Children First Act 2015
Compliance documents for implementation by March 11th 2018
Cycling Ireland are delighted to provide you with supporting documentation and instructions on how your club can comply with the Children First Act 2015 by March 11th. This is a mandatory process and it is a statutory obligation that all organisations providing services to children in ROI must complete. For clubs in NI, this is seen as best practice and is a requirement for affiliation with Cycling Ireland.
Please note this applies to clubs with underage riders only (under 18). Any cycling club intending to open up their club to underage riders must also comply with these regulations.
The following are the four steps to compliance:
STEP 1 - REVIEW THE RISK ASSESSMENT DOCUMENT
• The Risk Assessment (RA) has been pre-populated for you to review at your club meeting.
• Each risk identified must be ranked by you, the committee, as either Low, Medium or High. Please assess each risk thoroughly. Supporting policies and guidance have been indicated on the RA.
• You may wish to include other risks of potential harm that are specific for your club. Some risks listed may not be applicable to your club.
• After you review your Risk Assessment, minute it at your meeting and get your Chairperson and Children’s Officer to sign and date it.
STEP 2 - YOUR CHILD SAFEGUARDING STATEMENT
· Following the sign off on the safeguarding RA please review the Child Safeguarding Statement, sign and date the document
· You may wish to add your club logo
· A position called the Relevant Person is included in the Children First Act 2015 (sect 11 (3) (g), and is defined as “as a person who is appointed by a provider of a relevant service to be the first point of contact in respect of the provider’s Child Safeguarding Statement. For Cycling Ireland affiliated club purposes, the club safeguarding officer will be the relevant person for club child safeguarding statement.
STEP 3 – DISPLAY YOUR CHILD SAFEGUARDING STATEMENT
• As per Section 11 of the Children First Act 2015, you are required to display your Child Safeguarding Statement in a prominent place in your club (notice board, public area etc). If you do not have a club premises, please display it on your club website and social media pages.
• We suggest that you also distribute your signed Child Safeguarding Statement to all parents by mail/email/web or social media on an annual basis.
• If you do not have a premises or website/social media page to display and distribute your Child Safeguarding Statement, you should display it at your events as a temporary sign or poster.
STEP 4 - CONFIRMATION OF COMPLIANCE TO CYCLING IRELAND
• You must upload signed copies of the attached Safeguarding Risk Assessment and Child Safeguarding Statement to the Club Credentials area on our membership system. Details have been sent to clubs by email on this.
All CI Clubs must complete and sign off on both the Risk Assessment and Child Safeguarding Statement by Monday, March 5th. Completed, signed documents must be uploaded to Cycling Ireland by this date and no later.
It is the responsibility of every club, county and province to comply with the Children First legislation by completing the above steps.
Please note, the Child Safeguarding Statement must be reviewed at intervals of no longer than 24 months.
If your club did not receive an email, or if you have any questions on this, please contact our National Safeguarding Officer, Brigid O’Dea; safeguarding@cyclingireland.ie.
CI Club Template Risk Assessment
CI Club Template Child Safeguarding Statement