Positions of Trust – Law Change

There has been an important change in legislation this week regarding Positions of Trust.

The law now states that those in positions of trust within sports organisations cannot legally have a sexual relationship with young people aged 16-17 years old in their care.

The Sexual Offences Act of 2003 defines the legal age of sexual consent as 16 years.  Where someone is in a ‘Position of Trust’ (POT) (eg a teacher) the age of consent rises to 18 years.  Until now sports coaches and others were excluded from the definition of ‘Position of Trust’, however with the change in legislation the POT law now applies within sport and religious settings.

This is a very welcome change to legislation which will provide an additional safeguard for young people in our game and across sport.

Please read the ECB’s Explanatory Document on the Positions of Trust Update June 2022 for further explanation.

Further information from the NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit here:  Preventing abuse in positions of trust in sport (thecpsu.org.uk).

Please contact our County Safeguarding Officer Bridget Owen if you have any questions.