Our Approach

Aurnet provides tools that churches use to engage with people of all ages, including children and vulnerable adults. Safeguarding is a shared responsibility: each church is responsible for its own safeguarding policy, its Designated Safeguarding Lead, and its legal duties, while Aurnet is responsible for providing a platform that supports safe practice and for handling personal data carefully.

What Churches Are Responsible For

The church, as data controller, decides who is invited to its space, manages roles and permissions, obtains any parental or guardian consent needed for younger members, and applies its own safeguarding policy. Churches should appoint a Designated Safeguarding Lead and ensure leaders and volunteers understand their responsibilities.

How the Platform Supports Safeguarding

Access controls: Role-based permissions and per-church data isolation limit who can see what.
Moderation: Tools to moderate chat and community content, including content filtering and the ability to remove content.
Reporting and suspension: Mechanisms to report concerns and to suspend or restrict accounts that breach our policies.
Careful data handling: Sensitive and pastoral information is access-controlled and held under our Privacy Policy.
Reports and review: Anyone can report a message, conversation, profile or post. Safety reports go only to the church's safeguarding lead, who can read a reported conversation. Every time they do, it is recorded with the reason.
Quiet safety checks: Private conversations between an adult and an under-18 are checked automatically, and the safeguarding lead is told if a possible risk to a child is noticed.
Parent view: Parents can choose to see the names on their child's friends list.
Blocking: Members can block someone. The other person isn't told.

Minors

Individuals should be at least 13 to hold an account. The app does not itself verify age, so churches must manage who they invite and obtain any consent required for younger members under their own safeguarding policy. Where a church runs youth or children's ministry on the platform, it remains responsible for appropriate supervision and consent.

Reporting a Concern

If you have a safeguarding concern, contact your church's Designated Safeguarding Lead. If a child or adult is at immediate risk of harm, contact your local emergency services or relevant safeguarding authority first. You can also report platform misuse to support@aurnet.co.uk, and we will cooperate with churches and authorities as appropriate.

Cooperation

Aurnet will cooperate with churches and, where lawful and appropriate, with statutory authorities investigating safeguarding matters, and will act on valid requests in line with our legal obligations and our Privacy Policy.

Safeguarding policy.