervised trial session.
Every 12 months. ECB policy is to recheck everyone annually, and clearance for more than 12 months at a time is not granted.
Cost
| Application | Update Service | |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteers | Free | Free |
| Paid roles | £49.50 (payable to the DBS) | £16 a year |
Other rules
Under the ECB DBS Vetting Procedure:
A conviction or caution does not automatically bar someone from cricket; each case is judged on its nature and circumstances. Certificates with content are seen only by the Cricket Regulator Safeguarding Team and are not shared with the club unless needed to protect children.
The ECB Safeguarding Training Matrix (April 2025) uses three levels:
| Role | Training | ECB Enhanced DBS |
|---|---|---|
| Club and League Safeguarding Officers | SGL2 and SGL3 required | Required |
| Coaches; All Stars and Dynamos Activators | SGL2 required | Required |
| Captains and vice-captains, age group team managers, junior supervisors, volunteer coordinators, umpires | SGL2 highly recommended | Required |
| Club Chair | SGL2 and SGL3 highly recommended | Not required |
| Committee members | SGL2 highly recommended | Not required |
| All Stars and Dynamos helpers | SGL2 highly recommended | Required if volunteering for more than 3 sessions |
| Players, parents and carers, club administrators, grounds, bar and catering staff | SGL1 highly recommended | Not required |
Courses are booked through your County Cricket Board. If someone holds several roles and is unsure, ask your County Safeguarding Officer.
ECB Safe Hands guidance (April 2025) sets coaching ratios, to be used together with the Rule of Two:
| Activity | Coach to children |
|---|---|
| Net coaching | 1 : 8 |
| Group coaching, hard ball | 1 : 16 |
| Group coaching, soft ball | 1 : 24 |
For supervising children aged 8 and under, the guidance gives 1 adult to 8 children.
The Rule of Two means interactions with children are always open, observable and justifiable, with more than one adult present (the exception is an emergency). Good practice includes:
ECB Safe Hands guidance uses the three Rs: Respond, Record, Report. Don't assume someone else will deal with it.
Respond
Record
Report
The ECB Safeguarding Regulations require any concern about the welfare or safety of a child or adult at risk to be reported at the earliest opportunity and in any event within one working day. Failing to share a concern may be a breach of the Regulations.
Who to report to:
How: record the details on the Cricket Regulator Safeguarding Referral Form and send it to your County Safeguarding Officer or the Safeguarding Team.
Urgent or emergency:
Anyone with concerns about a colleague's conduct towards a child or adult at risk can also whistleblow directly to safeguarding@cricketregulator.co.uk.
Under the ECB Safeguarding Regulations (effective 24 March 2026), the Cricket Regulator's Safeguarding Team handles cases:
Your role as Club Safeguarding Officer is to report promptly and keep records secure; you are not expected to investigate or decide whether abuse has happened.
The ECB Recreational Cricket Safety Regulations allow juniors into open age cricket from age 12 (11 only in exceptional, approved cases), and only with written parental consent (the ECB provides a template consent form in the Safe Hands Kit Bag).
Before picking a junior for an adult team, the club must consider, among other things:
The captain must also tell the umpires about any juniors in the team, and the junior's own age-based fast bowling, fielding distance and helmet rules still apply.
The ECB has removed its changing room guidance from the Safe Hands Kit Bag while it waits for updated guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), whose interim guidance of April 2025 has been withdrawn. The ECB says it will update its guidance in due course.
In the meantime, the ECB says:
Separately, the ECB Recreational Cricket Safety Regulations still require clubs to have a plan or suitable facilities so that a junior playing in open age cricket is not required to change or shower alongside adults, and to give particular attention to appropriate changing facilities before a girl plays in boys' or open age cricket.