Ethical standards for Providers and Onward Shift
Company: Onward Shift Limited (company number 15583217)
Last updated: 25th August 2026
Website: https://onwardshift.com
Ethics contact: jo*****@*********ft.com
This Code sets the ethical standards expected when Onward Shift arranges, promotes or delivers keynote speaking, workshops, coaching, counselling and other independent professional services. It protects the dignity, choice and safety of the people we serve while setting fair and accountable expectations for both Providers and Onward Shift.
1. Purpose and status of this Code
1.1 This Code applies alongside the Onward Shift Provider Agreement, Booking Confirmation, Privacy Policy, safeguarding arrangements and any professional code or legal duty that applies to a particular Provider or engagement.
1.2 Provider means a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, coach, counsellor or other independent professional listed on, introduced by or delivering services through Onward Shift.
1.3 This Code is not a replacement for the ethical framework of a regulator, professional register, membership body or employer. A Provider must comply with the standards that apply to their role and membership, including any later updates.
1.4 Where standards differ, the Provider should follow the lawful approach that gives appropriate protection to the person receiving the service and raise any material conflict with Onward Shift before proceeding.
1.5 The Code does not create an employment relationship, guarantee work or make every Onward Shift service a clinical or therapeutic service. Its contractual effect depends on the documents that incorporate it.
2. Scope and service distinctions
2.1 The nature of the service must be made clear. A title, description or mental-health theme must not lead a person to believe they are receiving diagnosis, treatment, counselling or crisis support when that is not the service being provided.
Service | Ethical position |
Keynote or workshop | Education, reflection or facilitated discussion for an audience. It does not create an individual clinical relationship merely because mental health or lived experience is discussed. |
Coaching | A collaborative, goal-focused service delivered within the coach’s competence. It must not be presented as diagnosis or treatment unless the Provider is separately qualified and expressly contracted to provide that service. |
Counselling or therapy | A confidential professional relationship governed by clear contracting, the Provider’s competence, applicable professional standards and service-specific privacy information. |
Other professional service | The scope, limits, qualifications, intended outcome and referral boundaries must be explained before delivery. |
2.2 A Provider who performs more than one role must identify which role they are performing at the relevant time and must not move into a different role without appropriate competence, information and agreement.
2.3 Attendees at a company or education engagement should not be described as the Provider’s clients unless a separate individual service has been agreed.
3. Core ethical principles
3.1 Dignity and respect: treat every person as an individual whose experiences, identity, privacy and choices matter.
3.2 Safety and care: take reasonable steps to avoid foreseeable and unnecessary harm, respond proportionately to risk and work within clear limits.
3.3 Autonomy and informed choice: give people enough honest information to decide whether and how to take part, without pressure or manipulation.
3.4 Integrity and trustworthiness: be accurate, keep commitments, acknowledge mistakes and do not misuse professional status or the Onward Shift name.
3.5 Fairness and inclusion: challenge discrimination, remove avoidable barriers and make reasonable adjustments where required and practicable.
3.6 Accountability: be willing to explain ethical decisions, keep appropriate records and engage constructively with feedback, safeguarding action and complaints.
4. Onward Shift’s commitments
4.1 Onward Shift will represent a Provider’s qualifications, role, experience and services accurately and will not knowingly make promises or claims that the Provider cannot support.
4.2 We will give Providers the reasonably available information needed to prepare and deliver safely, including the agreed audience, purpose, venue, accessibility, safeguarding, timing and practical requirements.
4.3 We will handle personal information on a need-to-know basis, respect a Provider’s existing intellectual property and apply the payment, cancellation and commercial arrangements set out in the relevant agreement.
4.4 We will not pressure a Provider to work outside their competence, insurance, professional duties or reasonable safety limits. A Provider may raise a concern or decline unsafe or unethical work without retaliation.
4.5 We will offer an accessible route for concerns and complaints, take safeguarding reports seriously, investigate proportionately and avoid prejudging an allegation before the relevant facts have been considered.
