British Aikido Board

The National Governing Body for Aikido in the United Kingdom.
Aikido is a martial art founded by Morihei Ueshiba, that focuses on harmonising with your opponent, it can be practiced as a sport, self defence and an art using hand to hand and japanese weapons.

How to report a concern

It’s not the responsibility of those working in aikido to decide whether or not child abuse is occurring. But it is their responsibility to act on concerns about inappropriate behaviour, abuse or bullying.

In aikido clubs the first person to contact should be your Club Welfare Officer (CWO). If the club does not have a CWO – or you do not know who they are – you must still take action.

You can contact the BAB’s Lead Safeguarding Officer (details here) or your local Children’s Social Services.

If action needs to be taken urgently to safeguard a child, contact the police by dialling 999.

If you are unsure about what to do then you can always chat through your concerns – in confidence – by calling the NSPCC’s 24 hour Helpline on NSPCC helpline.

Parents: How to raise a complaint

If you have a concern or complaint then you need to act. Initially we advise you to contact the club concerned.

‘Concerns’ can often be dealt with informally within the club. Hopefully after a discussion with the relevant people they can be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
‘Complaints’ differ to ‘concerns’ in as much as they are subject to a more formal procedure i.e. cannot be easily resolved by a general chat within the club. It might be, for example, that the concern is about someone ‘in charge’ – or you have tried to resolve it locally without any success

This section concerns complaints from parents which cannot be resolved at club level. The nominated person appointed to deal with complaints is the BAB Lead Safeguarding Officer.

The procedure is staged and our hope is that issues will be resolved quickly and informally. However, the policy also provides a clear procedure that can be followed in situations where a parent/carer feels this has not been possible.

There are three possible stages:

Stage 1 – Informal Procedure

If there is any aspect of your child’s time within a BAB Club that you are not happy with (and that you cannot resolve locally) please contact us immediately and we will endeavour to arrive at a resolution that is satisfactory for all involved.

If a resolution is not found within 10 working days then you may wish to proceed to stage 2.

Stage 2 – Formal Procedure

If the issue cannot be resolved using Stage 1, you should make your complaint in writing to the BAB Lead Safeguarding Officer (please include an email address and telephone number). Upon receipt of a written complaint we will endeavour to contact you within 7 working days to acknowledge receipt of letter and inform you of the procedure that we will follow in order to resolve the complaint.

The BAB Lead Safeguarding Officer will need to discuss the matter with relevant staff and/or students to carry out necessary investigations and give the matter full and detailed consideration with the input of senior colleagues. The outcome of this will be communicated in writing within 21 working days and will offer reasoning alongside proposed or taken actions. Written records will be kept of all aspects of the investigation/complaint and will be held in accordance with the BAB’s data handling policy.

If the parent/carer is not satisfied with the decision arising from Stage 2, they should proceed to stage 3

Stage 3 – Independent Panel Hearing

Complainants who are not satisfied by the Stage 2 of the BAB’s Complaint Handling procedure must write to the BAB Chairperson within 10 working days and request that the complaint be further considered by an independent panel.

On receipt of this letter the BAB Chairperson will be responsible for the appointment of a panel to consider the matter further. The panel will consist of 3 people not directly involved in the matter, e.g. Trustees, Executive Committee members). You may be asked to contribute further to this meeting (by phone or Skype or in person).

Minutes will be taken by the Chair of the panel and parents/ carers will be notified within 21 working days of the result of this meeting.

Children: What should I do if I have a complaint or concern

We suggest that you talk to your parents or carers so that they can support you.
You can follow the same procedure as for “Parents” – however if you don’t have the support of your parents/carers the BAB will appoint someone to support you and represent your interest

REMEMBER – YOU CAN ALWAYS CONTACT CHILDLINE ON 0800 11 11 or visit http://www.childline.org.uk/

Report Flowchart (Aikido)

ACTION TO TAKE IF THE INCIDENT OCCURRED INSIDE THE SPORT

If a child informs you directly that he/she is being abused in an Aikido environment
OR,
through your own observations
OR,
through a third party you become aware of possible abuse or poor practice within the Aikido environment.

You must REACT IMMEDIATELY. Follow the template below:

This page is part of the BAB Safeguarding Policy which is held as a PDF document in the download area (shown below) and should be considered as the only reference document.

Although these pages will be kept up to date as much as possible they may not be as current or may be abridged in comparison to the Safeguarding Policy. After reading any information here please reconfirm from the latest version of the Safeguarding Policy.

Report Flowchart (Outside Aikido)

ACTION TO TAKE IF A SAFEGUARDING INCIDENT OCCURRED OUTSIDE THE SPORT

If a child informs you directly that he/she is being abused in outside the Aikido environment
OR,
through your own observations
OR,
through a third party you become aware of possible abuse or poor practice, follow the template below: