Whistleblowing Policy

1. Purpose

This policy encourages anyone with serious concerns about conduct, safety, malpractice, or wrongdoing connected to SoloCogs to speak up - without fear of reprisal. It covers concerns that go beyond individual complaints (which are handled under the Complaints Policy).

Whistleblowing is about raising concerns in the public interest - particularly where children may be at risk. SoloCogs is committed to taking such concerns seriously.

2. What This Policy Covers

You should use this policy if you have concerns about:

• A safeguarding or child protection failure - including a failure to act on a concern
• Conduct by any person connected to SoloCogs that puts a child at risk
• Serious breach of legal or regulatory obligations
• Deliberate concealment of wrongdoing
• Misuse of personal data or a serious data breach that is not being addressed
• Any other serious malpractice

3. Who Can Use This Policy

This policy can be used by:

• Any parent or carer with a concern about how SoloCogs operates
• Any student (with or without a parent/carer) who has a serious concern
• Any contractor, supplier, or other person with a professional connection to SoloCogs

4. How to Raise a Concern

In the first instance, concerns can be raised with Jazz directly via the contact page.

However, if your concern is about Jazz specifically, or you do not feel confident raising it internally, you should contact an external body directly:

• Safeguarding concerns about a child: Portsmouth City Council Children's Services - 023 9268 8793, or the NSPCC - 0808 800 5000
• Concerns about a teacher's conduct: Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) - gov.uk/TRA
• Data protection concerns: Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) - ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113
• General whistleblowing: Protect (formerly Public Concern at Work) - protect-advice.org.uk

5. Confidentiality

Where possible, we will keep the identity of anyone raising a concern confidential. However, there may be circumstances - particularly where a child's safety is at risk - where it is not possible to maintain full anonymity. We will discuss this with you before proceeding wherever possible.

You may raise a concern anonymously. Anonymous concerns will still be investigated, though the ability to respond directly to you will be limited.

6. Protection from Reprisal

Anyone who raises a genuine concern in good faith under this policy will not face any negative consequences as a result. This includes:

• No adverse change to their access to the platform
• No hostile response in any communication
• No discrimination or disadvantage of any kind

Raising a concern in good faith means you honestly believe the information to be true, even if it later turns out to be mistaken. Malicious or deliberately false allegations are a separate matter and may be dealt with under the Complaints or Acceptable Use Policy.

7. Record Keeping

All whistleblowing concerns and the actions taken in response are recorded securely and retained for a minimum of 7 years.