Staff and volunteer safeguarding credential log
Problem
Safeguarding checks for coaches, volunteers and kit staff, such as a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate in the UK or a SafeSport clearance in the US, are tracked ad hoc: an expiry date in a spreadsheet tab nobody opens until someone asks, or written on the front of a folder, or simply trusted from memory. When a new volunteer joins for a tournament, or a coach travels with the youth squad, the person confirming they are cleared to work with children is often the team administrator, working from a photocopy or a photograph texted over and filed nowhere in particular. If a governing body, an insurer or a parent asks whether every adult travelling with the squad is currently cleared, the honest answer takes an afternoon of digging through email and a drawer, and the record of who checked what, and when, exists only as recollection.
Product idea
A verification log for staff and volunteer safeguarding checks. The team administrator records each person's check reference number, issue date and expiry, with a photograph of the certificate attached to the record rather than left in a chat thread. A status list shows who is valid, expiring soon or expired, without blocking anyone automatically: that decision stays with the team operations manager. Reminders go to the individual and to a named compliance lead ahead of expiry, not after it has already lapsed. It does not perform the background check itself and does not replace the DBS, Disclosure Scotland, AccessNI or SafeSport application process; it only verifies and records that a check happened and is still current, and produces a signed-off list on request.
Who it is for
Team administrators and travel coordinators who check status before a trip or fixture, and the team operations manager who is accountable when an uncleared adult ends up with the youth squad.
Possible first version
A mobile web app with one record per staff member or volunteer (name, role, check reference, issue date, expiry), a colour-coded status list, and photo capture of the certificate. Roster loaded from a CSV of current staff and volunteers. Reminder emails go out ahead of expiry to the individual and a named compliance lead, on a schedule the compliance lead sets. Out of scope for version one: no integration with the DBS, Disclosure Scotland, AccessNI or SafeSport online status services, no automatic verification against any registry, and no integration with the club's registration and membership database.
- Build classification
- Workflow application
- Rough effort
- 3-5 week first release
- Roles involved
- Team administrator, Travel coordinator, Team operations manager
- Relevant to
- Academy & youth, Collegiate athletics, Professional club
- Systems in play
- Squad and roster management tools, Messaging apps, Spreadsheets
- Product framing
- Verify or inspect
Questions we get asked
What do we need ready before this is useful?
A list of everyone who currently coaches, volunteers, manages kit or travels with a youth or collegiate squad, plus whatever check references you already hold, even where the record is a folder of photocopies rather than a database. The tool works from that list from day one. It does not need access to the DBS or equivalent national scheme to start: the check itself still happens outside the tool. This only records that it happened and when it expires.
Does this replace our registration and membership database?
No. The registration and membership database stays the system of record for player and staff registration generally. This is narrower: it only tracks whether a person's safeguarding check, such as a DBS, Disclosure Scotland, AccessNI or SafeSport check, is current, and produces evidence that someone looked. Version one has no integration with the membership database, so a person still needs to appear on the roster you upload rather than being pulled in automatically.
We already have a spreadsheet tab for this. Why change it?
A spreadsheet tab works until someone has to prove, on the morning of a trip, that every adult travelling with the squad is currently cleared. That usually means opening the file, checking dates by eye, and hoping the last update reached everyone rather than just the people it was easiest to chase that week. This does the same underlying job as the tab, but keeps status visible without anyone having to remember to look, and keeps a photograph of the certificate against the record rather than trusting a typed date.
What happens if someone's check has lapsed on the morning of a fixture?
The person shows as expired on the status list rather than being hidden or silently excluded. The tool does not stop anyone travelling or coaching: that decision stays with the team operations manager or welfare lead, based on their own policy. What it removes is the possibility that nobody noticed. If the list has not been checked before a trip, that is visible too, because a last-checked date sits alongside the roster, not just the individual expiry dates.
Is this your workflow?
Tell us one sports workflow that still runs on paper, spreadsheets, WhatsApp or an outdated system. We will map it and show you what a simpler product looks like.
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