Whilst highly unlikely, from time to time clubs and instructors may face allegations of wrongdoing from the public. This may be a minor concern regarding professional conduct, or it could be a serious allegation - such as a sexual or violent offence. It's important to understand where the concern goes, and how it comes back to BMABA.
Who is LADO and how do they act on concerns?
LADO stands for Local Authority Designated Officer. This is the officer within the local authority (Council's) safeguarding team responsible for dealing with allegations of wrongdoing in respect of an adult working with children. Sometimes, LADO can also include MASH (Multi-Agency Support Hub), the Police, Social Services and other statutory organisations. Whilst not part of LADO itself, it's often the LADO responsible for coordinating agency replies and any actions required in the community to safeguard children.
How are concerns received, and what happens first?
LADO officers are busy and stretched in terms of workloads, so they'll only act if a concern meets a relevant threshold. This threshold is set out in the Working Together to Safeguard Children, Keeping Children Safe in Education and Local Safeguarding Children’s Board procedures. Generally, the LADO threshold is met if a person with a duty of care or trust (which a martial arts instructor would have) is alleged to have;
• behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child;
• possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child;
• behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates that they may pose a risk of harm to children; or
• behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children.
If the LADO decides that the threshold is met, they will usually initiate an investigation. At this point, if you're registered with BMABA the LADO officer will make contact with BMABA's Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) to inform us of the allegation.
At this point, we become bound by the LADOs recommendations under our best practice guidance, in-line with our SCiMA certification. A LADO will usually suggest we suspend the instructor(s) membership, pending investigation and a further LADO update.
We are under a compulsory requirement to follow LADOs instruction, as failure to do so could not only result in reputational harm if the allegation is found to be true, but it could also leave the association's Abuse Cover insurances nil and void if a child is harmed where it could have been prevented by a suspension, and we fail to follow this guidance. It is for this reason, per our terms and conditions of membership agreed to by all clubs on joining and renewal, we will suspend membership and any applicable insurances, if formally requested by LADO. No member of staff can overturn this request - it has to be discharged by the LADO officer upon conclusion of an allegations meeting.
What about my insurances and memberships?
We'll freeze everything 'as is' for the period of the investigation. You should not cancel any monthly payments without first discussing this with the office. If the LADO investigation finds in your favour, with no onward suspension requested, we'll reinstate membership and insurances, and we'll make sure we move forward any expiry dates to compensate you for the period of suspension.
For example, if you're suspended for 2 months and then released by LADO, we'll move your expiry forward 2 months so you don't miss out on any paid for term of cover.
If, following the allegations meeting, LADO asks us to uphold their decision, and we're formally asked to revoke membership, we'll take a view on whether or not a pro-rata refund is to be issued. It's not always applicable, especially if we believe you have been dishonest or selective in terms of disclosures to us when applying or renewing.
Where a police investigation leads to a charge and conviction, membership shall be cancelled without notification or refund.
How and when will LADO make a decision about whether or not I can continue teaching?
As an organisation, we'll need to await a LADO decision before we can recommence membership and remove any suspensions.
A decision will typically be reached after an allegations meeting in which LADO will bring together a number of agencies to discuss the case. This often includes the Police, Social Services, and any other affected organisations (such as schools the martial arts club teach in, any professional bodies they are registered with, and so on).
Sometimes an initial allegations meeting won't find a formal decision, but will instead be used to agree on collective first steps. This is usually headed by a Police Criminal Investigation. Thereafter, a further allegations meeting will be held to reach a final conclusion.
What are the possible outcomes of a LADO investigation?
Bizarrely, LADO allegation meetings aren't held to the same legal thresholds as a criminal investigation. This means a LADO can ask those involved to uphold an allegation, even if both the DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) and Police discontinue their investigations.
The basis for this is that Police may, as an example, not have sufficient evidence for the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) to lodge a formal criminal charge against someone, however they may feedback to LADO that certain inappropriate contact, communications or behaviour was proven. This not being to the threshold of a criminal conviction does not necessarily discount LADO finding that an individual should not be working with children.
Following a final allegations meeting, one of the following decisions is met;
Substantiated - There is sufficient evidence to prove the allegation.
Unsubstantiated - There is insufficient evidence to either prove or disprove the allegation. The term, therefore does not imply guilt or innocence.
Malicious - There is sufficient evidence to disprove the allegation and there has been a deliberate act to deceive.
False - There is sufficient evidence to disprove the allegation.
