House of Admissions’ safeguarding policy for students under 18. It sets out HOA’s reporting duty under Section 68 of Nepal’s Act Relating to Children 2075, which requires anyone working with children to report suspected abuse to the nearest police station immediately; staff conduct rules; parental consent requirements for under-18 UK visa applicants; and how to raise a concern. Version 1.0, 2 October 2026.
Safeguarding Policy: Students Under 18
If a child is in immediate danger
Act first. Do not wait for an internal process, and do not wait to be certain.
- Nepal Police — 100 · emergency
- Child Helpline Nepal — 1098 · toll-free, 24 hours, operated by CWIN with the Government of Nepal
- Missing children — 104
- Nearest Women, Children and Senior Citizens Service Centre · Nepal Police operates one in every district
- HOA Designated Safeguarding Lead · Kabir Panta, compliance@houseofadmissions.com, +977-9802373936
1 Purpose and scope
House of Admissions (HOA) is an education consultancy in Nepal advising students on applications to UK universities. A substantial proportion of the students who approach HOA are under 18 years of age, particularly those applying directly after +2. This policy sets out how HOA protects those students, what its staff must and must not do, and what happens when a concern arises.
This policy applies to every person acting for HOA — employees, counsellors, interns, contractors, volunteers and anyone representing HOA at an event — at every office, at outreach activities, and in all online and telephone contact.
A child means any person under the age of 18. That is the definition used in Nepal’s Act Relating to Children 2075 and the threshold that triggers additional requirements under UK immigration rules. A student’s maturity, education level or willingness to be treated as an adult does not change it.
2 Legal framework
This policy is grounded in Nepali law, which governs HOA’s own conduct, and takes account of UK requirements that apply to the students HOA assists.
| Instrument | Relevance to HOA |
|---|---|
| Act Relating to Children, 2075 (2018) | Nepal’s principal child protection law. Defines a child as under 18, establishes child welfare authorities, and imposes the mandatory reporting duty in Section 4 of this policy. |
| Constitution of Nepal 2072, Article 39 | Guarantees children’s fundamental rights, including protection from exploitation. |
| UN Convention on the Rights of the Child | Ratified by Nepal in 1990. Establishes the best interests of the child as a primary consideration. |
| UK Immigration Rules, Appendix Student | Sets the parental consent and care-arrangement requirements for students under 18 at the date of their visa application (Section 8). |
| Partner university safeguarding policies | UK universities operate their own under-18 admission policies and normally require consent documents before issuing a CAS. |
3 Principles
- The child’s welfare comes before HOA’s interests. Where protecting a student conflicts with completing an application, retaining a client or protecting HOA’s reputation, the student’s welfare takes precedence. This is stated first because it is the principle most likely to be tested in practice.
- Safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility. It is not delegated to one person. The Designated Safeguarding Lead coordinates the response; every member of staff has a duty to notice and to report.
- Report concerns, not certainties. No member of staff is required, or permitted, to investigate before reporting. Suspicion is the threshold, not proof.
- Children are listened to. A student who raises a concern is taken seriously, told what will happen next, and never promised secrecy that cannot be kept.
- No discrimination. This policy applies equally regardless of caste, ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, province or family means.
4 The reporting duty — a legal obligation, not a choice
This is the most important section of this policy and the one every member of staff must know without looking it up.
Under Section 68 of the Act Relating to Children 2075, a person working with children — expressly including caregivers, teachers and others in comparable roles — who comes to know of an incident of violence against a child or child sexual abuse that has taken place, is taking place, or is going to take place, shall inform the nearest police station immediately.
The same section provides that where information is given with the intent of protecting a child, no legal action lies against the person who gave it.
Act Relating to Children, 2075 (2018), Section 68. Unofficial English translation published by UNICEF Nepal.Two consequences follow, and staff must understand both:
- The duty is not discretionary. It does not depend on HOA’s internal procedures, on the Director’s agreement, or on whether reporting is convenient. It is not satisfied by telling a manager and leaving it there.
- Reporting in good faith is legally protected. A member of staff who reports a genuine concern that later proves unfounded has done the right thing and is protected by the Act. Fear of being wrong is not a reason to stay silent.
