English Table Tennis Tightens Child Safeguarding: DBS Changes from September 1, 2026 and the Challenge for Clubs

On the evening of Tuesday, September 29, 2026, away from the table and the sound of the ball, an important appointment for English table tennis will take place online. Kyhl Daly, Table Tennis England’s Designated Safeguarding Officer, will spend an hour explaining recent changes to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) requirements. The webinar is scheduled to run from 18:00 to 19:00 UK time. It is not a general introduction session. It is aimed at those who run table tennis at the grassroots level: Club Welfare Officers, members of club or league committees, and volunteers who regularly work with children. The reason this online meeting matters so much lies in a legal milestone: from September 1, 2026, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 removes the "supervision exemption" from the legal definition of Regulated Activity. Previously, some volunteers and coaches who worked with children under supervision did not need a DBS check. The new rules end that exemption. Supervised and unsupervised roles, once they fall within Regulated Activity, are now treated the same. For those familiar with how English sport operates, this can be seen as a significant change to the compass. It is no longer enough for a main coach to hold a clean DBS check while an assistant stands nearby. The helper, the technical supporter, or the person asked to watch children while they change or move between venues must also be reviewed. The webinar will not simply name the new law. Attendees will learn about Table Tennis England’s DBS processes, how to decide whether a role falls within Regulated Activity, and why DBS checking is a necessary part of a wider safeguarding culture. From an organisational perspective, the main message for clubs is clear: do not wait until the first training session to begin checking people. Deciding who can work with children, who needs a criminal record check, and who needs additional safeguarding training should happen before the season starts, and even before a new volunteer appears at the door. A common mistake seen in many sports organisations is focusing only on formal, registered roles while overlooking the less visible ones. At club level, those roles often belong to parents helping with small tasks, student interns, or acquaintances asked to "watch for one session." When policy becomes stricter, the boundary between those who need a check and those who do not is no longer defined by familiarity. It is defined by the actual responsibility the person carries. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 does not offer a moral test for every individual, but it forces organisations to look honestly at their own systems. A table tennis club may have plenty of trophies, balls, tables and a well-written fixture list. But if the club has no clear register of adults allowed to be with children, and no procedure for the moment a volunteer arrives without completing a DBS check, those achievements become far less meaningful. The September 29, 2026 webinar is therefore more like a checkpoint on a journey than a simple presentation. For Club Welfare Officers, it is a chance to compare internal procedures with the new regulations. For committee members, it is a moment to understand the legal responsibility of the organisation, not just the responsibility of one safeguarding lead. For volunteers who regularly stand beside children, it is an opportunity to see that they are protected by a clear system rather than by goodwill alone. A notable feature is the way Table Tennis England has chosen to communicate the changes. Instead of holding a closed internal meeting, they opened registration to the whole community. This reflects a wider shift in thinking: safeguarding in sport is no longer the business of one dedicated panel. It is the shared responsibility of everyone who appears around the playing area. Looking deeper, the new regulation also raises a question about organisational culture. It is easy for a club to turn DBS into an administrative task: receive a form, send it away, get a result, then file it in a drawer. But the real meaning of a background check lies beyond the certificate. It lies in whether the club is willing to question every role and every moment a child spends in its space. A safe training session is not simply one led by a talented coach. It is a session where every adult present has a defined role, an appropriate check and the awareness to notice unusual signs. There is another important detail for club officials to note: the new regulation does not distinguish between paid staff and unpaid volunteers. A volunteer who receives no payment can still be within Regulated Activity if their work involves children and matches the description set out in law. Many clubs may need to change how they think about their "non-formal" team. When major reforms like this arrive, they often come faster than human habit. When the law changes on September 1, 2026, some clubs will already be prepared. Others will begin researching only after receiving a reminder email or after an incident has occurred. The Table Tennis England webinar is a chance for clubs to move from the second group to the first. What I hope attendees take away is not just a link to the DBS page or a note about the new legal wording. More valuable is a systemic view: every person in a club is connected to a role; every role must be checked against the regulations; every regulation exists for a specific reason. When clubs achieve that, safeguarding ceases to be a decorative phrase on a website and becomes part of how they operate every day. For anyone unsure whether the webinar is meant for them, the question may be turned around: if you are not certain whether you need this information, you are probably the person who should stop and listen. The role of safeguarding in sport is rarely announced loudly, but it appears at every training session, every away trip and every moment a child is guided by an adult. At the end of the session, the biggest question is not who needs a DBS check. The bigger question is whether your club is ready to change its view of the entire team. Once the new rules take effect, safety does not come from a long or short list of names. It comes from every adult beside the table understanding why they are there, and from the club having done everything necessary before giving them responsibility for children.