Safeguarding · RinkHQ

Our role

RinkHQ is a software platform. We help coaches manage bookings, rosters, payments, and communication with parents. We provide tools that support safe operation of junior sessions — but we are not a safeguarding body, and using RinkHQ does not discharge a coach’s or club’s safeguarding obligations.

Coaches and clubs remain fully responsible for safeguarding and any required vetting, including DBS checks. RinkHQ does not conduct background checks on anyone.

The appropriate authority for safeguarding in UK ice hockey is your sport’s national governing body and your club’s designated safeguarding lead. RinkHQ is a tool to help run the administration; it is not a substitute for those structures.

Platform controls

RinkHQ includes a number of features that help coaches control who can access their sessions and what information is visible to whom.

Verification gates bookings

Coaches cannot take bookings until RinkHQ has reviewed their profile and their self-declared DBS details. If a coach’s recorded DBS expiry passes, bookings pause automatically until the details are updated and re-reviewed. We review what coaches declare — we do not inspect original documents.

Closed-group rink membership

Coaches operate a private rink. Parents can join only by entering an invite code, accepting a single-use email invitation, or having their request to join approved by the coach. A coach’s published sessions are visible on their public page — that’s how parents find them — but rosters, attendee details, and family data are never publicly accessible.

Medical-severity flags

Parents record medical information for each skater, with a severity level. High-severity conditions are visually flagged in the rinkside view so the coach sees them immediately at the start of a session — without having to search through a list.

Role-based access

The platform enforces strict role separation at the database level. Coaches see only their own rink’s data. Parents see only their own family’s bookings and skater records. A coach cannot access another coach’s roster, and a parent cannot access another family’s details.

Photo consent

Each skater record has a photo-consent toggle, set by the parent and off by default. Coaches cannot share imagery of a skater unless the parent has explicitly opted in.

Coach responsibilities

RinkHQ is a tool, not a compliance framework. Coaches are responsible for:

Holding a current EIHA licence and a valid DBS check (or equivalent), and keeping these up to date.
Operating in accordance with their club’s safeguarding policy, including ratios, supervision, and reporting lines.
Reading and acting on medical notes and emergency contact information provided by parents before running a session.
Ensuring their insurance covers the activities they are publishing on the platform.
Following their designated safeguarding lead’s guidance for any concern that arises rinkside.

If you are unsure of your safeguarding obligations, contact your club’s safeguarding lead or your sport’s national governing body before publishing sessions for junior skaters.

Parent controls

Parents manage their own family’s data throughout. You control:

Your roster.Each skater’s name, date of birth, age group, position, club, medical notes, and emergency contact are entered and maintained by you.
Medical information. You decide what medical information to record and at what severity level. The coach you book with can read it; no one else can.
Photo consent. Consent is off by default. You can enable it per skater at any time, and you can withdraw it.
Which rinks you join. You join a rink by choice — via a code, an invitation, or a request you submit. You can leave at any time.

If you have a concern about how a coach is handling your family’s data, contact us at privacy@rinkhq.app.

Raising a concern

If a child is at immediate risk of harm, contact the police or emergency services first. Do not wait.

For concerns about behaviour on the platform — inappropriate messages, misuse of a child’s data, or anything else that troubles you — contact us:

safeguarding@rinkhq.app or via the contact page.

We will take every report seriously. We can’t promise a fixed response time, but we will not ignore a concern.

If your concern is about a coach’s conduct or qualifications, you should also report it to their club’s safeguarding lead and, where appropriate, to the relevant national governing body. RinkHQ can suspend platform access pending investigation, but we are not the regulatory body for coaching conduct.

What we don’t claim

We want to be honest about what RinkHQ is and isn’t.

RinkHQ is not a safeguarding authority. We are a software company, not a regulatory or accreditation body.
We do not conduct DBS checks ourselves. Coaches declare their DBS and licence details; RinkHQ reviews those declarations before a coach can take bookings, and an expired DBS pauses bookings automatically — but we review declarations, not original documents, and our review is not a background check.
We do not accredit or endorse any coach listed on the platform. Coaches publish their own credentials; parents should verify these independently if they have questions.
RinkHQ is not a substitute for a club’s safeguarding policy. Using this platform does not mean a club or coach has met their safeguarding obligations.

If you have questions about a specific coach’s credentials or a club’s safeguarding practices, contact the club directly or check with the relevant national governing body.