What a member of staff does
- If the child is in immediate danger, call 100 or 1098 first. Everything else comes after.
- Write down what you saw or were told, in the student’s own words where possible, on the same day. Record facts and distinguish them from your interpretation.
- Tell the Designated Safeguarding Lead the same day, in person or by telephone, followed by the written record.
- Do not investigate. Do not question the student further, do not approach the person the concern is about, and do not discuss it with colleagues who do not need to know.
- Do not promise confidentiality. Tell the student honestly that you have a duty to pass this on to someone who can help.
What the Designated Safeguarding Lead does
- Records the concern in the safeguarding register within 24 hours.
- Decides, and records the reasons for, whether the matter engages the Section 68 duty.
- Where it does, reports to the nearest police station or the Women, Children and Senior Citizens Service Centre immediately, and informs the local child welfare authority.
- Informs parents or guardians — unless doing so would place the child at greater risk, in which case the reason is recorded and advice sought from the police or Child Helpline 1098 first.
- Reviews what HOA should change so the same risk does not recur.
5 Safer recruitment
Nepal has no equivalent of the United Kingdom’s Disclosure and Barring Service, so HOA does not claim a criminal-record check it cannot perform. What HOA does instead is stated plainly so that students and parents can judge it for themselves. For every person who will have contact with students:
- Identity verified against citizenship certificate or passport, and academic qualifications verified.
- At least two references taken up and confirmed by direct contact with the referee, not accepted as written documents alone.
- A police report obtained where the role and local practice allow.
- At least one interview question on conduct toward young people, with the answer recorded.
- Signed acknowledgement of this policy as a condition of appointment, renewed annually.
- Gaps in employment history explored and the explanation recorded.
6 Code of conduct with students under 18
These rules protect students. They also protect staff, by removing the situations in which an allegation is hardest to answer.
- Meet students under 18 only at an HOA office, during opening hours, in a room visible from outside or with the door open.
- Encourage a parent or guardian to attend consultations, and keep them informed.
- Use only official HOA channels for all contact — office WhatsApp, HOA email, office telephone — so a record exists.
- Keep conversation to the student’s education, application and welfare.
- Report any concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead the same day.
- Meet a student under 18 alone in a closed room, at a private address, in a vehicle, or outside working hours.
- Contact a student under 18 from a personal mobile number or personal social media account, or use disappearing-message features.
- Give or accept gifts, money or loans, or offer accommodation or transport privately.
- Photograph or film a student without written consent from the student and their parent or guardian, or post any image of a student under 18 on social media.
- Form a romantic or sexual relationship with any student, of any age, whom HOA is advising. This is an absolute prohibition and is gross misconduct.
- Discuss a student’s personal circumstances with anyone who does not need to know.
- Promise a student that a disclosure will be kept secret.
7 Online and remote consultations
HOA advises students across all seven provinces by video and messaging, so most contact with a student under 18 may never be face to face.
- Video consultations with a student under 18 are arranged through an HOA account, at a time a parent or guardian has been told about, and a parent or guardian is welcome to attend.
- Staff conduct video calls from an office or a neutral, appropriate setting — never from a bedroom.
- Calls are not recorded without the written consent of the student and their parent or guardian.
- Messaging stays on official HOA channels. A request to move to a personal account is refused and reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
- If a student discloses something concerning during an online session, the staff member follows Section 4 exactly as they would in person, and additionally records the time and platform.
8 Parental consent and UK under-18 requirements
HOA will not submit a university application or a visa file for a student under 18 without the written consent of a parent or legal guardian. This is both a safeguarding requirement and a UK immigration one.
A student who will be under 18 at the date of their UK Student visa application must provide written consent from their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) covering:
- the visa application itself;
- the student’s living and care arrangements in the UK; and
- the student’s travel to, and reception arrangements in, the UK.
The letter must give the parents’ or guardians’ contact details and be hand-signed. Both parents sign unless one has sole legal responsibility, which must be stated in the letter. Proof of relationship is required, and universities normally require these documents before issuing a CAS rather than at visa stage.
HOA’s practice is to identify at first consultation whether a student will be under 18 on the likely application date, flag it on the file, and begin the consent documentation then — not when the university asks. A consent letter obtained late is the most common reason an otherwise sound under-18 application misses its intake.
