Coaching Credentials records your safeguarding checks, first aid certificates, and coaching licences. Renewal-reminder emails fire ahead of expiry. If you're on a club team, your safeguarding lead sees the same records on the compliance dashboard.
Available on every plan, including Free.
A note on verification
Planner.coach does not verify your credentials with the issuing authority. We don't call the UK Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), the Australian Office of the Children's Guardian (OCG), the U.S. Center for SafeSport, or any other regulator. The credentials you enter are self-declared.
Your club can record its own check, though. A safeguarding officer or admin on your team can mark a credential as team-verified once they've sighted the certificate or confirmed it against the issuing register -- see When your club verifies a credential below. The official source of truth is always the issuing authority.
When your club verifies a credential
If you're on a club team, your safeguarding officer or an admin can confirm a credential you've added. In the UK, for example, you apply for a DBS through your national governing body or club, then show it to your club's safeguarding lead -- who records that check here.
When they do, you'll see a green Verified by your club badge on that credential in your Settings. Tap or hover the badge to see how it was checked (original sighted, checked on an official register, or recorded on the club register) and the date.
Two things to note:
- Only your club can verify. You can't mark your own credential as verified -- it's always a second pair of eyes.
- Editing a verified credential clears the verification. Changing the credential type, issuer, reference number, dates, level, jurisdiction, or DBS Update Service status removes the badge, because your club's check no longer matches the record. Editing notes or replacing the document doesn't clear it. Tell your safeguarding officer so they can re-verify.
Credentials your club records for you
This section only applies if you're a member of a team on the Club plan.
Sometimes the club holds a credential you never entered yourself. In the UK, for example, only an organisation can submit an enhanced DBS application -- you apply through your national governing body (NGB) or club, and the result goes to them. So your safeguarding officer or an admin can record that credential on your behalf.
These appear in your Coaching Credentials list with an Added by your club badge. You can see all the details, but the edit, delete, and silence-reminder controls are hidden -- the club maintains the record. If something looks wrong, contact your safeguarding officer and they'll update it.
Two things to keep in mind:
- Renewal reminder emails still arrive at your address for club-recorded credentials, because you're the credential holder. You won't be able to renew the record yourself -- forward the reminder to your safeguarding officer so they can update it.
- If you leave the team, the club-recorded credential stays on your record but no team can edit it. Ask your safeguarding officer to remove it (or transfer it to a new team) before you leave; if you've already left and the team is no longer active, contact support.
The DBS Update Service works the same way for club records as for your own: if your club ticks Update Service on a UK DBS, you'll see "Last checked {date}" instead of an expiry, and the same 12-month re-check window applies.
Adding a credential
Go to Settings and find the Coaching Credentials card. Click Add and choose a type. Depending on the type you select, you'll see different fields -- for example, a DBS check asks for a level, while a WWCC asks for the state or territory.
Fields you can record:
- Type -- the credential category (see supported types below).
- Issuer -- the body that issued the certificate (e.g. The FA, NSW Office of the Children's Guardian).
- Reference number -- optional, useful for your own records.
- Issued date -- when it was awarded.
- Expires date -- when it lapses. (For DBS Update Service, this becomes a "Last checked" date instead -- see below.)
- Notes -- any context you want to keep with it.
- Document -- optional scan or PDF; usually best left blank, see Uploading a document.
Supported credential types
United Kingdom
| Type | Subtype | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DBS (UK) | Basic / Standard / Enhanced / Enhanced + Barred List | Supports the DBS Update Service -- see below. |
| FA Safeguarding Children | -- | Standard 3-year cycle. |
| FA Welfare Officer Workshop | -- | For club welfare officers. |
Australia
| Type | Subtype | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Working with Children Check (WWCC) | State or territory (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, ACT, NT) | The mandatory check for working with under-18s. Queensland's Blue Card has a longer renewal-warning window than other states -- see Renewal Reminders. |
| National Police Check | -- | -- |
United States
| Type | Subtype | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SafeSport Trained | -- | The full U.S. Center for SafeSport training course, required by many Olympic and Paralympic national governing bodies. |
| SafeSport Code Acknowledgement | -- | Annual code-of-conduct acknowledgement. |
| MAAPP Acknowledgement | -- | Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy -- a US Center for SafeSport requirement. |
| Background Check | -- | Generic US background check. |
Cross-region
| Type | Subtype | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mental Health First Aid | -- | -- |
| First Aid | -- | Short renewal cycle. |
| Safeguarding Certificate (other) | -- | Use this for any safeguarding certificate not listed above. |
| Federation Coaching Licence | Free-text level (e.g. "CEP 3", "UEFA B") | National federation coaching qualification. |
| Other | -- | A catch-all for anything else you want to track. |
If your country or governing body isn't listed, use Safeguarding Certificate (other) or Other and put the detail in the notes field. We're adding more named types over time -- let us know what you'd like to see.