4.6 Where Onward Shift makes a material mistake, we will be candid, take reasonable corrective action and consider what should change to reduce recurrence.
5. Professional conduct and accountability
5.1 Providers must act honestly, respectfully and professionally towards attendees, individual clients, business clients, education providers, colleagues, venue staff and Onward Shift.
5.2 A Provider must comply with the agreed scope, reasonable site and safety requirements and any lawful safeguarding or conduct rules notified before the engagement.
5.3 Providers must not harass, bully, intimidate, victimise or exploit another person, and must not use discriminatory, humiliating or demeaning language under the description of banter, challenge or motivation.
5.4 A Provider must promptly correct a material error, disclose a relevant limitation and inform Onward Shift of a serious incident or concern that may affect safety, professional suitability or a current engagement.
5.5 Honest criticism, raising a safeguarding concern, making a protected disclosure or participating in a complaint is not unethical merely because it may be uncomfortable or reflect poorly on an organisation.
6. Competence, credentials and scope
6.1 A Provider must work only within the limits of their current knowledge, skill, training, experience, role, insurance and any professional registration or membership.
6.2 Qualifications, memberships, registrations, awards, lived experience and past work must be described accurately. A Provider must not use a protected or misleading title, imply clinical expertise they do not hold or conceal a relevant restriction.
6.3 Providers must maintain the qualifications, continuing development, supervision, reflective support, insurance, licences and checks appropriate to the services they actually deliver.
6.4 A DBS check is required only where the role, law, client or safeguarding arrangement makes it appropriate and the relevant level of check is legally available. A DBS certificate does not replace safe recruitment, boundaries or safeguarding practice.
6.5 A Provider must seek consultation, supervision or referral when an issue exceeds their competence. Onward Shift should be told promptly if this affects delivery, without unnecessary disclosure of confidential information.
6.6 A material lapse in insurance, registration, membership, licence, fitness-to-practise status or a relevant professional restriction must be disclosed to Onward Shift without undue delay.
7. Informed choice and clear contracting
7.1 Before an individual service begins, the person should receive clear information about the Provider, nature and limits of the service, fees, cancellation, confidentiality, records, complaints and any involvement of Onward Shift or a funding organisation.
7.2 Participation must be voluntary to the extent the context allows. A Provider must not pressure somebody to disclose personal experiences, answer a sensitive question, join an exercise, receive physical contact or continue an individual service.
7.3 Where an employer, college or other organisation funds a service, the Provider must explain what information may be reported to that organisation and what will remain confidential before collecting sensitive information.
7.4 A person may stop coaching, counselling or another voluntary individual service, subject to fair contractual arrangements. The Provider should manage endings safely and explain any follow-up, referral or records that remain necessary.
7.5 Consent is an ongoing process rather than a single signature. A significant change in method, role, recording, audience, purpose or information sharing requires renewed explanation and, where appropriate, fresh consent.
8. Keynotes, workshops and lived experience
8.1 Content must be suitable for the intended audience, reasonably accurate and delivered in a way that encourages reflection without presenting shame, fear or forced disclosure as a route to change.
8.2 Facts, statistics and professional claims should use credible and reasonably current sources. Lived experience, personal belief, emerging evidence and established evidence must not be presented as though they carry the same authority.
8.3 A Provider sharing lived experience must protect the privacy of other identifiable people, obtain permission where appropriate and consider whether graphic or instructional detail about suicide, self-harm, abuse, addiction or trauma creates avoidable risk.
8.4 Content warnings and support information should be used where reasonably appropriate. The aim is not to remove every difficult emotion, but to help people make an informed choice and reduce unnecessary harm.
8.5 A speaker or facilitator must not diagnose an attendee, provide individual clinical advice in public or imply that a keynote or workshop replaces medical care, counselling, emergency help or an employer’s safeguarding duties.
8.6 The Provider and organiser should agree how personal disclosures, distress and urgent concerns will be handled, including the relevant safeguarding contact and the support information available after the session.
