Social media guidelines

Our social media accounts are managed by the Cafcass Communications team and are used to share the following: 

• Information about the organisation, including news, blogs and details of projects or events in which we are taking part. 
• General information and news relevant to the sector and our stakeholders. 
• Vacancies and careers material. 

We look forward to engaging with our stakeholders across our social media channels. In order to do this safely, respectfully and constructively, we have developed the following guidelines:  

We will not engage with posts that contain the following: 

• Abusive, obscene, indecent or offensive language, including swear words and derogatory terms based on gender, race or sexuality. 
• Abusive language towards an individual or organisation. 
• Content that is not relevant to the original post. 
• Content which is unlawful. 
• Spam, promotions or advertisements. 
• Content designed to cause disruption to the use of these channels by us or the other social media users. 

The only exceptions to the above will be where there are safeguarding concerns. Where safeguarding concerns are present, our health and safety and child protection policies will be followed. 

Our social media channels are not suitable for discussing sensitive personal information. See the appendix below for details on where to direct such queries that contain sensitive personal information (such as Freedom of Information requests, Subject Access Requests, or providing feedback or complaints).  

We will never share information or engage in discussion about individual cases in the family court on social media. Please do not post case information on social media. If case information is disclosed on one of our social media channels, it will be removed where possible (on Facebook and LinkedIn) and consideration will be given to any further appropriate action. If you have questions, concerns or other enquiries relating to your case, please contact your Family Court Adviser. 

Our social media channels must not be used – by us or anybody else – to post anything sensitive about the organisation, service users, the Government or other bodies. This includes names (of children and service users), confirmation of cases and legally sensitive information. 

Following an account does not imply any kind of endorsement or reflection of our views. 

Comments on our posts are the views of individuals and do not represent us, unless coming from one of our official accounts. 

Any 3rd party advertisements or promotions seen while viewing one of our social media channels do not necessarily represent our views and should not be seen as an endorsement. 

All social media channels are monitored and moderated by our Communications Team during regular working hours (Monday – Friday, 9 am – 5 pm). In exceptional cases, channels may be used outside of office hours, such as during events. 

We make an effort to respond to genuine questions and comments made on social media; however, this may not always be possible. 

Where posts or comments break the community guidelines set out here, moderation action may include: 

• blocking accounts from interacting with our accounts; 
• removal of comments or posts; and 
• any other appropriate action. 

While we try not to take such actions, decisions made about removing comments, blocking or reporting users are made at the discretion of our Communications Team. We will not enter into dialogue on social media or other channels about these decisions.

Your use of social media and linked websites is at your own risk. For security and privacy information, please contact the company concerned directly. 

We may record information posted to social media accounts and use that information for reporting, record keeping and monitoring. No attempt will be made to further identify people except where requested and authorised to do so by law. 

In rare circumstances, we may be directed by the court to contact an individual via a social media channel. This will be done as discreetly and sensitively as possible. Contact will always be made through our official accounts. Please do not respond to individual accounts claiming they are acting on behalf of us. 

These guidelines cover all our social media accounts. Currently, these are as follows: 

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Facebook

These guidelines also cover blog comments on www.cafcass.gov.uk. 

We may at any time, without notice to you, revise these guidelines.  

Please contact us via our website contact form.