Safeguarding at holiday clubs and children’s events

Use the guidance for your type of club

The Department for Education (DfE) has guidance for community activities and clubs outside registered childcare and schools. The guidance is not itself law: it explains recommended practice and identifies legal duties separately. If you provide registered childcare, follow the relevant Ofsted rules and Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. Rules for schools do not automatically apply to every independent holiday club. ^[1][2][3]

Charity trustees remain responsible for overseeing safeguarding. Charity Commission guidance expects policies to be put into practice, reviewed when necessary, after a serious incident and at least annually. ^[4]

Give people a clear safeguarding contact

DfE recommends a trained safeguarding lead and written steps for dealing with concerns about a child. These should cover abuse by other children and allegations about adults. Set behaviour rules and explain how people can complain or report wrongdoing. The lead should know the local children’s social care referral route and the local authority designated officer, usually called the LADO. ^[1]

Name the lead and their backup in your team briefing and information for parents. Check who is available during every session. Give children an age-appropriate way to ask for help, including if the concern is about someone normally responsible for looking after them.

Respond promptly and use the right route

If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. GOV.UK says suspected child abuse can be reported to the local council’s children’s social care team; you do not need to be certain that abuse has occurred. Do not let the absence of your usual lead prevent urgent action. ^[5]

DfE says the safeguarding lead should record concerns, actions and reasons for decisions. Allegations about staff or volunteers should be discussed with the LADO; involve police if a crime may have been committed. Registered childcare may also have an Ofsted notification duty. Trustees may also need to report to the Charity Commission, and the organisation may need to report to DBS. Writing an internal record does not replace these reports. ^[1][6][4]

Test the procedures with the team

When welcoming new team members, ask each person to explain how they would respond to a concern, where the record goes and who covers for the lead. Include boundaries for personal messaging, photography, toilet support, visitors and collection. Review arrangements after an incident or change in provision.

Recruitment is another part of the system. Use the safer recruitment chapter and the DBS guide for role-specific checks. A certificate does not replace clear conduct standards and supervision.

What case reviews teach us about reporting concerns

NSPCC reviewed lessons from safeguarding cases involving voluntary groups, published between 2015 and 2024. Its October 2024 briefing found that people were sometimes unsure who was responsible for safeguarding. Loyalty or gratitude towards a group could also make people reluctant to speak up. These cases help explain what can go wrong; they do not show how often it happens. ^[7]

When briefing a new volunteer, ask them to explain how they would report a concern. Use your current safeguarding procedure to check the answers:

• Who receives a concern, and what is the alternative if that person is unavailable or involved in the concern?
• Where are the external referral details kept, and who can access them?
• How can a child or parent raise a concern without relying on the adult they are worried about?
• How are actions recorded and followed up without assuming another organisation has taken responsibility?

Clear up any uncertainty before the session. A familiar or well-liked team member should be subject to the same reporting process as anyone else. Use the immediate-danger and referral instructions in this chapter when a real concern arises.