Safeguarding policy
SocialCareScore is an anonymous rating website. We cannot respond to safeguarding concerns or individual cases, and we are not monitored in real time. This page explains what we do if someone shares something worrying, and where to get help straight away.
If you are worried about a child or an adult
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Someone is in immediate danger
Call 999 and ask for the police or an ambulance.
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You are worried, but it is not an emergency
Contact the social services team at the council where the child or adult lives. Most councils have an out-of-hours number. Where we have checked a council's numbers, they are shown on that council's page. You can also call the police on 101.
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You want to talk to someone
The helplines below are free and confidential. More contacts are listed on our get help now page.
Helplines
- Meic
- A free, confidential and anonymous helpline for children and young people up to the age of 25 in Wales, in Welsh or English. Open 8am to midnight, 7 days a week.
- Phone: 0808 80 23456
- Text: 07943 114 449
- NSPCC Helpline
- For adults worried about a child. Open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
- Phone: 0808 800 5000
- Email: help@nspcc.org.uk
- Samaritans
- For anyone who is struggling to cope. Free, day or night, 365 days a year.
- Phone: 116 123
- Welsh Language Line: 0808 164 0123
- Live Fear Free
- Welsh Government helpline for anyone affected by domestic abuse or sexual violence, or worried about someone else. 24 hours a day.
- Phone: 0808 80 10 800
What we can and cannot do
We can
- show you where to get help before you submit anything;
- make sure worrying comments are never published;
- remove content quickly;
- point you to complaints, regulators and the Ombudsman.
We cannot
- see who you are or contact you;
- pass your rating to a council so that it acts on it;
- investigate what happened or decide whether someone was harmed;
- respond out of hours or in an emergency.
SocialCareScore is not a way to report a concern. Nobody will contact you or take action because of a rating or comment.
If you write about harm or risk
If your comment includes words that suggest someone may be at risk of harm, including thoughts of suicide or self-harm, we will:
- show you a help panel with emergency contacts and helplines before you submit;
- let you change or remove your comment;
- if you still submit it, hold the comment for priority review by a trained person within 1 working day;
- never publish that comment, and delete its text 30 days after it is reviewed.
Your ratings can still count towards scores after the normal checks.
We will not know who you are. If you or someone else needs help, please contact one of the services above now, rather than waiting.
Concerns about a worker
We do not publish comments that accuse a worker of harming someone or of wrongdoing, because we cannot check them and they could identify people. If you have a concern about a worker, you can:
- contact the council's social services team or, if a crime may have happened, the police on 101 (or 999 in an emergency);
- make a complaint to the council. Our help guides explain how, and our complaints guide covers social services in Wales;
- raise a concern about a registered social care worker in Wales with Social Care Wales;
- raise a concern about a care service in Wales with Care Inspectorate Wales, phone 0300 7900 126.
If you work in a council department, please do not rate that department. Use your employer's whistleblowing policy, or see our escalation routes for independent bodies you can contact about social care in Wales.
When we might share information
Because ratings are anonymous and we remove names, places and dates before anything is stored, we almost never hold enough information to help the police or a council find someone. We will not try to identify anyone.
In the rare case that we do hold enough information and someone appears to be at serious risk, our Designated Safeguarding Lead may contact the police or the relevant council. We would share only the minimum needed, and only where the law allows it. We record every decision like this.
How we look after safeguarding
- A named Designated Safeguarding Lead and a deputy are responsible for this policy.
- Every comment is read by a trained moderator before it can be published.
- Moderators receive safeguarding training, supervision and wellbeing support.
- We follow the Wales Safeguarding Procedures as our reference standard. As an independent website we are not one of the organisations with a legal duty to report under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, but we act in the same spirit wherever we can.
- We review this policy at least once a year.
Our full policy
This page summarises our safeguarding policy. To ask for the full policy, email hello@socialcarescore.co.uk. Please do not send details about a child, an adult or a case — we cannot act on them.
See also our content and moderation policy and privacy notice.