If you sit on a swimming club committee, Swim England Stronger Affiliation is the piece of annual paperwork most likely to catch you out. It is mandatory, it is easy to leave until someone chases you, and the six pieces of evidence it asks for sit with six different people. Here is the short answer before the detail: Stronger Affiliation is Swim England’s minimum standard of safe and effective practice, every affiliated club must submit six pieces of evidence through the Governance and Compliance Portal every 12 months, and a club that lets it lapse risks suspension.
This guide sets out what each of the six items actually is, who at the club owns it, where regions add their own requirements, and a sensible order to work through it. It is written for the volunteer who has just been handed the job, not for someone who already knows the portal.
What is Swim England Stronger Affiliation?
Stronger Affiliation is the process by which an affiliated club demonstrates, once a year, that it is governed properly, that its people are qualified, and that its safeguarding and DBS checks are current. Swim England describes the process on its Club Affiliation page, and each region publishes its own checklist alongside it.
Two words in the name matter. Affiliation is the thing itself: the relationship between your club and Swim England that gives your members their insurance, lets you enter competitions and gives the club access to Swim England support. Stronger describes the raised evidence bar that now sits underneath it. Clubs used to affiliate largely by paying a fee. They now affiliate by paying a fee and proving a standard.
That distinction is worth explaining to your committee early, because the fee and the evidence run on different tracks. The affiliation fee has its own timetable, covered in our guide to Swim England membership categories. Paying it does not complete your affiliation evidence, and completing the evidence does not pay the fee.
Who has to do it, and how often
Every Swim England affiliated club, on an annual basis. There is no size threshold and no exemption for a club that has been going for fifty years without incident.
Evidence is submitted through the Governance and Compliance Portal, which is the renamed version of the old SwimMark portal. If nobody at your club has a login, the route in is to email clubdevelopment@swimming.org with your name, club name, Swim England membership number, email address and role, as Swim England North West sets out.
The first submission is the hard one. In later years most items are a refresh: new signatures, new dates, an updated personnel report. Build that assumption into your committee handover so the next secretary inherits the folder rather than rebuilding it.
The six pieces of evidence
1. Club constitution and recent AGM minutes
Your constitution must be based on the Swim England model constitution and must have been checked by your region. Regions word this differently, and some state a maximum age for the last regional check, so use your own region’s current wording rather than assuming. Most also ask for a copy of your most recent AGM minutes alongside it.
If your constitution is the item holding you up, our guide to what a swim club constitution is and how to change one covers the model constitution route, the CASC variant and the regional approval step that has to happen before members vote. The regional approval step is the one clubs miss, and missing it means adopting the change twice.
Owner: club secretary. Lead time: months if the constitution needs amending, because it needs regional sign-off and then a general meeting.
2. Diversity and inclusion action plan
Clubs provide a 12-month diversity and inclusion action plan, usually called a DIAP. It is a working document rather than a statement of intent: what the club is going to do over the next year to widen who feels able to swim there, with dates against the actions.
Regions commonly pair the plan with evidence of related CPD. Swim England North West, for example, lists a Chairperson workshop, a Welfare Officer workshop, a Foundations of Inclusivity CPD and an Introduction to Para Swimming CPD for a Level 2 coach or teacher. Those named courses are that region’s requirement, so check what yours asks for before booking anyone onto anything.
Owner: chair, usually with the welfare officer. Lead time: weeks, because course places have to be found.
3. Club Welfare Officer statement of compliance
A signed statement from your Club Welfare Officer confirming the club is being run in line with Wavepower.
This is a single signature resting on a great deal of underlying work. A welfare officer signing it is confirming that codes of conduct are adopted, that concerns are recorded and referred properly, and that the people who need enhanced DBS checks have them. If you are not confident about what sits behind the signature, our breakdown of what Wavepower compliance actually requires is the place to start.
Owner: Club Welfare Officer. Lead time: short, unless signing it honestly turns out to be a problem, in which case it is the most important thing on this list.
4. Club Chair statement of compliance
A signed statement from the Chair confirming the club follows the Swim England Code of Ethics, that role descriptions exist for club roles, and that the evidence being submitted is accurate.
The role descriptions catch clubs out. Plenty of committees know exactly who does what without ever having written it down. If that is your club, our guide to swim club committee roles and responsibilities gives you a starting point to adapt rather than a blank page.
Owner: chair. Lead time: short, once role descriptions exist.
5. Risk assessments
A minimum of three, and this is the item most often left until last because it is the one nobody has a template for:
- One pool-based risk assessment for each discipline the club runs. A club running swimming and water polo needs one for each.
- One non-pool risk assessment, covering what happens away from the water: land training, changing rooms, the club room, socials.
- One club trip risk assessment, covering travel to galas and away fixtures, including overnight stays where relevant.
Each should name the assessor and carry the date it was completed. Undated assessments and assessments signed by nobody in particular are the two most common reasons for a resubmission.
Owner: typically head coach with the welfare officer. Lead time: a few evenings, and worth doing properly once because next year is a review rather than a rewrite.
6. Club Personnel Report
A report downloaded from the Online Membership System listing everyone in a governance, technical, support, competition, coaching or teaching role at the club, showing that DBS checks, safeguarding training and qualifications are current.
This is where affiliation stops being a paperwork exercise and starts being a data exercise. The report is only as good as what is on the system, so if your poolside helper list lives in a WhatsApp group and your DBS renewal dates live in a spreadsheet someone updated last March, the gap shows up here. Our guide to DBS check tracking for swimming clubs covers the renewal cycle and the Update Service, which is the cheapest way to stop expiry dates ambushing you.
