Reporting concerns or INCident: Speaking Up

If you’re worried about something you’ve seen or experienced - whether it concerns fraud, safeguarding, misconduct, or a health and safety issue - you can report it confidentially through our Speaking Up service. This page explains the different types of concerns you can raise and how to submit a report safely. 

At Save the Children, we are committed to making sure children are kept safe and that our staff and volunteers never exploit the position of trust in which they have been placed.

We invite you to use our Speaking Up channels to report concerns.

We know deciding to report a concern can sometimes be difficult, especially if you’re unsure about everything that happened. But, when reporting a concern to us, you don’t need to be 100% sure of all the details. Share your concern with us and we’ll work to ensure the safety of the children, adults, and families we work with. 

We invite you to use our Speaking Up channels to report concerns including but not limited to:

• Any concerns about the welfare of a child connected to our work, a staff member, volunteer, or representative of Save the Children  
• Concerns about the behaviour of a staff member, volunteer, or representative of Save the Children (For more information about Safeguarding click here)  
• Concerns regarding fundraising materials, behaviour of fundraisers or process breakdown
• Concerns about fraud, bribery and corruption such as:
  • Theft from an SCUK shop or fundraising event,  
  • Cyber-fraud or theft using SCUK’s name or logo
  • Conflicts of interest, abuses of trust, or giving or receiving bribes in relation to SCUK or its work,  
  • Any other ways in which deception, dishonesty or false information is used by SCUK representatives or others to make a profit or gain an advantage
• Concerns that an SCUK partner, supplier, or donor may be owned, controlled or have ties to an individual or group engaged in terrorism or subject to sanctions
• Health and Safety or Safety and Security Concerns

If you're in the UK and you believe a child or adult to be at immediate risk of significant harm, contact the Police by dialling 999.

At Save the Children we are committed to reviewing every single concern that is shared with us. We have a dedicated Safeguarding team who work hard to ensure every concern is handled sensitively, promptly and through a Victim/Survivor-centred approach. This means putting the victim/survivors’ needs at the centre of our thinking and actions.  

If you’ve shared your contact details with us in your initial report, a member of our Safeguarding team a member of one of our specialist teams may reach out to you to agree a time to speak further, or to ask some additional questions. We will then investigate the concern and take any necessary steps to protect children and families. Depending on the information you share, the Safeguarding team may need to share the information with others, especially if we think a child is at risk of harm or abuse.  

If you choose to share a concern anonymously, we will not be able to contact you unless you opted to leave your contact information. This may mean we are not able to investigate fully, but we will do our best.

Regardless of how you choose to share your concern with us, reporting any concern you have could be the first step in helping us ensure all our activities are safe and supportive for all the children, adults, and families we work with. Thank you.