Swim England Recensioni 

Having been involved in swimming for most of my life now, as a young competitor, masters swimmer, teacher, coach and technical official, it is sad for me to accept that the sport has been let down by those who have been leading it.

I have come to the conclusion that those in leadership roles in Swim England have failed catastrophically to do their jobs.

Nearly a year ago now I raised my important concerns about the leadership in a formal letter and it is very telling that I have just been ‘fobbed off’, having still received no meaningful response to my points.

I now do not have any trust in those in charge at the top of Swim England that they want to make the necessary changes.

In my opinion we need new leadership at the top of this organisation, and we need them to put the needs of the community they serve at the forefront of their agenda and most importantly, take its members concerns seriously.

Swim England is a farce! A governing body for the sport, yet they don’t help or take accountability for anything. We have members who have suffered injustices through the hands of clubs, swimmers who stop because they don’t receive the help they need, a convoluted process where you have to pay a fee for them to look into your concerns.

A board that has changed so much, and every time it does, they promise “this time it will be different”

A complete lack of oversight for the sport, club chairs and committees who think they can do as they please, ostracising members, expelling members who dare speak up and not governing the club to the standard you would expect.

All of these complaints, no help but they are thinking of merging regions and counties to “streamline” the governance.

Absolute disgrace!

I have never been so disappointed by a governing body in my life. I went to SE for help regarding poor governance of club. We had them telling members they couldn’t help yet helping the committee who we were trying to complain about. Things took forever. There was direct interference by members of the board (who are still in place) ( can prove have the emails). Even the judicial department was a joke. They said one thing then another. I recieved emails that were meant for the people I was complaining about. To top it all off when I complained about the process I got emails from someone at SE legal telling me all avenues were closed. When I emails the chair because of exasperation I got emails from legal telling me not to. Childrens mental health was damaged and they did nothing but protect themselves and their own stance. The complaints system is horrific . They drag their heels and hope that you will either get so distressed or weary you will go away. Personally there is no point whatsoever in paying for a membership as you literally get nothing. You can’t use the insurance that it’s allegedly for and don’t even attempt to complain about how they handle things. That never sees the light of day. They will send you round and round in circles and never send you the process to complain about how they handle things. I mean why would they? To complain about them you have to complain to them!
I have evidence to back up all my claims because I kept everything.

Swim England produces the best teachers. I would highly recommend using Swim England, very professional and detailed courses . The national governing body has very good standards when passing teachers.

Nationally, they do not reply to emails.
Nationally, lack of support.
Region & county brilliant.

I’m really pleased to be able to provide feedback on my personal experience with Swim England, but part of me feels what’s the point? Over the years that my struggles have been ongoing it has become patently clear that Swim England are ultimately accountable only to themselves - and this relies on reflection and integrity to improve and address deep rooted problems. There appeared to be a glimmer of hope with Andy Salmon at the helm, but it seems that since his departure things have returned to previous poor performance - Groundhog Day ! Swim England are professing to have adopted a new culture and have produced some new policies and procedures, but in my experience culture has reverted to old ways and there is a failure to comply with their own new policies. The issue is that there is no-one to ensure that actions are speaking louder than words.

Fortunately, in the context of all Swim England members ,my guess is that relatively few will ever have to have extensive involvement with Swim England and so won’t have experienced what some of us are describing. Unfortunately without an independent platform for concerns to be raised they will continue to be brushed under the carpet with a ‘nothing to see here’ from Swim England. The other issue is that dealing with Swim England can be so exhausting and emotionally draining, that some probably give up perusing their concerns and Swim England effectively manage the problem away

I have been shocked and frustrated by the lack of professionalism and governance that Swim England have demonstrated time and time again over the last few years. Emails often go unanswered but when they are, responses are vague and elusive , there are seemingly no timelines and there often appears to be unnecessary delays. Overall there is an impression of lack of competence and an overriding priority to protect the reputation of individuals and the organisation.

I used to enjoy officiating at Swim meets but I have stepped away now as I want as little to do with Swim England as possible- I have lost all faith and trust. Something needs to be done, but it needs a deep dive to identify the causes of the significant failures otherwise Swim England will continue to be able to put the icing the deeply flawed cake underneath. But who is able to do this?

