At TutorCruncher, we understand how important it is for tutoring companies to prioritise Student wellbeing alongside academic progress. This is why we’ve released a new feature designed to help you raise, track, and manage Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns with ease.
We have also written a comprehensive guide that is designed to help tutoring companies navigate their legal responsibilities, adopt best practices, and take practical steps to uphold the highest standards of child protection. We strongly encourage you to read this guide to fully understand your obligations when Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns are raised, as well as the appropriate steps that need to be taken for addressing such matters.
How do I enable this feature?
The Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns feature is turned on by default for all companies. If you’d prefer not to use it, you can turn it off at any time by heading to System > Settings > People and Activity > Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns and unchecking the box labelled ‘Use Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns’.
Enabling or disabling Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns functionality.
You can also set up the starting ID for Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns. For example, if you set the start ID to 100, the first concern raised will be labelled WBC-100.
What types of Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns can be raised?
There are two types of Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns you can raise, depending on the seriousness of the issue: Not Severe and Severe.
Not Severe Concerns are issues that require care and attention but don’t meet the threshold for external or statutory reporting. These concerns can be managed internally within your organisation. Examples include a Student expressing occasional low mood or anxiety about exams, academic frustration or a lack of confidence affecting performance, or minor family stress that doesn’t pose an immediate risk.
Severe Concerns are more serious and should be escalated immediately, either to a senior member of staff or an external safeguarding body, because they may indicate a child is at risk of harm. Examples include disclosures or signs of physical or emotional abuse, indications of self-harm, evidence of neglect (such as a Student frequently arriving unwashed, underdressed or extremely hungry), or any situation where a child appears to be in immediate danger.
We have also given companies the option to enable a lock functionality. If a company chooses to enable the lock functionality, any Job or Lesson associated with a Severe Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern will be temporarily locked. This means that no further actions can be taken on the Job until the concern has been reviewed and addressed.
Enabling/disabling the lock function.
How do I raise a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern?
Admins can raise a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern on behalf of a user by navigating to their profile and clicking Actions > Raise Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern. This allows you to document and manage any issues directly from the user's profile.
Admins raising a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern.
You will then be taken to a form where you can enter all the relevant details. You’ll be able to link the concern to a specific Job or Lesson, choose whether it’s a severe or not severe issue, and add a description explaining the situation.
Note: When selecting a Lesson to link to a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern, you’ll see all Lessons from the past year listed.
After submitting the form, the assigned Safeguarding/Wellbeing Managers will be instantly notified and can review the concern by heading to Activity > Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns.
How can my users raise Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns?
Just like Admins, other users, including Tutors, can raise Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns through their accounts. They can do this either via the Job or an individual Lesson.
Tutors raising a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern.
Users can also view Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns they’ve raised by navigating to their profile icon (top right corner) and clicking 'Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns'. From there, they can raise new concerns too.
Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns page for Users.
Students and Clients have similar options to raise Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns from their accounts. Once a concern is submitted, Safeguarding/Wellbeing Manager receive an email notification to keep them notified.
When a Student raises a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern, the Paying Client and any Associated Clients with the appropriate permissions are notified as well. You can manage these permissions for Associated Clients by navigating to the Associated Client panel within the Student’s profile.
Associated Client permissions for viewing Student Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns.
Who can view and respond to Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns?
The account owner is designated as a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Manager by default, granting them the ability to view and respond to all Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns. They can also make other Admins 'Safeguarding/Wellbeing Managers' by navigating to the respective Admin’s profile and clicking on Actions > Edit Profile > Address, Contact Details & More, and enabling the 'Safeguarding/Wellbeing Manager' checkbox.
Assigning 'Safeguarding/Wellbeing Manager' permissions to Admins.
Once enabled, these Admins will also receive notifications when a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern is raised and will have the ability to view and respond to the issues.
How can I manage Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns?
As a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Manager, you can access the 'Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns' page within the 'Activity' section of your dashboard. This page provides an overview of all raised concerns, with unresolved issues displayed at the top.
Clicking on a specific concern will open its detailed view, where you can:
Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern detailed view.
You can also filter Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns by Reporter, Student, Tutor, Job, Lesson, Status, Severity, as well as by the dates the concern was raised or resolved. Additionally, you have the option to export this data for your internal records and reporting needs.
What email notifications are sent when a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern is raised?
We’ve created a dedicated section within our email definitions related to Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concerns which can be accessed by navigating to System > Settings > Communication Settings > Email Definitions. The following automated emails are sent to Admins/users when a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern is raised or resolved. These emails can be enabled or disabled based on your preferences:
Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern Raised (Admins): Sent to Admins designated as Safeguarding/Wellbeing Managers when a new Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern is raised.
Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern Raised (Clients): Sent to the Paying Client and any Associated Clients with the appropriate permissions when a Student raises a Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern.
Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern Resolved: Sent to Safeguarding/Wellbeing Managers and the person who raised the concern once it has been resolved. If the concern was raised by a Student, the Paying Client and any Associated Clients with permissions will also receive this notification.
Safeguarding/Wellbeing Concern email definitions.