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BackPass
BACKPASS
Safeguarding

Keeping young people safe comes first.

BackPass exists for young people aged around 10 to 25 who are in care or have left care. Here's how we protect them, and what to do if you're worried.

Last updated: 31 October 2026

If you’re worried about a young person

  • If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.
  • If you’re worried about a young person’s safety or wellbeing, contact their Local Authority’s children’s services or leaving care team. If you don’t know which Local Authority, contact us and we will help.
  • To tell us about a concern linked to BackPass, an event or a venue, email safeguarding@backpass.org. It goes straight to our safeguarding leads, and we act on concerns the same day.

Young people can also contact Childline for free, confidential support on 0800 1111.

How BackPass is designed to keep young people safe

  • Local Authorities stay in charge. Tickets are chosen and given out by Local Authority staff who know the young person, not by BackPass or by venues.
  • Venues never get young people’s details. Donors and venues can’t see who receives a ticket and can’t contact young people through BackPass.
  • We hold as little as possible. We don’t ask for young people’s names, addresses, dates of birth or care details.
  • Only approved organisations can use the portal. We check every Local Authority and donor before they get an account.
  • Venues share our approach. We ask venues to have their own safeguarding policy and a named contact, to welcome young people like any other guest without singling them out, and to tell us about any incident involving a BackPass ticket holder.

Who is responsible

  • Designated Safeguarding Lead: Dom Porteous, our CEO. Dom is a qualified social worker with five years of experience supporting asylum seekers, refugees and young people, and oversees safeguarding at BackPass.
  • Deputy Safeguarding Lead: Karim Allaouat.

Our commitments

  • We follow the Charity Commission’s safeguarding guidance and the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children as good practice, even though we are not a charity.
  • We pass every concern to the right Local Authority or the police, usually within 24 hours.
  • We review our safeguarding policy at least once a year, and after any serious incident.