Local provider safeguarding responsibilities

1. Local accountability

The teaching provider must establish safeguarding arrangements appropriate to its learners, activities, premises and local law before teaching. It must identify a responsible safeguarding contact and an alternative route if that person is unavailable or implicated. A sole provider must give families a credible alternative reporting route. RTL sets licence conditions; it does not recruit or check tutors, supervise sessions or act as the local safeguarding service.

2. Recruitment and eligibility

The provider must assess each role, complete legally required checks and suitability steps lawfully before relevant activity, and prevent ineligible or barred individuals undertaking it. Assess identity, references, required qualifications, relevant overseas history and right to work as applicable. Keep evidence securely with justified access and retention. Assess rechecking on relevant changes and local requirements, rather than relying indefinitely on an old certificate.

For England and Wales use the current regulated-activity rules, including the removal of the relevant supervision exemption from 1 September 2026. Assess the specific role; do not infer that all volunteers are automatically eligible for every check. Scotland and Northern Ireland require their own current assessment and routes. Overseas providers use local requirements. Do not request a higher-level check without eligibility or routine upload of certificates to RTL.

3. Preventing harm

Provide staff with induction, proportionate training, reporting routes and supervision appropriate to their responsibilities. Apply G03 boundaries and G05 session arrangements. Consider abuse, neglect, bullying, discrimination, online contact, exploitation and risks arising from lone working. Agree reasonable adjustments without excusing unsafe or discriminatory treatment. Make arrangements known to parents and explain safe reporting to children in an age-appropriate way.

4. Responding to concerns

Take immediate steps within your role to protect a child, contact emergency or local protection services when appropriate, and make required referrals without waiting for RTL. Listen without leading questions, record facts and the child's words accurately, and do not promise secrecy or undertake your own criminal investigation. Share only necessary information through secure routes. Allegations involving the safeguarding contact must use the alternative route.

5. Network notification

Notify RTL through the restricted concern route of matters materially affecting professional access, programme use or brand permission. Protect the child and any official investigation when deciding what may be shared. RTL may preserve evidence and consider G07 restrictions without finding criminal guilt. Providers and tutors must cooperate with lawful authority requests and must not retaliate against reporters. Retain sensitive concern files separately from routine progress records under a lawful local schedule.

1. Before opening a session

The provider must assess whether its actual activities, ages and hours require registration, permission or other local compliance as tuition, childcare or a school. Check the rules of the relevant UK nation or overseas jurisdiction. A programme licence is not regulatory permission. Register each location in the app and maintain the L07 location information, including for home and shared venues.

2. People and supervision

Provide staffing, competence and supervision suitable for the learners and activity under local law and risk assessment. Record attendance and handover, authorised collectors and emergency contacts. Establish action for an uncollected or missing child. Staff must know who is responsible throughout arrivals, sessions, breaks and departure. Do not leave children with unauthorised adults or assume a venue host provides supervision.

3. Premises and health

Assess safe entry, exits, fire, evacuation, first aid, accessibility, toilets, visitors, equipment and foreseeable hazards. Allocate premises duties with the host without displacing either party's legal duties. For homes assess household members, private areas, pets and visitors. Obtain necessary landlord, insurer and other permissions. Handle allergies, medicines, illness and personal care under appropriate local arrangements and privacy safeguards. Do not put sensitive details into unrestricted learner notes.

4. Online and individual teaching

Assess platform access, appropriate visibility, recording, communication routes, one-to-one boundaries and action if a child reports harm remotely. Explain any parent supervision expected before sessions. Do not record by default or move children to unapproved private communication channels. Consider lone-working and transport risks where relevant.

5. Incidents and review

Stop unsafe activity, seek emergency help where needed, record material facts and make required local reports. Follow G02/G06 for protection concerns and notify RTL of matters affecting licence or network access. Review arrangements after a significant incident, venue change or material activity change and at locally appropriate intervals. The provider performs and owns these operational tasks; RTL's location record is not an inspection or safety certificate.

1. Where to raise a concern

For RTL programme, account or billing concerns use website or in-app Help at https://rtlclubs.vercel.app/contact and its contact form. Select "Programme or app", "Billing", "Tuition provider" or "Concern about a child or tutor". If the form is unavailable or unsuitable, email help@rtlclubs.com or write to [Correspondence address to be confirmed]. Sensitive concerns use help@rtlclubs.com. These routes and their accessibility must be verified before publication. Help is not an emergency service and no round-the-clock monitoring is promised.

For tuition, the named provider's contact is in your tuition agreement. You may report directly to RTL without first confronting a provider or tutor. In immediate danger in the UK call 999; overseas use the local emergency number. Contact appropriate local child-protection services or police where needed. Do not wait for an RTL reply or internal review before making a necessary external report.

2. What happens to a report

Give enough information to identify the concern and affected service, including dates where known. Do not send unnecessary criminal-record or medical documents. RTL will route reports to people who need them, distinguish local tuition matters from its own service and network-access decisions, and consider conflicts of interest. Local providers and competent authorities handle local safeguarding duties. RTL remains responsible for duties applicable to its own actions and data.

RTL will assess available information, preserve relevant evidence, request clarification where appropriate and explain the next step so far as safe and lawful. Anonymous reports may be considered, although missing information can limit action. Confidentiality will be respected but absolute secrecy cannot be promised where protection or legal duties require disclosure. No response deadline is invented here; publish realistic contact arrangements when resourcing is confirmed.

3. Fairness and review

RTL will distinguish allegations, established facts and network judgements. Where a concern may justify restriction, G07 applies. The person concerned should normally receive sufficient information to respond, with protective redactions or delayed disclosure where necessary. Complainants may ask for review of complaint handling through help@rtlclubs.com, without entitlement to another person's confidential records. An available person uninvolved in the original decision should review conflicts and material issues.

4. Protection for reporting

Good-faith complaints, whistleblowing, lawful criticism and reports to regulators or police are not prohibited by confidentiality or brand clauses. No retaliation is permitted. Failure to substantiate a report does not make it malicious. A finding of intentional fabrication requires evidence and fair consideration. Anyone may seek legal advice or use available external remedies without completing this procedure. Store sensitive reports separately with restricted access and lawful retention.