Current UK takes the welfare of children and young people seriously. Our Safeguarding & Minors Policy sets out the standards our staff and contributors must follow when covering minors, ensuring their rights, privacy and dignity are protected.
Who is responsible for safeguarding at Current UK?
Editor-in-Chief William Ashby has overall responsibility for editorial standards, including the treatment of minors. The Standards & Fact-Checking Lead Diane Forbes provides additional review of any content involving children.
Current UK is owned and operated by Sliema Media Limited, registered in Malta (C 84217, registered office: Level 3, Tower Business Centre, Tower Street, Swatar, Birkirkara BKR 4013, Malta). All staff and freelancers must escalate safeguarding concerns immediately to Diane Forbes or William Ashby. This policy is reviewed annually by William Ashby and Diane Forbes. For full details of our ownership and funding, see Ownership & Funding.
How do we cover children in our reporting?
When reporting on or featuring children, we apply a higher threshold of care. We consider the child’s best interests at every stage — from whether a story requires their involvement to how they are identified and depicted.
Our Editorial Policy states that we will not publish information that could identify a child under 16 without explicit parental consent, unless overridden by public interest approved by the editor-in-chief. We use pseudonyms, first names only, or blurred images where appropriate. Our reporters are trained to recognise vulnerable children and to stop interviews if a child is distressed.
What additional steps do we take when content involves minors?
Any article, image, video or audio featuring a minor under 18 undergoes an extra editorial check by Standards & Fact-Checking Lead Diane Forbes before publication. This applies to all content, including news, features, sponsored material and user-generated submissions.
Diane Forbes (Our Team) reviews for compliance, verifies consents, and assesses fairness. Content that fails is edited or removed. This additional oversight is documented in our internal records.
How can readers raise concerns about a story involving a child?
Readers who believe we have treated a minor unfairly or caused distress should contact our complaints team at complaints@currentuk.co.uk. All complaints are handled under our formal complaints procedure.
We acknowledge safeguarding complaints within 24 hours and respond within five working days. If upheld, we correct or remove content and issue an apology if appropriate. Complainants may escalate to Editor-in-Chief William Ashby. See our Complaints Procedure for full details.
Our commitments
- We prioritise the safety and welfare of minors above all other editorial considerations in our journalism.
- We obtain verifiable, documented consent from a parent or guardian before featuring any child under 16 in a story, unless a clear public-interest exception is approved by the editor-in-chief.
- We avoid identifying information — such as full names, school names, home addresses or distinctive images — that could expose a child to harm, and we use anonymisation techniques where possible.
- All content involving minors is reviewed by Standards & Fact-Checking Lead Diane Forbes before publication, with the review recorded in our editorial system.
- We respond to all safeguarding-related complaints within five working days and take corrective action — including removal, correction or apology — when a breach of this policy is identified.