Skip to content

Safeguarding

Keeping children safe

Squono exists to share children's football with the people who care about them – and nobody else.

Last updated 30 September 2026

Our approach

  • Private by default. Nothing on Squono is public. Only people a club invites can sign in, and there are no public links to videos.
  • The club controls who sees what. For each video, clip, photo, result and document, the club's coaches choose the audience – the whole team, coaches only, named groups, selected people or a player's own family. Nothing publishes itself: a coach checks every recording first.
  • Filming policies and opt-outs. Clubs can publish their filming and photography policy in Squono for every member to read. Parents can opt their child out of filming, and coaches see a reminder listing opted-out children whenever they record, publish, make clips or share a match. Other parents never see who has opted out.
  • No public profiles of children. No player pages, no search listings, no social feed. Children don't have accounts, and we never store dates of birth. We show a first name and initial wherever we can.
  • No messaging between adults and children. Squono has no direct messages or chat. Accounts are for adults only.
  • Easy reporting. Every video has “Report a concern” and “Request removal” buttons. Reports go privately to the club's safeguarding contact, administrators and the team manager.
  • Emergency removal. Coaches, managers and club administrators can unpublish a video, or stop all sharing for a match, in one step.
  • Careful by design. Downloads are off unless a club turns them on, video links expire within minutes, and email subject lines never mention children, teams or scores.

How to report a concern

If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. For anything else, The FA's reporting routes are:

  1. Your club or league Welfare Officer. Every club running under-18 teams must have one.
  2. Your County FA Designated Safeguarding Officer. Find your county FA in The FA's directory of county FAs.
  3. The FA Safeguarding team at Safeguarding@TheFA.com. This isn't a 24-hour service: emails are read Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
  4. If you can't reach your Welfare Officer or County FA, the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000.
  5. In an emergency, the police or children's social care in your area.

The FA's guidance note How to report safeguarding concerns explains what happens next.

Helplines and other routes

  • Police: 999 if a child is at immediate risk; 101 for non-emergencies. Calls to both are free.
  • NSPCC Helpline (for adults worried about a child): 0808 800 5000, 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, or email help@nspcc.org.uk, 11am to 4pm, seven days a week. The NSPCC says emails sent while the service is closed won't be received. About the NSPCC Helpline.
  • Childline (for children and young people): 0800 1111, free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or 1-2-1 chat online. Under-18s can ask for sexual images of themselves to be removed from the internet with Childline's Report Remove tool.
  • CEOP (part of the National Crime Agency): if you're worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating with a child online, report to CEOP.
  • Internet Watch Foundation: report sexual images or videos of children online, anonymously, at the IWF.
  • Children's social care: contact your local council's children's services using the GOV.UK postcode finder (it also links to services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland).

If your concern is about an adult

If you're worried about how a coach, volunteer or other adult involved with children is behaving, report it through your club Welfare Officer or County FA Designated Safeguarding Officer as above. Every local authority has a designated officer or team – often called the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) – who oversees allegations against adults who work with children in paid or voluntary roles, and who should be told within one working day. In football, the County FA and The FA liaise with the LADO. You can find your LADO through your local council. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026.)

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

  • Wales: if a child is in danger, call 999. Take advice from social services, the police or the NSPCC (0808 800 5000), or contact the FAW Safeguarding Team – FAW: respond, record, report.
  • Scotland: speak first to your club's Child Wellbeing & Protection Officer. The Scottish FA Wellbeing & Protection Team can be contacted at childrenswellbeing@scottishfa.co.uk. If a child is at immediate risk, contact Police Scotland on 999 (or 101 if it isn't an emergency). Scottish FA: how to report a concern.
  • Northern Ireland: report to your club's Designated Children's Safeguarding Officer, or use the Irish FA's Speak Out Safe portal (you can report anonymously). In an emergency call the PSNI on 999 (101 if it isn't an emergency). Out of hours, the Regional Emergency Social Work Service is on 028 9504 9999. Irish FA reporting procedures.

Concerns about Squono itself

If your concern is about a video, photo or someone's behaviour on Squono, use “Report a concern” on the video or in the app so your club's safeguarding contact sees it straight away. If you can't reach your club, or your concern is about how Squono itself works or is being misused, email hello@squono.com or use our contact form and choose “Safeguarding concern about Squono itself”. Tell us which club and team it relates to and what you've seen – you don't need to include a child's full name. We are not an emergency service and our inbox isn't monitored around the clock, so always use the routes above if a child may be at risk.

Getting a video or photo taken down

  1. Use “Request removal” on the video, or ask a coach, manager or club administrator – they can unpublish it immediately.
  2. If that isn't possible, contact us. We can remove access to content while the club looks into it.
  3. We keep a record of what was removed, when and by whom, without children's names in that record.

Removal from Squono can't reach copies someone may already have downloaded or recorded from their screen – that's one reason downloads are off unless a club turns them on. The FA notes that where photos or film were lawfully taken or shared by spectators, including parents, The FA and County FAs have no power to make them be deleted.

What clubs must have in place

Clubs using Squono must follow The FA's safeguarding requirements, including:

  • A Welfare Officer. Every club and league running under-18 teams must have one. They must be 18 or over, hold an accepted FA DBS check, and complete The FA's Welfare Officer course and “Safeguarding for Committee Members” course (FA guidance on appointing a Welfare Officer).
  • FA DBS checks. Anyone aged 16 or over in a potentially unsupervised role working with under-18s – including coaches, team managers and their assistants – needs an in-date FA DBS check, which lasts three years (FA safer recruitment and DBS checks).
  • Safeguarding training. Everyone working with under-18s should complete The FA's Safeguarding Children Course, which is valid for two years. Club secretaries, chairs, treasurers and Welfare Officers must complete “Safeguarding for Committee Members” for clubs with under-18 teams to affiliate (FA safeguarding training).
  • A photography and filming policy. The FA recommends every club has one and shares its filming guidance with members, officials and parents. Clubs should explain their lawful basis for filming, offer parents an opt-out, tell the opposition before filming, and never film in changing rooms, showers or toilets.

Before any video can be published on Squono, a club owner or administrator confirms that the club has the permissions and policies it needs. That confirmation isn't a substitute for the club's own policy and decisions.

FA guidance

Emergency: 999 · NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000 · Childline: 0800 1111