Safeguarding

This page explains how MIE Connect keeps young people and adults at risk safe when they use our services, how parents and guardians are involved, what our staff do if they are worried about someone, and how to raise a concern. If someone is in immediate danger, call the emergency services first.

If someone is in danger now

If you think a student or anyone else is in immediate danger, call the emergency services straight away, before you contact us:

• in the UK, call 999 or 112;
• in the EU, call 112;
• in the United States, call 911;
• in Bangladesh, call 999;
• in India or Nigeria, call 112;
• in Pakistan, call 15 for the police or 1122 for rescue services;
• anywhere else, call the local emergency number.

When it is safe to do so, tell us as described in "How to raise a concern" below.

Who this covers

Safeguarding means protecting people from abuse, neglect, exploitation and harm. This page covers:

• students under 18: our services are for people aged 16 and over, so this mainly means students aged 16 and 17. We do not knowingly accept anyone under 16;
• adults at risk: students aged 18 or over who, because of illness, disability or their circumstances, may be less able to protect themselves from harm.

It applies to our staff, and we expect our recruitment partners to follow the same standards when they work with us.

Our commitment

• The welfare of the student always comes first, ahead of any application or commission.
• Everyone has the right to be safe, whatever their age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.
• We take every concern seriously and act on it promptly.
• We share information about a concern only with the people who need it to keep someone safe.

Our designated safeguarding lead

We have a designated safeguarding lead, a senior member of staff who is responsible for safeguarding at MIE Connect, makes sure concerns are acted on, and decides when to involve other organisations. When the lead is away, a director covers.

You can contact the safeguarding lead by emailing info@mieconnect.com with "Safeguarding" in the subject line. These emails are passed to the lead the same working day.

Students aged 16 and 17

If you are 16 or 17, you can use our website and the student portal. Before we submit any application for you, a parent or guardian must be involved and give their consent where it is needed. We will:

• ask for a parent's or guardian's email address in the guided journey, after you create your account;
• ask your date of birth when you start the guided journey, and check it against your passport before we submit an application;
• ask for your parent's or guardian's email address, talk to them about your plans, and record on your file that they agree before our Application team approves an application;
• tell you about any rules universities have for students under 18, such as accommodation, a UK guardian or a later start date;
• tell you about visa rules for under 18s. For example, a UK Student visa application from someone under 18 needs written consent from their parents or legal guardian.

We respect your privacy too. In the UK, people aged 16 and 17 can usually make their own decisions about their personal information. We share information about you with a parent or guardian when it is needed to apply for you, when you agree, or when we need to keep you safe. In some countries, such as India and Nigeria, the law treats everyone under 18 as a child and needs a parent's or guardian's consent, as our Privacy Policy explains.

Adults at risk

If a student over 18 tells us about something that makes them less able to protect themselves, or we notice signs that they may be at risk, we will talk to them about what support they need. We respect an adult's right to make their own decisions, and we involve other people only with their agreement, unless someone is in danger or the law requires it.

How to raise a concern

If you are worried about the safety of a student who uses our services, including yourself, email info@mieconnect.com with "Safeguarding" in the subject line, or tell your counsellor. Please tell us:

• who you are worried about and how to reach them, if you know;
• what happened or what you noticed, and when;
• whether anyone else, such as the police or a school, already knows.

You do not need proof. If you are not sure whether something is a safeguarding concern, tell us anyway.

How our staff act on a concern

1. Listen. Staff listen calmly, take what they are told seriously and do not ask leading questions.
2. Do not promise secrecy. Staff explain that they may need to share what they hear to keep someone safe.
3. Act on danger at once. If someone is in immediate danger, staff call the emergency services first.
4. Record. Staff write down what they saw or were told, in the person's own words where possible, with the date and time.
5. Report. Staff tell the designated safeguarding lead the same day.
6. Decide and refer. The safeguarding lead decides what to do next. This may include contacting a parent or guardian, the university's own safeguarding team, children's or adult social services, the police, or similar services in the student's country.
7. Follow up. The safeguarding lead checks that action has been taken and keeps a record of the decision and why it was made.

Concerns about our staff or partners

If you are worried about how one of our staff or a recruitment partner has behaved towards a student, tell the safeguarding lead in the same way. If your concern is about the safeguarding lead, email info@mieconnect.com with "Safeguarding: for a director" in the subject line, and a director will deal with it. We will look into every concern, and where needed we will stop the person working with students while we do, and report the matter to the relevant authorities.

Staying safe when you talk to us

• We contact students through the student portal, by email from an mieconnect.com address, by phone, and on WhatsApp from the MIE Connect number shown on our website. We never contact students from personal numbers.
• Our staff do not contact students through personal social media accounts, and do not ask students to keep conversations secret.
• Video calls with students under 18 are arranged in advance and take place through work accounts, and a parent or guardian is welcome to join.
• We will never ask for your password or a sign in code, and we will never ask you to pay a university's fees or deposit to us or to a personal account.
• If someone contacts you claiming to be from MIE Connect and something feels wrong, stop, do not pay or share documents, and check with us at info@mieconnect.com.
• Do not share your documents or personal details with anyone online unless you know who they are and why they need them.

Our staff and partners

• Before staff work with students under 18, we check their identity and references, and carry out the background checks the law allows for their role, such as a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check in the UK or the equivalent where they work.
• All staff who work with students complete safeguarding training when they join and refresh it every year.
• Our safeguarding lead has further training for the role.
• Our Acceptable Use Policy requires recruitment partners to have their own safeguarding arrangements and to tell us about any concern straight away.

Information and confidentiality

We keep safeguarding records securely and separately from application records where possible, and only the people who need them can see them. We share safeguarding information only to keep someone safe, and the law allows this even without consent where it is needed to protect a child or an adult at risk. We keep safeguarding records until the student is 25, or for 6 years after the concern, whichever is later. Our Privacy Policy explains your rights over your information.

Help and support

If you are in the UK and need someone to talk to:

• Childline, for anyone under 19: call 0800 1111, free.
• NSPCC, for adults worried about a child: call 0808 800 5000.
• Samaritans, for anyone who is struggling: call 116 123, free, day or night.

Outside the UK, your school, college or local authority can tell you about support services where you live.

Changes to this page

We review our safeguarding arrangements and this page at least once a year, and whenever the law or our services change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last updated.