Community Conduct Guidelines

1. Purpose of these guidelines

One Social Care exists to help people understand care, share experience, explore evidence and build better answers together.

These guidelines help protect that purpose. They apply to The Exchange, comments, forms, events, story-sharing, surveys, working groups and any other participation space connected to One Social Care.

They should be read together with our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

2. Who this is for

These guidelines apply to everyone who takes part, including members of the public, people who draw on care, unpaid carers, care workers, providers, researchers, local leaders, policymakers, journalists, volunteers and One Social Care team members.

People arrive with different experience, confidence, knowledge and levels of stress. We ask everyone to take part in a way that recognises this.

3. Core principles

The conduct of the platform is guided by four simple principles:

• Lead with people. Speak about people with dignity, not as problems, cases or statistics.
• Create better ways. Use discussion to understand, improve and build, not just to criticise.
• Build together. Make room for public, lived-experience, workforce, provider and policy perspectives.
• Improve lives. Keep the conversation connected to practical change, learning and care.

4. What we expect

When you take part, we ask you to:

• treat other people with dignity, even when you strongly disagree;
• stay within the topic of the discussion or participation route;
• make clear when something is your experience, opinion or interpretation;
• avoid blaming individuals for structural problems;
• listen to people with direct experience of care and support;
• share evidence, examples or sources where they are relevant;
• use plain language where possible;
• respect moderation decisions and topic boundaries;
• avoid posting the same point repeatedly once it has been heard.

5. What is not allowed

We may remove or refuse contributions that include:

• abuse, threats, intimidation or harassment;
• hate speech or discriminatory language;
• personal attacks or targeted humiliation;
• private information about another person without permission;
• medical, legal, financial or safeguarding instructions presented as professional advice;
• spam, advertising, scams or unrelated promotion;
• party-political campaigning that takes the discussion away from its civic purpose;
• graphic, distressing or triggering detail where it is not necessary;
• deliberately false, misleading or manipulated information;
• content that encourages harm, exploitation or illegal activity.

6. Lived experience

Lived experience is central to One Social Care. People who draw on care, unpaid carers, families and care workers should not have to prove that their experience matters.

At the same time, no one person is expected to speak for a whole group, community, profession or condition.

When responding to lived experience, avoid dismissing, diagnosing, interrogating or correcting someone’s personal account. You may disagree with conclusions, but you should not attack the person.

7. Evidence and disagreement

Disagreement is allowed. The Exchange is not designed for everyone to say the same thing. It is designed for better, slower and more useful conversations.

Strong disagreement should focus on the issue, evidence, policy, system or idea. It should not become personal.

Where a claim is factual, we may ask for a source, date or context. Where a claim cannot be checked, we may treat it as opinion or remove it if it risks misleading people.

8. Privacy and safety

Please do not share someone else’s private information without permission. This includes names, addresses, contact details, medical information, care records, employment details, safeguarding information or identifying stories.

If you are sharing your own experience, think carefully before including details that could identify you or someone else.

We may edit, hide or remove information where this is needed to protect privacy, dignity or safety.

9. Moderation

Moderation helps keep One Social Care calm, lawful, accessible and useful. It is not there to force agreement.

Moderators may:

• move a contribution to a more relevant topic;
• edit formatting, length or identifying details;
• ask someone to clarify or evidence a claim;
• pause, close or redirect a discussion;
• remove content that breaks these guidelines;
• limit or restrict participation where needed.

Moderation decisions will aim to be proportionate. In some situations, especially where safety or privacy is involved, we may act without prior notice.

10. Reporting concerns

If you see something that appears unsafe, abusive, discriminatory, misleading or outside these guidelines, please report it.

You can report a concern by using the reporting tools available in the relevant space or by contacting: [insert-moderation-email].

Please include the page, discussion title, date and a brief explanation of the concern where possible.

11. What may happen if guidelines are broken

If these guidelines are broken, we may take one or more of the following actions:

• leave the contribution unpublished;
• edit or remove part of a contribution;
• remove the contribution entirely;
• contact the person who posted it;
• issue a reminder or warning;
• pause or restrict participation;
• suspend or close an account, where accounts are used;
• contact relevant authorities where there is a serious safety or legal concern.

We will usually choose the least restrictive option that protects the purpose and safety of the platform.

12. Contact

Questions about these Community Conduct Guidelines can be sent to: