Who we are.

We weren’t planning to create SaferSpace. But, when Ruth read a recent Ofsted report (Office for Standards in Education) about a college she used to work at, she was dismayed by Ofsted’s findings. The college had been branded ‘Inadequate’ by the government watchdog, citing students:

"...told inspectors they experience homophobic language and taunting and ... female learners do not feel comfortable in areas such as the student common room."

How could managers be made aware of these instances? How easy was it for students to report unacceptable behaviour? Was it intimidating, unwieldy… was there stigma attached to ‘telling tales’?

Shortly after this, we became aware of lots of other news stories about large organisations who had allegedly let their people down, you can see links to national news stories below:

• Scouts: Millions paid out over UK abuse in last 10 years, say lawyers

• One in three female NHS surgeons have been sexually assaulted

• McDonald's workers speak out over sexual abuse claims.

• Sexual harassment allegations cost local authorities at least £2.5m

• Teachers’ sexual harassment of students is widespread in the UK and Ireland

• Soldier took her own life after relentless sexual harassment, says Army

Unfortunately, this isn’t just a UK problem, a quick Google search will reveal just how widespread these issues are, globally. These include Governments, universities, militaries, corporate giants, and more.

So, after reading countless news stories, and non-governmental reports where organisations had let their people down, we knew there had to be a better way…