What a checked badge means, and what it does not

A badge means the coach has recorded that check with RANQD, with an expiry date that has not passed. The day a check expires, the badge disappears.Where it shows a month, that is the month the check runs out. On an academy page it shows how many of the coaching staff hold it instead.

A missing badge tells you nothing either way. A coach who has never recorded a check and one whose check lapsed last week look the same. RANQD never shows “expired” or “not on file” on a public page, because a claim about someone’s criminal-record status is not something to publish. Ask the coach.

Each nation issues its own. A coach holds whichever applies to where they are vetted, and any one of them counts the same here.

• A coach without a current criminal-record check and current safeguarding training cannot take a junior booking. The booking is refused, not flagged. That covers junior sessions and any booking made for someone under 18 on any session.
• In an academy it is judged per coach: the credentials of whoever is on court decide, so one coach lapsing does not close a colleague’s sessions, and a colleague’s check does not cover theirs.
• A check that was never recorded counts the same as one that has expired.
• If a check lapses, bookings already made stand for 30 days while the coach renews. After that they are cancelled and refunded in full, automatically.
• Coaches are reminded 90, 30 and 7 days before any check runs out.

RANQD records that a check exists, which scheme issued it, its reference number and when it expires. It does not hold the certificate, and no one can view a certificate through RANQD. A certificate is the coach’s own document and may contain information that is theirs alone to share; the reference number is visible only inside the coach’s own account.

RANQD does not confirm a check with the body that issued it. What a coach records is what they tell us. The consequence when it lapses is enforced; the truth of the record is the coach’s responsibility, and checking it is yours if you want to.

• Ask to see the certificate in person. That is how the checking bodies expect it to be done, and a coach who works with children will be used to the question.
• Where a badge says “on the DBS Update Service”, the coach has told us their DBS is subscribed to that service. With the coach’s permission, anyone can run a free status check on the government’s site using the certificate number, the coach’s surname and date of birth, and see at once whether the certificate is still current. Only the coach can give you those details, and the check is yours to run, not RANQD’s.
• Scotland’s PVG scheme keeps checking a member continuously; a member can share their disclosure with you. AccessNI certificates are issued once and are not updated afterwards.
• A coach’s governing body, where they hold an accreditation, will have seen the check as part of it.