9. Coaching, counselling and individual support
9.1 A coach or counsellor must make the professional relationship the primary focus during the agreed session and must not use the relationship to create unrelated commercial, personal or reputational benefit.
9.2 Counsellors and other therapeutic Providers must follow the ethical framework, supervision and record-keeping standards that apply to their professional membership, registration, insurer and service.
9.3 A coach must recognise when a person’s needs fall outside coaching and should discuss an appropriate referral or pause. Referral does not require the Provider to diagnose the person.
9.4 No Provider may guarantee recovery, employment, performance, relationship outcomes or a particular mental-health result. Benefits and limitations must be described honestly.
9.5 Routine reports to an employer or funder should use administrative or aggregated information where possible. Session content and health information must not be disclosed merely because another organisation paid for the service.
9.6 A Provider must maintain continuity and a reasonable contingency plan for planned absence, illness, loss of registration or another event that could interrupt an individual service.
9.7 Onward Shift coaching, counselling and therapy Services are available only to Clients aged 18 or over. Providers must not accept or deliver these Services to anyone under 18.
10. Professional boundaries and exploitation
10.1 Providers must maintain boundaries appropriate to the role, setting, power difference, vulnerability and reasonable expectations of the person receiving the service.
10.2 A Provider must not pursue or enter a sexual or romantic relationship with a current counselling, coaching or comparable individual client, and must comply with any stricter professional rules that apply after the service ends.
10.3 Personal, family, social, financial, employment or other dual relationships must be considered carefully. A Provider should decline, refer, change the arrangement or seek supervision where overlap could impair judgement, confidentiality or freedom of choice.
10.4 A Provider must not borrow from, lend to, recruit, pressure, manipulate or obtain an improper financial, sexual, emotional, political or commercial advantage from a person through the professional relationship.
10.5 Contact outside the agreed service, including social-media connection, private messaging and physical touch, must be appropriate, transparent and consistent with the person’s consent and the relevant professional boundaries.
11. Safeguarding and urgent risk
11.1 Providers must understand the safeguarding route that applies to the engagement and know how to report a concern to Onward Shift, the client safeguarding lead, education provider or competent authority as appropriate.
11.2 Confidentiality is not set aside automatically whenever safety is mentioned. A disclosure must have a lawful basis and should be necessary, proportionate, limited to relevant information and made to an appropriate person.
11.3 Where there is an immediate danger or serious risk, the Provider should take reasonable action within their role, which may include contacting emergency services, following the site procedure or supporting the person to access urgent help.
11.4 The Provider should record the concern, information considered, consultation, decision, action and reason to the extent appropriate to their role. Records must be factual and avoid unsupported conclusions.
11.5 Onward Shift is not an emergency or crisis service. Anyone facing immediate danger should call 999. Other urgent support is listed at https://onwardshift.com/urgent-help/.
11.6 A Provider must not promise absolute confidentiality. Reasonably foreseeable limits should be explained before sensitive information is invited or an individual service begins.
12. Confidentiality, privacy and records
12.1 Personal and confidential information must be collected only where relevant, accessed only by people who need it and handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy, Data Deletion Policy and any service-specific notice.
12.2 A Provider must use secure and approved methods for records and communication, protect devices and accounts, avoid discussing identifiable information in unsuitable places and report a suspected loss or breach promptly.
12.3 Professional notes must be accurate enough for their purpose, distinguish fact from opinion and be retained for a defined period. Onward Shift does not require routine access to a counsellor’s or coach’s detailed professional notes merely because it arranged the service.
12.4 Information supplied for an Onward Shift engagement must not be reused for a Provider’s own marketing, mailing list, research, sales or unrelated service without a separate lawful and transparent basis.
12.5 Recordings, photographs, screenshots, transcripts or automated meeting notes require prior agreement, clear information and any necessary consent from Onward Shift, the client and affected individuals.
12.6 Confidentiality continues after an engagement or Provider relationship ends.
13. Equality, inclusion and accessibility
13.1 Providers and Onward Shift must not unlawfully discriminate, harass or victimise a person because of a protected characteristic and should treat differences in background, class, education, culture, language, belief and lived experience with respect.
