Poolside Accreditation

Coaches, team managers and chaperones requiring access to poolside must purchase a Poolside Accreditation pass in advance of the event.

All coaches, team managers and chaperones must fulfil the following criteria, as required by their role, when applying for a pass to attend any Swim England National events.

Scottish, Welsh and International Team Staff Accreditation

Please note the information provided below is for Swim England members to obtain event accreditation – if you are a Scottish Swimming, Swim Wales or other international federation member, please use our separate form.

Before you apply

All coaches, team managers and chaperones must provide evidence of:

  1. DBS
    You must have a valid Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
  2. Minimum Qualification/requirements (specific to the role)
    Coaches must have at least a Level 1 Coaching Certificate or equivalent. Team Managers must have a Team Manager Training Module 1 Certificate or equivalent. Chaperones must have club authorisation to be acting on behalf of the club.
  3. Safeguarding Certificate
    All coaches, team managers and chaperones are required to have a valid safeguarding certificate updated and recorded with Swim England’s membership department.

How to apply

  • Log in to Membership Options on swimmingresults.org.
  • After you have logged in, you can see instructions at the top of the page for checking your required documents are up to date.
  • The system will display your eligibility for available events and highlight areas where further action is required.
  • If the minimum requirements are met for a specific water polo event, you will see the option to apply for poolside accreditation.

Meeting the requirements

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

Coaches, team managers and chaperones must hold a valid DBS disclosure issued by Swim England/Swim Wales (Scottish Swimming – disclosure via Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG Scheme)), which is valid for three years. Other DBS disclosures will be accepted subject to the individuals being willing to provide consent if their DBS is registered with the DBS Update Service.

The application process for a DBS with Swim England could take up to four weeks to complete and is valid for three years from the date of issue.

Individuals must submit proof of valid DBS certificates.

For any DBS queries, please use the following contact:

Minimum Qualifications, Training, Requirements

Coaches and Team Managers

In accordance with Wavepower guidance, coaches and team managers should hold the appropriate qualifications and training as required by their role.

Team managers applying for accreditation who are under the age of 18 must be acting in an assistant capacity only. Clubs will be required to provide an additional team manager who is over 18. Applications will be refused if this condition is not met.

Please note, team managers acting in team manager capacity will not require coaching qualifications. Similarly, coaches will not need to have team manager training in addition to their coaching qualifications in order to obtain poolside accreditation.

To submit proof of the minimum required qualification, please email certificate copies (ensuring email is titled ‘Poolside Accreditation’) to:

If you require a Coaching Certificate, go to the Institute of Swimming Website to find a training course near you.

If you require the Team Manager Training Module 1 Certificate, contact volunteering@swimming.org.

Chaperones

Chaperones are responsible for the care of swimmers for whom they are nominated as chaperones and must be appointed and applying to do so on behalf of their club. Chaperones must not act in a coaching role at the same time. Any chaperones acting as team managers should be applying for team manager poolside accreditation and hold the relevant team manager qualification.

To apply for a chaperone poolside accreditation pass, authorisation must be received directly from the club confirming the individual has been appointed as club chaperone for the specific event.

Club authorisation must be emailed by the Club Chair or Club Secretary (ensuring email is titled ‘Chaperone Poolside Accreditation’) to:

Safeguarding and Protecting Children Training

A Safeguarding and Protecting Children Certificate is valid for three years. For further information on Swim England-approved Safeguarding and Protecting Children training, applicants should visit:

Those applicants who have previously attended the SCUK Coaching Safeguarding & Protecting Children Workshop in a face-to-face format and need to renew their certificate are eligible to access an online renewal safeguarding course which has been deemed acceptable by the NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU):

You must submit proof of a valid safeguarding certificate to the Swim England Memberships team. For any queries relating to updating individual membership records, please contact:

Photograph

All swimming poolside accreditation will require the individual’s photo for identification purposes. Coaches and team managers can upload or update their headshot photo by logging into Membership Options.

Misuse Of A Pass

Any individual found to misuse the poolside accreditation pass, and/or if the individual does not meet the accreditation requirements as part of their role, Swim England reserve the right to not issue a refund, revoke the pass and/or prohibit future pass allocation.

If you have any further queries regarding the poolside accreditation process, please contact:

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