Bold new vision for safe sport unveiled

A bold new approach to ensure the safety of everyone involved in sport at all levels across the United Kingdom is needed, according to a major new report published today.

The Safe Sport report is the result of a project involving us and the other home nation Sports Councils, UK Sport and many national governing bodies of sport (NGBs).

Led by Sarah Powell and Andy Salmon, the chief executive officers (CEOs) of British Gymnastics and Swim England respectively, the project emerged from a shared recognition of the challenges faced by our sector in keeping people safe.

Two young judokas grapple on a mat.

It has involved consultation with nearly 150 people and organisations including NGBs, safeguarding organisations and people with personal experience of harm in sport.

The first phase of the project has resulted in five recommendations presented in the report, which you can read below.

In response, the five UK Sports Councils are empowering the sector to redesign sport to be safer for everyone and our CEOs have released the following joint statement:

"Everyone taking part in sport should have a safe and positive experience that is free from harm of any kind. We are grateful to all involved in the Safe Sport project for their work.

"The Sports Councils agree that there should be UK-wide leadership and vision for Safe Sport and a consistent framework to keeping all participants in sport safe from harm.

"We will continue our shared commitment to prioritising and shifting resources towards programmes that prevent harm, rather than react to harm, and will work with NGBs and sports providers to do the same.

"The Sports Councils will support the next phase of work, which will involve feasibility and scoping, including the appointment of a dedicated lead for the Safe Sport project."

– CEOs of UK Sport (Sally Munday), Sport England (Tim Hollingsworth), Sport Northern Ireland (Richard Archibald, interim), SportScotland (Forbes Dunlop) and Sport Wales (Brian Davies)

How did the project come about?

The Safe Sport project stems from a UK Sport change programme focused on ensuring the long-term sustainability of British Olympic and Paralympic sports, addressing key challenges and areas for reform within the sporting system.

One of the areas identified was a consistent approach to safe sport in the UK and it was clear that this needed to extend beyond the Olympic and Paralympic world to cover community sport.

What are the recommendations?

The report has five recommendations, which are:

1.

Organisations should adopt an agreed set of design principles for a comprehensive and integrated safe sport system and culture.

2.

Develop and implement a clear framework for safe sport across the UK.

3.

Establish a new independent body to provide leadership and coordination for safe sport in the UK.

4.

Establish an independent complaint and resolution function across the UK to provide a trusted, trauma-informed and safe process to support complaints, respondents and NGBs to manage significant, sensitive and complex cases.

5.

Undertake a review of all current funding and delivery into safe sport to ensure it’s having the maximum effect and is coordinated.

What are the next steps?

Phase two of the project, which runs from now until March 2026, will involve scoping out the recommendations from the report.

The work will be led by a newly appointed project director, supported by a project chair and oversight committee, of which we are a member.

It will include an outline of what the sector requires, an appraisal of the options and an implementation plan by March 2026.

View the report on UK Sport's website.

Safe Sport project report

Bold new vision for safe sport unveiled

How did the project come about?

What are the recommendations?

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What are the next steps?

Read more

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