Hayley Chapman-Todd, senior solicitor in Bolt Burdon Kemp’s Abuse Claims Team, explores Swim England’s appointment of the NSPCC to review 1,500 historic safeguarding cases and what this could mean for survivors.
On October 13, 2025 Swim England announced that they have appointed the NSPCC to conduct an independent desktop review of historical safeguarding cases referred to or handled by Swim England between January 2003 and December 2022.
I act for a survivor of abuse within Swim England and welcome the appointment of the NSPCC, who have extensive experience in dealing with safeguarding matters.
Allegations of abuse
The independent review was announced by Swim England in March 2025, following the outcomes of previous investigations into safeguarding failures and allegations of abuse within Swim England and its affiliated clubs, including some from elite athletes.
In 2023, Commonwealth youth gold medallist Phoebe Lenderyou told the BBC how she felt “broken” after years of negative comments, and disclosed that she had battled bulimia for five years due to her coaches’ obsession with her weight. After this, dozens more swimmers came forward describing relentless bullying, humiliating public weigh-ins, fat-shaming and training on injuries.
In response to these allegations, Swim England published ‘the Listening Report’ in 2024, which over 1,000 swimmers, coaches and parents contributed to. The report found:
- Past and current experiences of bullying were “widely reported”, particularly by coaches or other child athletes, “leaving a lasting negative impact”;
- Aggressive coaching styles including shouting, shaming and singling out individuals are “tolerated as expected behaviour” due to fear of repercussions;
- Swim England’s current approach to safeguarding was criticised by some for being overzealous and biased towards coaches.
In May 2025, BBC Panorama also broadcast a documentary in which 12 swimmers, including two ex-Olympic athletes (Rūta Meilutytė and Cassie Patten) described abuse by coach Jon Rudd, including bullying, body-shaming and being forced to train on injuries. Athletes explained how they had suffered with mental health issues and eating disorders as a result.
What will the review investigate?
An investigation in 2023 commissioned by Sport England, which looked at safeguarding and complaints processes in relation to three specific historic safeguarding matters within Swim England, recommended that Swim England arrange an independent review into all historic cases to see whether any require further investigation or reinvestigation.
According to Swim England, the independent review will consider approximately 1,500 safeguarding cases from between 2003 and 2022, and examine whether:
- Swim England followed its procedures in place at the time and
- Any procedural flaw led to, or is likely to have led to:
- disciplinary action not being taken when it ought to have been taken, or
- disciplinary action being taken when it ought not to have been taken and
- there is, or is likely to be, a continuing risk of harm to the public (including but not limited to any participants within the aquatics community) as a result of that action or inaction.
The review is currently anticipated to conclude by the end of March 2026. However, Swim England had previously aimed to appoint the relevant organisation and start the review by the end of Spring 2025, so it may be that the timing of the final report is also delayed.
What does the review mean for survivors?
It is certainly a positive step that Swim England have commissioned the NSPCC, who are an experienced independent body, to examine its handling of a range of safeguarding issues that may have been improperly dealt with at the time. I am hopeful that Swim England will at the very least learn lessons from this review, which can be implemented to improve its safeguarding processes going forwards.
But the benefits of the review to survivors of past abuses are far from clear. Swim England have already stated that the individuals whose cases are to be reviewed will not even be notified of this. The review is described as “paper-based only”, meaning the affected individuals will have no involvement, and no opportunity to make representations.
Although Swim England have committed to providing “more details” once the NSPCC has completed its review, it has not publicly stated what will happen in cases where the review finds that the correct procedures were not followed. It is not clear, for example, whether survivors will receive an apology or if their case will be reinvestigated. The review criteria hints that further action may only be taken if it is deemed there is still a continuing risk of harm to the public as a result of a particular action or inaction by Swim England – this may not be the case for individuals whose experiences took place some years ago, yet for whom the effects still linger.
It is also unlikely that survivors will be offered any form of redress as a direct result of the review process.
For individuals who wish to take further action and seek some form of redress, it is possible to bring a civil claim in relation to the kind of abuse described by former swimmers. I am currently acting for a survivor of abuse within Swim England and my firm has also successfully brought civil claims in relation to abusive and negligent training regimes within British Gymnastics.
Compensation can be claimed for the psychiatric injuries caused by the abuse, including eating disorders. Survivors can also claim for any financial losses they may have sustained as a result, such as loss of earnings or therapy costs.
So, whilst the independent review may have only limited benefits for existing survivors, we can still remain hopeful that it works to protect the swimmers of the future.
Hayley Chapman-Todd is a Senior Solicitor in the Abuse Claims Team at Bolt Burdon Kemp.
