Keeping everyone
safe — by default.

Many of the people who reach out to Unity Relief UK are in stressful, sometimes unsafe, situations. Our safeguarding duty is to keep everyone we work with — applicants, donors, volunteers, staff and partners — safe from harm.

We follow guidance from the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, and the Welsh Government's safeguarding framework. This policy applies to every member of staff, every trustee and every volunteer.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is a senior social worker with 14 years of practice in adult and child safeguarding. They are independent of our lending decisions, which means an applicant's safeguarding case never affects whether their loan is approved.

The DSL is supported by a Deputy DSL with equivalent training. Both have enhanced DBS checks (renewed every three years) and complete annual safeguarding refresher training.

Reach the DSL directly: safeguarding@unityrelief.org.uk · 0808 000 0099 · Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, with an out-of-hours emergency line answered by an on-call manager.

Concerns we routinely act on include: domestic abuse (financial, physical, emotional, coercive control), elder abuse, modern slavery indicators, child neglect, mental health crisis, suicidal ideation, and signs of fraud or coercion in a loan application (e.g. an applicant being made to apply on someone else's behalf).

During verification, our caseworkers are trained to listen for these signals — gently, without interrogating. If something concerning emerges, we pause the application process and offer specialist signposting before continuing.

Step 1 — record. The staff member who hears the concern writes it up the same day on our secure safeguarding log.

Step 2 — review. The DSL reviews every entry within 24 hours and decides one of three outcomes: monitor, refer internally, or refer externally.

Step 3 — act. External referrals go to the appropriate statutory team (Adult Social Care, Children's Social Care, the Police, MARAC, or the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub). We always tell the person we are referring, unless doing so would increase their risk.

Step 4 — close the loop. Once the case is resolved, the DSL writes a confidential lessons-learned note that feeds into our annual safeguarding review.

Safeguarding records are stored separately from loan and donation records, with access restricted to the DSL, Deputy DSL, and the Chair of Trustees. Records are retained for the periods set by statutory guidance — typically 25 years for child-related concerns, 10 years for adult concerns.

We will not share safeguarding information with family members, landlords, employers or any partner organisation without explicit consent, except where we are legally required to or where withholding would put someone at serious risk.

Every member of staff and every trustee completes Level 2 safeguarding training within their first month, and a refresher every year. Caseworkers complete additional modules in domestic abuse awareness, mental health first aid, and trauma-informed practice.

Volunteers and partner-organisation referrers receive a tailored 30-minute induction on what to look out for, who to flag concerns to, and the limits of their role.

Contact our Designated Safeguarding Lead directly using the details above. You do not have to be an applicant, a donor, or affiliated with us in any way. We accept and act on referrals from members of the public.

In a life-threatening emergency, call 999. For non-urgent police matters, call 101. For confidential domestic abuse support: National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247. For child welfare concerns: NSPCC 0808 800 5000.