Swim England sorry for errors around Ellesmere Titans club closure

Swimming’s governing body has apologised for its poor handling of the closure of a school-based club which came after a string of safeguarding complaints.

Ellesmere Titans could have been kept in operation, had Swim England not made a series of errors.

It carried out two safeguarding investigations into the Shropshire-based club and said it stood by the conclusions of the first, which led to the suspension of two coaches.

But it said the second relied on anonymous information which the organisation said had turned out to be false, one of several actions that “fell short of the expected standards”.

“Had we met those standards there was a real chance that the club would not have been disaffiliated in 2022, given the willingness of the club committee to work with Swim England to address the safeguarding concerns that did exist,” a statement said.

The club, based at independent school Ellesmere College, was first investigated in 2021 following allegations swimmers had been bullied, suffered serious mental health issues and eating disorders.

A number of former Titans swimmers spoke to the BBC about their experiences, and it is understood that investigation has since been independently reviewed and its findings of widespread failures upheld.

However, a second investigation in early 2022 is what triggered the move to disaffiliate the club from Swim England.

It is understood that was, in part, based on an anonymous letter sent to Swim England containing fresh, serious allegations.

The nature of them has not been made public but the governing body says the allegations turned out to be false.

Ellesmere Titans was disaffiliated shortly after, meaning swimmers who had dedicated their young lives to the sport were unable to compete regionally or nationally.

The governing body now says it failed to take into account the impact on those swimmers and their families, some of whom had relocated from other parts of the UK for their children to train at and attend Ellesmere College.

The college now runs another club, Ellesmere College Swimming Academy, but Swim England said the poor handling of its affiliation meant it was not up and running quickly enough.

Other mistakes made were disjointed decision-making, poor executive oversight and leadership and the lack of a complaints policy, meaning board members did not respond adequately when concerns about the closure were raised.

Former Swim England chief executive Jane Nickerson was criticised in barrister Louis Weston’s review of the handling of the closure, concluding she had “extraordinary and unjustified powers” which led to “unfairness” and prevented “proper challenge to decisions”.

The governing body, whose CEO is now Andy Salmon, said: “We wish to thank those who have raised concerns in relation to the shortcomings of both Swim England’s general procedures and its handling of this case and in doing so have highlighted areas for improvement for the benefit of all those in our aquatics community.”

The statement also highlighted the swimmers and parents who made the original safeguarding complaints about Titans.

“It is important that both those with safeguarding concerns and those who are accused of safeguarding breaches can have confidence that they will now be dealt with through a process that is confidential, robust and fair.”

Finally, the statement pointed out that some Ellesmere swimmers had been treated badly by others in the sport following the collapse of the club.

“We wish to publicly state that any form of toxic culture, where swimmers are ‘shamed’ or excluded from our sport due to current or past safeguarding concerns in respect of their clubs or schools, is not to be tolerated and we encourage all members of our community to uphold the type of culture we want to be a part of.”

A spokesperson for Ellesmere College said: “We welcome Swim England’s acknowledgement that its handling of matters in 2022 fell short of expected standards, and its apology regarding its assessment of false allegations made against the college that ultimately contributed to the disaffiliation of the club.

“We also wish to thank those clubs and individuals who have so strongly supported our swimmers and who remain committed to working in partnership with Swim England to the benefit of all.”