13.2 Reasonable adjustments must be considered where the Equality Act 2010 or another applicable duty requires them. Providers should communicate accessibility needs early and work constructively with Onward Shift and the organiser.
13.3 Services and materials should be made as accessible as reasonably practicable, including through plain language, readable formats, suitable breaks, accessible venues or technology and alternatives to exercises that create avoidable barriers.
13.4 A Provider should remain curious about the limits of their own experience, avoid stereotypes and seek appropriate learning or consultation when culture, identity, disability or power differences materially affect the work.
13.5 Respect for inclusion does not require a Provider or attendee to disclose a diagnosis, identity or personal history. Privacy and self-definition should be respected.
14. Evidence, marketing and public claims
14.1 Profiles, proposals, presentations, websites, social posts and promotional material must be accurate, capable of substantiation and unlikely to mislead by wording, image, omission or overall impression.
14.2 Providers must not make unsupported claims that a service prevents suicide, treats a condition, replaces professional care, guarantees an outcome or is clinically proven when the evidence does not support that wording.
14.3 Statistics and quotations should be attributed where reasonably practicable, used in context and corrected when a material error or outdated claim is identified.
14.4 Testimonials, photographs, recordings, names and case examples require appropriate permission and must not reveal confidential or sensitive information. Payment, incentives, editing and the intended public use should not be concealed where they could affect how the endorsement is understood.
14.5 Advertising and consumer-facing claims must comply with applicable law and the relevant advertising rules. Onward Shift approval does not remove the Provider’s responsibility for their own statements.
15. Commercial integrity, representation and intellectual property
15.1 Providers must comply with the Provider Agreement rules on Onward Shift-introduced opportunities, client communication, self-promotion, publicity and acknowledgement of Onward Shift-arranged work.
15.2 A Provider must not imply that they are an employee, director, clinical representative or authorised spokesperson for Onward Shift beyond the engagement and authority actually given.
15.3 Fees, expenses, referrals and commercial interests must be transparent. A Provider must not conceal a charge or allow a commission, target or personal benefit to distort professional judgement.
15.4 Providers retain ownership of their existing intellectual property, methodologies and original specialist content. They must also respect Onward Shift, client and third-party copyright, branding, confidential material and licence limits.
15.5 Client names, testimonials, photographs, recordings and engagement details must not be published without the approvals required by the Provider Agreement, Privacy Policy and the client arrangement.
16. Conflicts, referrals, gifts and colleagues
16.1 An actual or reasonably perceived conflict of interest must be disclosed promptly to Onward Shift and, where relevant, the affected client or individual. The response may include consent, safeguards, changed allocation or withdrawal.
16.2 A referral must be based on the person’s needs, Provider competence, availability and informed choice. Any fee, commission or reciprocal arrangement that could reasonably influence the referral must be disclosed and must comply with professional rules.
16.3 A gift or hospitality may be accepted only where modest, lawful and unlikely to create obligation, favouritism, exploitation or confusion about the professional relationship. Significant or repeated offers should be discussed with Onward Shift or a supervisor.
16.4 Providers should communicate respectfully with colleagues, protect confidential information and challenge unsafe or unethical practice through an appropriate route rather than through gossip, humiliation or public speculation.
16.5 Knowledge sharing is encouraged but must not reveal confidential information, infringe intellectual property or pressure another Provider to adopt an approach outside their competence.
17. Fitness to practise and personal wellbeing
17.1 A Provider must not deliver while illness, fatigue, medication, alcohol, drugs, distress or another condition materially impairs safe judgement or performance.
17.2 Having a mental-health condition, disability or personal difficulty does not by itself make somebody unfit. The ethical issue is whether the Provider can work safely and competently with appropriate support and adjustments.
17.3 Providers should monitor workload, seek supervision or support, use reasonable adjustments and arrange cover, postponement or referral when necessary. Onward Shift should be informed as early as reasonably possible if an engagement is affected.
