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Our Town Our Skills

Community Rules & Safeguarding Policy

Our shared expectations for keeping Our Town Our Skills safe, friendly, and fair.

This is a draft policy with placeholders. It requires operator review and safeguarding lead sign-off before launch.

Safety expectations

  • Be honest about your skills and experience. Do not claim qualifications you do not have.
  • Meet in a public place for first exchanges with someone you do not know.
  • Tell a trusted person where you are going and who you are meeting.
  • Do not share banking details, passwords, or sensitive documents.
  • Arrange meeting venues through the app's messaging — do not publish your home address.
  • Respect other members's boundaries and privacy at all times.

Professional boundaries

Our Town Our Skills is for peer-to-peer help between neighbours. It is not a substitute for professional services. Always use a qualified professional for safety-critical work such as electrical, gas, structural, or regulated healthcare. A verified postcode does not equal a DBS check or professional qualification.

Prohibited behaviour

  • Harassment, bullying, discrimination, or threatening behaviour of any kind.
  • Offering or requesting prohibited service categories (see below).
  • Sharing another member's private information without consent.
  • Attempting to buy, sell, or exchange points for money.
  • Creating multiple accounts to circumvent restrictions.
  • Using the service for any unlawful purpose.

Disabled service categories

The following are disabled at launch and may not be offered or requested:

  • Childcare, babysitting, and unsupervised contact with children
  • Care of vulnerable adults and personal care
  • Regulated healthcare and clinical advice
  • Counselling and therapy
  • Legal and tax advice
  • Gas work, electrical installations, and structural building work
  • Roofing and working at height

Incident reporting

Every listing, profile, and message has a Report button. Reports are private, time-stamped, and routed to administrators. Safeguarding concerns are prioritised. In an emergency, call 999. The reporter's identity is not shared with the reported person by default.

Block and moderation

You can block any member to prevent them from contacting you or seeing your listings. Administrators can suspend members, remove content, and escalate serious incidents. All moderation actions are logged. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed.

Safeguarding lead

The designated safeguarding lead is [SAFEGUARDING_LEAD_CONTACT — to be supplied]. The safeguarding lead is responsible for triaging safeguarding reports, making referrals where necessary, and maintaining the Incident Response Plan.

Appeals

If you believe a moderation decision was wrong, you can appeal by contacting us. Appeals are reviewed by a different administrator where possible.