Swim England have been simply horrendous to deal with in relation to their handing of complaints that challenge the inappropriate actions of their senior leadership/board.

Their inability to hold themselves accountable or to make change to prevent the same mistakes happening again even when there has been evidenced distress and trauma caused to swimmers directly by their inappropriate decision making and endless fobbing off thereafter is completely unacceptable.

My family has had a complaint ongoing for over 3 years with still no formal response in sight! When we insisted that they follow through their assurances by getting an independent investigation of incidents involving senior people rather than sweeping them under the carpet they have at first ignored us, then sent it to lawyers, then spent several months (through their lawyers) not addressing the points and spinning it out endlessly.

Things had been moving forward under Andy Salmon's watch and he was really driving change but sadly now it is back to the old culture.

They agreed to a meeting and promised us they would consider carefully what we said about the causes of the problems. But then they have just ignored our main questions and concerns for two months - the ones that challenge the senior leadership - despite the fact that we have chased them many times in the last few weeks for answers. The leadership seems happy enough to deal with concerns about other people but won't face head on the difficult questions about its own actions.

Do they hope that we will simply grow tired of pursuing things?

It has left our family exhausted by the ongoing case which we are unable to reach a conclusion to and yet we have to live with the consequences of their actions every day.

It’s a side to a fabulous sport that I truly hope that others never have to encounter. No one realises the true culture that exists behind the scenes and that still governs the sport despite the assurances of change and the new strapline 'One Swim England' which is used to deter anyone from any challenge of them or else we aren’t all ‘One Swim England' are we?

I have completely lost faith in Swim England following my personal experience of trying to raise serious concerns about a swimming club and the way it is managed.

In my experience, the system makes it incredibly difficult for parents and members to raise concerns and feel confident that they will be properly addressed. Young swimmers should be at the heart of everything this organisation does, yet I have been left feeling that protecting the interests of clubs and their committees can take priority over the welfare and development of the children involved.

Swimming clubs are often run by volunteer committees, many made up of parents. Volunteering is valuable, but there must be proper accountability, effective oversight and safeguards against individuals misusing the authority they hold. Being elected to a committee should never mean someone is beyond scrutiny or that people who raise legitimate concerns can simply be labelled difficult or aggressive.

I have experienced a situation in which I raised concerns about a coach's alleged conduct towards swimmers and the behaviour of a club Chair. Instead of feeling that those concerns were being addressed fairly and transparently, I felt that making complaints resulted in further conflict and attempts to remove people from the club.

Even after pursuing the formal

Even after complaining several times to swim England, they continued to ignore and breach swim England guidelines. This has left me questioning what meaningful protection and accountability are actually available to families who find themselves in similar circumstances.

The emotional toll on families is considerable, but the greatest concern is the potential impact on young swimmers: their training, development, confidence and enjoyment of a sport they love.

Swim England needs to do more than publish policies and provide complaint procedures. It needs to demonstrate that those procedures work in practice, that clubs are held accountable when processes fail, and that parents can raise concerns without fearing repercussions.

Young swimmers deserve better. Parents deserve to be heard. And club committees must be accountable for their decisions.

Based on my experience, I have been left deeply disappointed by Swim England and its handling of these matters. I sincerely hope the organisation takes a much harder look at how it protects young swimmers and supports families who raise legitimate concerns. Otherwise, confidence in the governance of swimming will continue to erode