Unfounded- To reflect cases where there is no evidence or proper basis which supports the allegation being made.
If an allegation is Substantiated LADO will typically ask us to revoke membership and any applicable insurances, and the LADO will also usually write to the DBS asking that the person is formally excluded from being able to pass an enhanced DBS check for positions working with children in the future. At this point, membership to BMABA will almost always be concluded. We are bound by our terms and conditions to terminate without compensation any membership (with associated insurances and instructors) of a club or instructor that receives a substantiated LADO allegations finding.
Usually, if an allegation is within any of the other categories we will ask LADO for their professional guidance on how to proceed. In line with our policy on Investigations and Terminations, we are bound by this decision. We may find professional standards, ethics or membership terms and conditions have been breached and this could still ultimately lead to disciplinary action up to, and including, dismissal. However, usually in any case where the allegations are found to be false or unfounded etc, we'll of course reinstate membership without any further action, and compensate for the suspension with an extension to membership.
Is BMABA legally bound to follow the LADO decision, and can I appeal?
This is a very tenuous issue, as there doesn't appear to be much legally prescribed specifically requiring an organisation or employer to action LADO findings, however, failing to do so in any case which leads to further harm of a child would almost certinaly jeapordise an organisation's reputation, insurance and legal standing.
For this reason, per our membership terms and conditions, and the terms of renewal, we bind ourselves to follow a LADO's findings unless there are specific, clear, exceptional circumstances that require us to believe the LADO investigation is prejudice. This would be subject to a formal complaint from BMABA to LADO and would require a formal outcome from the relevant party.
We've sought considerable legal counsel on the matter of membership suspensions and terminations following LADO investigations, especially where there is no further criminal investigation. We're clearly very concerned about any situation in which there is no criminal complaint upheld, nor any action from DBS, but a LADO allegation is substantiated.
Ideally, we would want to see one or both DBS and Police action in addition to the substantiated LADO allegation uphold the finding, to ensure (as best possible) that there is no miscarriage of justice taking part.
Sometimes we do find the DBS will reject the exclusion of an individual but the LADO will uphold the allegations all the same. This is extremely troubling for us, and puts us in an impossibly compromised position.
It's important to remember that BMABA is not an authority but instead a trade body, meaning we don't necessarily have access to confidential information that could form part of a LADO investigation. For this reason, we're slightly blind to the decision making process at times.
To play devil's advocate, if BMABA does not observe and respect the professional opinion of LADO, we risk the future harm of a child(ren), as well as completely voiding our organisational Abuse Extension Cover insurances, which could ultimately lead to the prosecution or civil damages against BMABA forcing it's closure. In the interests of balancing our responsibilities in favour of protecting the safety of children, and the interests of our members collectively, we have through legal counsel met the conclusion that we must follow a LADO decision.
Please read our policy on Membership Suspensions, Terminations and Investigations. We will not conduct any investigations or appeals - this must be led by a competent, trained, relevant authority such as LADO, Police, DBS, etc.
Our Hands Are Tied. Yours Are Not.
If LADO issue an instruction, we have to follow it. We're often not able to ask further questions or seek additional clarity as we're not the accused or accuser. If we're forced to suspend or cancel memberships, we would strongly recommend contacting the LADO officer directly to challenge their finding.
If LADO have substantiated the allegation, or if you feel they have misinformed BMABA on the outcome of an investigation, it's often much faster to directly pursue them for action.
We will need LADO to directly contact us to clarify, if there has been any miscommunication or change in finding. This same principle applies to any other competent authority - including the Police, DBS or Disclosure Scotland.
Conclusions, And Behaviour Toward Our Staff
We appreciate no instructor wants to find themselves in this position, and it's horrid for our team too. We maintain a zero tolerance approach to abuse of our staff. You may not like the findings of an investigation or LADO, but that is not something for you to challenge with our team. It is something you must pursue with LADO or the Police, as relevant. We are clearly not able to form decisions on their behalf.
None of our team are able to discuss allegations or investigations by phone. All correspondence must be in writing by email or post only.
Please note that only our DSL (Designated Safeguarding Leads) are able to access specific case management information. Customer Services and other members of the staff do not have access to allegations or case details at any time.
In any case where you have a complaint surrounding the LADO finding, you must contact the LADO directly and we will be happy to share the LADO in charge's details with you.
As suggested further reading, please click here to read more about our disciplinary process. Click here to read our policy on terminations and investigations.