The case data collection tool was a piece of research coordinated between NSPCC Sport (formerly the CPSU) and Loughborough University to capture data about safeguarding cases in sport.
It ended in 2024. The reports and infographics on this page have not been updated to reflect our new name NSPCC Sport and have been retained for historical and learning purposes.
Development of the tool
The need to collect data about safeguarding issues in sport in a standardised way was identified in the 2017 Duty of Care in Sport – Independent Report to Government.
Following this, work began to develop the case data collection tool. The collaboration began with Dr Daniel Rhind, of Loughborough University, NSPCC Sport consultants and a small group of NGBs. The group worked together to create a common template to collect safeguarding case data.
The tool was piloted and further refined through 2017 and 2018. It was then used by NGBs of varying size and structure.
This standardised data collected by the tool each year was anonymised and analysed to identify themes and trends.
The threshold for cases to be included in the analysis was that the case was judged to be sufficiently serious to involve referral to, consultation with, or contact from the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), children’s services or the police. However following a pilot, the research expanded to also collect information about lower-level safeguarding adults' concerns.
The research was co-ordinated by a focus group that included representatives from NGBs, as well as Dr Rhind, NSPCC Sport (formerly the CPSU), Sport England and Sport Wales.
Benefits of this research
The information gathered was vital to:
- identifying safeguarding trends across the sector
- informing learning
- informing campaigns
- planning support services for sports organisations
- identifying and addressing the sector’s case-management resource needs moving forward
2018-2022 findings
Read the 2018-2022 case data report
2024 findings - last year of the project
Each year the anonymised data was analysed and a report was produced to show the key findings.
Safeguarding concerns inside and outside sport settings
The research showed that 55%, or 2,102, child safeguarding concerns raised were from outside sport. This refers to abuse that had taken place in a different context to the sporting environment, but which related to an individual who was involved in sport.
The remaining 45% of child safeguarding concerns were reported from within a sporting environment, which totalled 1,721 cases.
Child-on-child abuse
In the 12 months, there was been a significant increase in cases of child-on-child abuse. Non-contact sexual abuse was now involved in 25% of such cases. The annual average from 2018 to 2022 was 2%. There was also a rise in child-on-child sexual abuse. The annual average from 2018 to 2022 was 3%, and in 2022 to 2023 the rate was 27%.
Online safety
The analysis showed that 33% of cases involved online activity. In particular, 87% of non-contact sexual abuse cases occurred online.
Lower-level poor practice concerns
There were more cases classified as poor practice in this 12 months. Between 2018 and 2023, poor practice concerns saw a 13% increase, from 11% to 24% of all cases.
Adult cases
In the 12 months of data, cases which only involved adults were included for the first time. This included adults as both the alleged perpetrator and the victim. There was a total of 98 adult safeguarding cases, recorded by five NGBs, with 48% concerning behaviour inside sport, and 52% outside sport.
Contact sexual abuse was the most reported form of adult concern at 32%. Physical abuse made up 24% of reports, and 13% were reports of general welfare concerns, such as mental health and self-harm concerns.
What do these results mean for NSPCC Sport and the sector?
NSPCC Sport welcomed this research to provide further information to inform practice, learning and campaigning around safeguarding children and young people in sport and physical activity. In particular, NSPCC Sport took forward the following areas in response to the findings:
- Provided more learning opportunities around harmful sexual behaviour by young people, for those working in safeguarding in sport.
- Worked with NSPCC colleagues to strengthen our guidance around online safety. We also signposted to organisations who specialised in the online safety space for specific training and guidance.
- Integrated findings from this research within training and presentations.
- Supported organisations to consider and manage lower-level concerns