Welfare Officer FAQ's

What does a Welfare Officer do?

He or she has two fundamental roles:

1 Taking the lead in being informed and aware of the league or club’s responsibilities when running football activities for children and young people.

This involves:

• Ensuring these responsibilities are well-understood by others
  Developing best-practice processes

2 Helping league and club personnel understand what their ‘duty of care’ towards children and young people actually means and entails on a day-to-day basis. For example:

• 
  Ensuring all relevant people complete The FA’s ‘Safeguarding Children’ training programme
  Helping to make sure trips away are organised properly
  Assisting those with regular contact with children and young people to complete the FA CRB paperwork

Why is having a Welfare Officer so important?

Because football has a clear responsibility towards young people.

As we all know, there have been some tragic cases resulting from the wrong type of people working with children, both in wider society and within football.

 

Making sure everyone knows how to report concerns about a child’s welfare is essential. Knowing how to deal with poor practice issues is also vital.

Lots can be done very simply – but football needs Welfare Officers.

Do you need qualifications for this role?

You don’t need to have a professional background in safeguarding children, but you do need to:

• Have the interests of the child at heart and the ability to maintain this perspective when dealing with sometimes difficult situations.
  Go through The FA’s three-hour ‘Safeguarding Children’ Workshop and specific three-hour Welfare Officer training.
  Have an accepted FA CRB Enhanced Disclosure in place.