17.4 A Provider must follow any applicable professional duty to notify a regulator, membership body, insurer or Onward Shift about a material restriction, investigation or health issue affecting safe practice.
18. Digital services, artificial intelligence and cross-border work
18.1 Before delivering online, the Provider must consider privacy, platform security, accessibility, emergency location, interruptions, recording, identity and whether their insurance and professional arrangements cover the service.
18.2 Personal, health, safeguarding or confidential client information must not be entered into an artificial-intelligence or transcription service unless its use has been approved for the purpose, the data-protection roles and contract are clear, security is appropriate and the person has received any required information.
18.3 An automated tool may support administration or drafting but must not replace the Provider’s professional judgement, supervision, safeguarding assessment or responsibility for accuracy. AI-generated content must be checked before use.
18.4 A Provider delivering to a person in another country must confirm that the service is lawful, appropriately insured and consistent with any local registration, licensing, safeguarding, tax and data-transfer requirements.
18.5 Professional boundaries, confidentiality, advertising rules and this Code apply to social media, messaging and other digital contact as well as face-to-face work.
19. Concerns, complaints and reporting
19.1 A concern about a Provider or Onward Shift may be raised at jo*****@*********ft.com. Complaints should be accepted in accessible forms and do not need legal language.
19.2 Providers must report a serious safeguarding concern, material professional restriction, relevant loss of insurance, serious data incident or conduct that may create a substantial risk to a person or current engagement without undue delay.
19.3 Providers and Onward Shift must respond candidly to a complaint, preserve relevant evidence, avoid retaliation and cooperate reasonably with a fair investigation while respecting confidentiality, legal rights and professional duties.
19.4 A Provider must make any separate report required by law, a regulator, professional body, insurer or safeguarding arrangement. Reporting to Onward Shift does not replace that responsibility.
19.5 Where a concern appears to arise from misunderstanding or a remediable mistake, an appropriate response may include explanation, apology, correction, supervision, training or another proportionate improvement rather than immediate exclusion.
20. Investigation, enforcement and review
20.1 Onward Shift may take proportionate action where there is a suspected breach, including seeking information, applying conditions, pausing an engagement, temporarily suspending a profile, ending the Provider relationship or making a lawful report to a client, insurer, professional body or authority.
20.2 Immediate protective action may be taken where reasonably necessary for safety, safeguarding, evidence preservation, legal compliance or serious platform integrity. A suspension is not by itself a final finding of misconduct.
20.3 Unless doing so would create a material risk or breach a legal duty, the Provider should be told the substance of the concern, given a fair opportunity to respond and informed of the outcome and main reasons.
20.4 Decisions should consider seriousness, evidence, harm, intent, insight, previous concerns, professional requirements, remedial action and consistency. Confidential information and the rights of complainants and third parties may limit what can be shared.
20.5 A Provider may ask for an internal review of a final removal or comparable serious decision by emailing jo*****@*********ft.com within 14 calendar days of the decision. Where reasonably possible, the review will be carried out by someone who was not responsible for the original decision. We will normally provide the review outcome within 20 working days. A review may not be available where the decision is required by law or by a binding decision of a regulator, court, professional body or client with legal authority over the engagement.
20.6 Duties concerning confidentiality, personal information, introduced opportunities, intellectual property, complaints and cooperation may continue after the Provider relationship ends where the relevant agreement or law requires this.
20.7 This Code will be reviewed periodically and when services, law, safeguarding guidance or professional expectations materially change. Questions may be sent to jo*****@*********ft.com.
20.8 Related documents are our Terms and Conditions (https://onwardshift.com/terms-of-use/), Privacy Policy (https://onwardshift.com/privacy-policy/), Cookie Policy (https://onwardshift.com/cookies-policy/) and Data Deletion Policy (https://onwardshift.com/data-deletion/).
21. Contact and company details
21.1 Onward Shift Limited is registered in England and Wales under company number 15583217.
21.2 Questions, concerns and complaints may be sent to jo*****@*********ft.com.