I’m currently helping several people involved in Swim England complaints or safeguarding processes, including people with serious complaints about Swim England itself that involve senior representatives of the organisation, and people with issues that have gone on for years without final resolution. On paper Swim England now has reasonable processes to deal with these kinds of matters, thanks to people being brave enough to complain about them and to Sport England’s subsequent intervention. But in practice dealing with these processes is like wading through mud. In the matters I’m helping with Swim England often don’t acknowledge important correspondence and rarely responds in a timely manner - and if they do it is often only after lots of chasing and then with responses that deflect and delay. They sometimes simply ignore what they find difficult to answer or give irrelevant responses. There are endless delays in progressing things and constant passing of the buck. They don’t seem to able set any timelines around what they are doing or have any reasonable protocols on how to treat people involved in these processes, who have often been through great trauma. And there is simply no easy way to hold them accountable if they don’t act reasonably or in good faith in operating their procedures. (An Ombudsman for Sport Governing Bodies is sorely needed.) Things improved dramatically after Andy Salmon took over as CEO but have completely tanked again this year after he went on sick leave and then left. Complaints that looked like being solved then are now simply dragging on and on. An independent report published in 2024 highlighted how dreadful stakeholders felt the culture of the organisation was, how low the level of trust was, and how frightened people were of Swim England itself. Andy Salmon has spoken out about his concern at coming across people with these feelings. A letter from dozens of Olympians has called for some of the board to resign to help create trust. But neither the Chairman nor any other board member has ever resigned over that state of affairs. It’s an absolute disgrace that some of these people still remain in post and in charge of reforming of the very state of affairs they have been complicit in creating or perpetuating. While there is a constant flurry of activity and statements around “improving culture”, since Andy left the culture seems to me just to have reverted back to where it was before he arrived. It’s an appalling state of affairs for an organisation that’s responsible for the safeguarding and welfare of many thousands of children and can also ruin people’s livelihoods by its delays.

Having been involved in swimming for many years, I can honestly say I have lost all faith in Swim England.

In my experience, when clubs and volunteers ask for support, Swim England can make the process unnecessarily difficult. Yet when situations arise that require decisive action, accountability and leadership, I have felt that the organisation fails to step up, instead hiding behind the very volunteers it is supposed to support.

The way Swim England has handled certain situations has ultimately contributed to my decision to step away from the coaching community altogether. This was not a decision I took lightly, but I had serious concerns for my own mental wellbeing and had lost confidence in the safeguarding structures that should protect everyone involved in the sport.

Having served on a club committee, I know how much time and effort volunteers put into meeting governance requirements, maintaining accreditation and ensuring clubs comply with the rules.

What I find particularly disgraceful is the apparent inconsistency in how these standards are enforced.

I am aware of an accredited club where, to my knowledge, members are not given the opportunity to attend AGMs, do not have access to meeting minutes and, when concerns are raised, are reportedly told that if they are unhappy, the club is not for them and they should leave.

How can a club continue to hold Swim England accreditation when such concerns about basic governance and transparency exist?

Accreditation should be more than a badge. Safeguarding should be more than a policy. Accountability should apply to every club, not just those willing to follow the rules.

Volunteers give countless hours to grassroots swimming and deserve an organisation that supports them, listens to concerns and is prepared to challenge poor practice.

Sadly, my experiences have left me feeling that Swim England is more focused on procedures than genuinely supporting the people who make the sport possible.

For an organisation that promotes integrity, inclusion and safeguarding, I believe it needs to take a serious look at how it handles complaints, supports volunteers and ensures its own standards are consistently upheld.

I have lost not only my faith in Swim England but also my place in a coaching community that I once cared deeply about. That is something I never expected to happen.

We have been part of the swimming world for almost a decade. Any concerns raised are listened to and dealt with professionally and without bias.

My experience of Swim England over the past year has been extremely disappointing.

Despite submitting a substantial, evidence-based report raising serious concerns about governance, welfare and the conduct of an affiliated club, Swim England has repeatedly failed to provide meaningful responses or demonstrate that the issues are being properly addressed.

Emails go unanswered, complaints are passed from department to department or referred back to regional bodies, and months pass without any meaningful progress or resolution.

For an organisation supposedly responsible for overseeing affiliated swimming clubs, the apparent lack of accountability, transparency and willingness to intervene is deeply concerning.

Swim England publishes policies and procedures, but my experience suggests that getting those policies enforced is an entirely different matter.

Almost a year after raising my concerns, I am still waiting for meaningful answers.

If Swim England cannot effectively investigate complaints, uphold governance standards and support its members, what exactly are we paying our membership fees for?

A thoroughly frustrating and disappointing experience.