Terms and Conditions

1. About these terms

By using this website, submitting a form, joining a discussion, or taking part in any One Social Care participation activity, you agree to follow these terms.

If you do not agree with these terms, please do not submit information or take part in interactive areas of the website.

These terms should be read together with our Privacy Policy, Community Conduct Guidelines, the cookies section of our Privacy Policy, and any specific guidance shown before a participation activity.

2. Who we are

One Social Care is an information, education, support-routing and civic participation platform for social care.

In these terms, “One Social Care”, “we”, “our” and “us” means:

3. Using the website

You may use this website to read information, explore resources, find signposting, and take part in structured conversations where available.

You agree not to:

• use the website in a way that breaks the law;
• try to damage, overload, scan or interfere with the website;
• submit false, misleading or harmful information;
• copy, scrape or reuse website content in a way that infringes rights;
• attempt to access accounts, systems or information that are not meant for you;
• use the website to harass, intimidate, exploit or target another person.

4. Taking part

Some parts of One Social Care allow people to take part in discussions, surveys, events, story-sharing, policy conversations or The Exchange.

When you take part, we may ask for:

• your name;
• your email address;
• your organisation or role, if relevant and optional;
• the contribution, question, comment or response you choose to submit;
• basic technical information needed to protect the website from misuse.

We ask for this information so we can manage participation, contact you about your contribution where needed, moderate discussions, protect the community, and keep a clear record of civic exchange activity.

5. Community standards

One Social Care is built for calm, respectful and evidence-aware civic exchange. You do not have to agree with other people, but you must take part in good faith.

When contributing, you agree to:

• treat other people with dignity;
• stay within the topic of the discussion;
• share experience without exposing another person’s private information;
• avoid personal attacks, abuse, threats, hate speech or harassment;
• avoid posting medical, legal or financial instructions as if they are professional advice;
• make clear when something is your personal experience or opinion;
• avoid spam, advertising, campaigning abuse or repeated off-topic posting.

Our Community Conduct Guidelines explain these expectations in more detail, including how disagreement, lived experience, privacy and moderation are handled.

6. Moderation

We may review, edit, hide, move or remove contributions where we believe this is needed to keep the platform safe, lawful, accessible or on topic.

We may also pause or close a discussion, refuse a contribution, or restrict participation where someone repeatedly breaks these terms.

Moderation decisions are made to protect the purpose of the platform and the people taking part. Moderation does not mean we endorse every published contribution.

7. Your contributions

You keep ownership of the original words, ideas, stories or materials you submit, unless a separate written agreement says otherwise.

By submitting a contribution, you give One Social Care permission to:

• read, store and moderate your contribution;
• publish it on the website where the participation route says this may happen;
• quote, summarise or refer to it in related outputs, reports or articles;
• edit it for length, clarity, accessibility, formatting or safeguarding reasons;
• remove identifying details where appropriate.

We will not knowingly publish private contact details, sensitive personal information, or identifying information about another person without an appropriate reason and permission where required.

Please do not submit anything you do not have the right to share.

8. Data protection

We handle personal information in line with applicable UK data protection law, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For participation processes, we may collect and use your name, email address, submitted contribution, and related participation records.

Why we use this information

We use this information to manage participation, respond to you, moderate contributions, prevent misuse, maintain records, and improve the platform.

Our lawful basis

Our lawful basis depends on the activity. It may include contract, consent, legitimate interests, legal obligation, or another lawful basis explained in the relevant privacy information. Marketing emails will only be sent where we have an appropriate lawful basis to do so.

How long we keep it

We keep personal information only for as long as needed for the purpose it was collected, unless we need to keep it longer for legal, safeguarding, audit or dispute reasons.

Participation records may be retained for [insert retention period]. Published contributions may remain available unless they are removed, anonymised or archived.

Who we share it with

We may share limited information with trusted service providers who help us run the website, manage email, host data, moderate discussions, or deliver participation activities. We may also share information where required by law or where needed to protect someone from serious harm.

Your rights

You may have rights to access, correct, erase, restrict or object to the use of your personal information. You may also have the right to withdraw consent where we rely on consent.

To make a data protection request, contact: [insert-privacy-email].

More detail is available in our Privacy Policy.

9. Safety and support

One Social Care is not an emergency service, clinical triage service, legal advice service, benefits decision-maker or care assessment body.

Information on the website is for general understanding and signposting. It is not a substitute for professional advice, emergency help, or direct support from the relevant service.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call emergency services. If you need urgent emotional support, use the support routes listed on our support pages.

10. Intellectual property

Unless stated otherwise, the website design, text, structure, graphics, resources and other materials belong to One Social Care or are used with permission.

You may link to public pages and share short extracts with clear credit. You must not reproduce, sell, republish or adapt substantial parts of the website without permission, unless the law allows it.

11. Third-party links and embedded content

The website may include links or embedded content from other organisations, platforms or services. We are not responsible for third-party websites, services, policies or content.

When you follow a third-party link or interact with embedded content, the third party may process your information under its own terms and privacy policy.

12. Website availability

We aim to keep the website available and accurate, but we cannot guarantee that it will always be uninterrupted, secure, error-free or up to date.

We may update, suspend, withdraw or change parts of the website at any time.

13. Responsibility and limits

We take care with the information we publish, but the website is provided for general information, learning, participation and signposting.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or fraudulent misrepresentation.

To the fullest extent allowed by law, we are not responsible for loss or damage caused by reliance on general website content, third-party content, service interruptions, or misuse of the website.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The latest version will be published on this page with an updated date.

If changes are significant and affect active participation processes, we will take reasonable steps to make the change clear.

15. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, unless another law applies by right.

Any dispute will be handled by the courts of England and Wales, unless consumer law gives you the right to bring proceedings somewhere else.

16. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to: