What the Swim England Review means for survivors of abuse
On 13 October 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 – it’s good to see progress, and the NSPCC have extensive experience in dealing with safeguarding matters.
The independent review was announced by Swim England in March 2025, following the outcomes of previous investigations into safeguarding failures and allegations of abuse.
This includes a 2023 investigation commissioned by Sport England, which looked at safeguarding and complaints processes in relation to three specific historic safeguarding matters within Swim England. The subsequent report recommended that Swim England arrange an independent review into all historic cases to see whether any require further investigation or reinvestigation.
A number of athletes have also made public allegations of abuse within Swim England or its affiliated clubs. In 2023 Commonwealth youth gold medallist Phoebe Lenderyou described 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 against coaches.
In May 2025, BBC Panorama 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.
Swim England has previously estimated that their latest independent review will consider approximately 1,500 safeguarding cases from between 2003 and 2022. The review will focus on whether it appears that:
- Swim England did not follow 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 scheduled to commence by the end of October 2025, with completion anticipated by the end of March 2026.
Bringing a civil claim
It is also possible to bring a civil claim in relation to this kind of abuse. Bolt Burdon Kemp is currently acting for a survivor of abuse within Swim England and 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.
If you have experienced this kind of abuse in swimming or any other sport and are interested in exploring your legal options, please contact our team for free, non-judgmental and confidential advice, or myself directly (hayleychapman-todd@bbkllp.co.uk )