DBS Update Service
If you've subscribed to the DBS Update Service, choose DBS (UK) and toggle Update Service when adding the credential. Instead of an expiry date, you'll record a Last checked date -- the most recent time you (or your club) verified the certificate is still current via the Update Service.
We'll prompt you to re-check at 11 months and mark the record as "Re-check needed" if the last check is over 12 months old. You can update the Last checked date as often as you like.
Uploading a document
Each credential supports one optional PDF or image attachment. Leave it blank if you can. The credential's type, issuer, reference number, and expiry date are enough for compliance tracking, and a scan adds sensitive personal data (full name, date of birth, sometimes address or last 4 of SSN) to your record. The UK DBS Code of Practice limits how long copies may be retained, so the cleanest position is not to hold one.
If you do attach a scan, redact what you can first. Scans are stored privately and only the roles listed below can fetch them via short-lived signed links:
- You (the credential owner).
- The team owner.
- Anyone holding the Safeguarding Officer role on a team you're a member of.
- Team admins, only when the team owner has explicitly enabled admin document visibility in team settings. Otherwise admins see the credential summary (type, issuer, status, expiry) but not the scan.
Coach, Assistant, and Viewer roles never see the scan. Every cross-user view is recorded in the team activity log. Replacing a document removes the previous one immediately, and scans are auto-purged 12 months after the credential expires.
Statuses
Each credential shows a status pill based on its dates:
| Pill | When you'll see it |
|---|---|
| Valid until {date} (green) | Credential is in date and outside the lapsing window. |
| Expires in {N}d (amber) | Inside the lapsing window -- renewal time is approaching. |
| Expired {N}d ago (red) | Past the expiry date. |
| No expiry set (grey) | The expiry field is blank. |
| Last check missing (grey) | DBS Update Service entry without a "Last checked" date. |
For DBS Update Service entries you'll see "Last checked {date}", "Re-check soon", or "Re-check needed" instead of expiry-based phrasing.
The lapsing window varies by credential type -- short-cycle items like First Aid only flag in the last 30 days, while a WWCC starts warning earlier. See Renewal Reminders for the full breakdown.
Silencing reminders for a cycle
If you've already booked your renewal and don't want to keep getting reminder emails, click the bell icon on the credential and choose Silence reminders. This silences emails for the current expiry cycle only. As soon as you renew the credential -- by updating the expiry date -- reminders un-silence automatically so the next cycle starts fresh.
You can re-enable reminders any time before renewing by clicking the bell icon again.
Renewing a credential
When you renew, edit the credential and update the expiry date (or "Last checked" date for Update Service). That single change:
- Resets the status pill to "Valid until {new date}".
- Restarts the reminder cadence for the new cycle.
- Clears any "Silence reminders" setting from the previous cycle.
You don't need to delete and re-create -- editing the dates keeps the credential's history intact.
Privacy and storage
- Credential records are private to you by default.
- If you're a member of a team, owners, admins, and any safeguarding officers on that team can see your credential summary (type, issuer, status, expiry).
- Uploaded documents have a tighter access list -- see Uploading a document.
- Uploaded scans are auto-purged 12 months after the credential's expiry date to limit how long sensitive data lives in storage. The metadata row (type, issuer, dates) is kept for your audit trail; only the file is removed.
- Deleting a credential removes it and its document immediately.
Related
- Renewal Reminders -- Email cadence and lapsing windows.
- Team Compliance Dashboard -- How your credentials show up to your club.
- Safeguarding Officer role -- Read-only role with extra credential visibility.
- Roles & Permissions -- Who sees what in a team workspace.