Owner: membership secretary or registration officer. Lead time: as long as it takes to chase the person whose check expired in July.
Where regions differ, and why it matters
The six evidence items are the national shape. What sits inside them varies by region, and regional pages are not always updated in step with each other. Comparing published checklists shows real differences in how the constitution requirement is worded, and Swim England North West adds named workshops and CPD to the diversity and inclusion item that other regions do not list.
The practical rule: treat the six items as the national frame, and take the detail from your own region’s current page. Do not work from another club’s checklist, and do not work from last year’s, because the requirements are updated from time to time.
Where SwimMark and the Club Health Tracker fit
Three things get confused with each other, so it is worth separating them.
| Stronger Affiliation | Club Health Tracker | SwimMark | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compulsory? | Yes, annually | No, invited and encouraged | Paused for new submissions since 1 November 2024 |
| Purpose | Prove the minimum standard | Help the club see where to develop | Accreditation above the minimum |
| Outcome | Approved, or the club risks suspension | Scores and benchmarks, no pass or fail | Accreditation, while it ran |
The short version: SwimMark being paused changed nothing about your affiliation obligations, and completing the Club Health Tracker does not count towards them. Affiliation is the floor. The tracker is a development tool sitting on top of it.
What happens if you do not complete it
Swim England regions are direct about this. Swim England North West states that failing to maintain club affiliation annually will result in a club “facing suspension from Swim England which will affect all club activities”, and Swim England East Region words it as a club “being suspended temporarily or permanently”.
Suspension does not stay on the committee. It reaches competition entries, the insurance your members rely on and, in some cases, your standing with the pool operator you rent water from. That is the case to make when you are trying to get a signature out of someone in August.
A sensible order to work through it
- Get portal access first. Email clubdevelopment@swimming.org before you need it, not on the week you need it.
- Start with the constitution. It has the longest lead time by a distance, because a change needs regional approval and then a general meeting. Line it up with your AGM rather than calling an extraordinary meeting.
- Book CPD places early. Courses fill, and the diversity and inclusion item may depend on them in your region.
- Run the personnel report now, not at submission time. It tells you which DBS checks and safeguarding certificates expire before your deadline, which is the difference between a reminder email and an emergency.
- Write the risk assessments as a group. One evening with the head coach and welfare officer beats three months of good intentions.
- Collect the two signed statements last, once the things they attest to are actually true.
Common blockers
- No single owner. Six items across six people with no one holding the list is the most common failure mode. Give it to one person and put it on the committee agenda monthly.
- Evidence spread across personal devices. Constitutions on a former secretary’s laptop, DBS dates in one person’s spreadsheet, minutes in an email thread. Put the affiliation folder in shared club storage.
- Expiry dates nobody is watching. A DBS check or safeguarding certificate that lapses two weeks before submission turns a tidy process into a scramble.
- Treating it as annual rather than continuous. The clubs that find affiliation easy are the ones whose records are already right in March.
Frequently asked questions
What is Swim England Stronger Affiliation?
Stronger Affiliation is the process Swim England uses to set a minimum standard of safe and effective practice for affiliated clubs. Every affiliated club submits six pieces of evidence through the Governance and Compliance Portal each year, covering its constitution, its diversity and inclusion plan, signed statements from the Welfare Officer and the Chair, risk assessments, and a personnel report showing DBS and safeguarding are in date.
Is Stronger Affiliation compulsory for swimming clubs?
Yes. Unlike the Club Health Tracker, which clubs are invited to complete, Club Affiliation is a mandatory annual requirement for every Swim England affiliated club. Regions state plainly that a club which does not maintain it risks suspension from Swim England, which affects all club activities.
What evidence does Stronger Affiliation need?
Six items: the club constitution based on the Swim England model and checked by your region, along with recent AGM minutes; a 12-month diversity and inclusion action plan with evidence of the related CPD; a signed Club Welfare Officer statement of compliance with Wavepower; a signed Club Chair statement of compliance with the Code of Ethics and role descriptions; a minimum of three risk assessments; and a Club Personnel Report downloaded from the Online Membership System with DBS and safeguarding in date.
How often does a club have to complete Stronger Affiliation?
Annually. The evidence set is submitted and approved once, then resubmitted every 12 months. It is a rolling obligation rather than a one-off accreditation, so most of the work in later years is refreshing dates, signatures and personnel data rather than starting again.
How many risk assessments does Stronger Affiliation require?
A minimum of three: one pool-based assessment for each discipline the club runs, one non-pool assessment covering activities away from the water, and one covering club trips. Each assessment should name the assessor and carry the date it was completed.
Is Stronger Affiliation the same as SwimMark?
No. SwimMark was a separate accreditation scheme and it has been paused for new submissions since 1 November 2024. Affiliation continued regardless, and the old SwimMark portal was renamed the Governance and Compliance Portal, which is where affiliation evidence is now submitted.
What happens if a club does not complete Stronger Affiliation?
Swim England regions state that failing to maintain affiliation annually will result in the club facing suspension, which affects all club activities. In practice that reaches competition entries, insurance cover and the club’s standing with its pool operator, so it is not a paperwork problem that stays on the committee.
Five of the six evidence items are things your club already holds somewhere. Swimly is club management software built for UK swimming clubs, keeping member and personnel records, DBS and safeguarding expiry dates and club documents in one place so compliance evidence is a download rather than a search. See pricing to find out what it would cost your club.