Safeguarding Officer is a dedicated team role for the person who looks after welfare and child-protection at your club, but isn't running sessions on the field. It gives them everything they need to keep an eye on credentials and team activity -- without the ability to edit anything, delete anything, or change how the team operates.
The role is available on the Club plan. Different countries call this role different things -- in the UK it's typically the Club Welfare Officer, in the US it might be your SafeSport lead or compliance officer, in Australia your Member Protection Information Officer. The Safeguarding Officer role in Planner.coach is built to fit all of these.
Why this role exists
Many clubs have a designated welfare or safeguarding lead -- often a parent volunteer or a non-coaching committee member. They need to:
- See who's on the coaching team and what their roles are.
- Check that everyone's safeguarding credentials are current.
- Open credential documents to verify against an official register if they need to.
But they shouldn't be editing session plans, changing athlete records, or inviting new coaches.
The other roles don't fit cleanly: Viewer is read-only but can't see compliance records, and Admin has full editorial control. Safeguarding Officer sits between them, with read-only data access plus the extra compliance permissions.
What a Safeguarding Officer can do
- View all team data -- activities, sessions, athletes, programs, season plans.
- View the Team Compliance Dashboard.
- View uploaded credential documents from team members via secure signed links.
- Verify a coach's credential -- mark a coach-declared DBS, WWCC, SafeSport or federation licence as checked against the issuing register or sighted in person, or remove a previous verification.
- Record a credential on a coach's behalf -- in the UK only an organisation can submit an enhanced DBS application, so the club holds the record; safeguarding officers can create, edit, and remove these "team records" directly. See Recording a credential the club holds.
- Use the team activity log if your club's settings allow it.
What a Safeguarding Officer cannot do
- Create, edit, or delete activities, sessions, athletes, programs, or season plans.
- Invite, remove, or change roles for team members.
- Manage billing or team settings.
- Use AI credits from the team pool.
The role is read-only on the operational side of the platform. Credential verification and club-recorded credentials are the deliberate exceptions -- they are a safeguarding officer's job.
Where it sits in the role hierarchy
The team role hierarchy is:
Owner > Admin > Coach > Assistant > Safeguarding Officer > Viewer
A Safeguarding Officer has the same operational access as a Viewer (read-only), plus the additional safeguarding-specific permissions. An Assistant ranks higher because they can edit items they personally created, even though they don't have the compliance-dashboard view.
See Roles & Permissions for the complete permissions matrix across all six roles.
Assigning the role
Owners and admins can assign Safeguarding Officer in two places:
- When inviting -- open Team Settings, click Invite Member, and choose Safeguarding Officer as the role before sending the invite.
- For existing members -- open the member list in Team Settings, click the menu next to a member, and change their role to Safeguarding Officer.
The same rules as other role changes apply: only owners and admins can change roles, you can't change your own role, and only the owner can promote someone to admin.
How it differs from Admin and Viewer
| Capability | Admin | Safeguarding Officer | Viewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| View all team data | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit and delete team data | Yes | -- | -- |
| Manage members | Yes | -- | -- |
| Manage settings | Yes | -- | -- |
| View compliance dashboard | Yes | Yes | -- |
| View team credential documents | Yes | Yes | -- |
| Use AI credits | Yes | -- | -- |
If your safeguarding lead also coaches and runs sessions, you have to pick one role for them -- a single user can only have one role per team. If they need both editorial and compliance powers, Admin is the right fit, since it includes everything Safeguarding Officer can do.
Related
- Team Compliance Dashboard -- The dashboard the Safeguarding Officer role unlocks.
- Coaching Credentials -- How individual coaches add their credentials.
- Roles & Permissions -- Full team permissions matrix.
- Teams Overview -- How team workspaces work.