Where a student will turn 18 between application and travel, HOA records both dates on the file, because the requirements are fixed by the date of the visa application, not by the date of arrival.
9 Records and confidentiality
- Safeguarding records are kept separately from ordinary application files.
- Access is limited to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Deputy.
- Records state what was observed or reported, when, by whom, what was decided, and why — separating fact from inference.
- Information is shared only with those who need it to protect the child, or who are legally entitled to it. Confidentiality is never a reason to withhold information from the police or a child welfare authority when the Section 68 duty applies.
- Records relating to a child are retained securely and are not used for marketing, case studies or testimonials under any circumstances.
10 Training
- Every new member of staff reads this policy and signs the acknowledgement before any contact with students.
- All staff receive safeguarding briefing at induction and a refresher at least annually, covering the Section 68 duty, the code of conduct, and how to report.
- The Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy undertake fuller child-protection training and maintain contact details for the local Women, Children and Senior Citizens Service Centre.
- Attendance is recorded.
11 Concerns about a member of HOA staff
Concerns about staff conduct are handled on a separate route so that nobody has to report a colleague to that colleague.
- A concern about any member of staff goes directly to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
- A concern about the Designated Safeguarding Lead goes directly to the Director.
- A concern about the Director goes to Rahul Chhetri, Director, or externally to the police or Child Helpline 1098.
- Where an allegation is made, the staff member is normally removed from student contact while it is considered. That is a neutral step, not a finding.
- Nobody who raises a concern in good faith will be penalised, whatever the outcome. Section 68(3) of the Act protects a person who reports with the intent of protecting a child.
Anyone may go outside HOA at any point. Nobody is required to raise a concern internally first, and this policy does not ask them to.
12 Who to contact
| Who | When | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Nepal Police | A child is in immediate danger | 100 |
| Child Helpline Nepal | Any child protection concern, 24 hours, toll-free | 1098 |
| Missing children | A child is missing | 104 |
| Women, Children and Senior Citizens Service Centre | Reporting abuse; one in every district | Local district centre, Nepal Police |
| HOA Designated Safeguarding Lead | Any concern about a student or a member of staff | Kabir Panta · compliance@houseofadmissions.com · +977-9802373936 |
| HOA Deputy DSL | When the DSL is unavailable | Anusha Budhathoki · apply@houseofadmissions.com |
13 Ownership, adoption and review
- Designated Safeguarding Lead
- Kabir Panta, Safeguarding and Compliance Officer — compliance@houseofadmissions.com
- Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
- Anusha Budhathoki — apply@houseofadmissions.com
- Policy owner
- Director, House of Admissions
- Adopted by
- Rahul Chhetri, Director on 2 October 2026
- Version
- 1.0, issued 2 October 2026
- Next review
- By 2 October 2027, or immediately after any safeguarding incident, any change in Nepali or UK law, or any change of Designated Safeguarding Lead
Questions about this policy
It applies in full to any student who is under 18 years of age at the time HOA is working with them, which is the definition of a child under the Act Relating to Children 2075 and under UK immigration rules. Many Nepali students applying after +2 are 17 when they first approach a consultancy, so this is a routine situation rather than an exceptional one. The conduct standards in Section 6 are applied to all students regardless of age.
Yes. Section 68 of the Act Relating to Children 2075 (2018) requires a person working with children who becomes aware of violence against a child or child sexual abuse — whether it has taken place, is taking place, or is going to take place — to inform the nearest police station immediately. The duty is not discretionary and does not depend on being certain. Section 68(3) protects a person who reports in good faith from legal action for having reported.
They report it to the Designated Safeguarding Lead anyway, the same day. It is not a counsellor’s job to decide whether a concern meets a legal threshold, and waiting for certainty is how concerns go unreported. The DSL decides what happens next; the counsellor’s duty is discharged by recording and passing it on.
Not in a closed room and not away from the office. Meetings with a student under 18 take place at an HOA office, during opening hours, in a room with visibility from outside or with the door open, and wherever practical with a parent or guardian present. HOA staff do not meet students under 18 at home, in private vehicles, or outside working hours.
No. All contact with a student under 18 is through HOA’s official channels — the office WhatsApp number, HOA email, or office telephone — so that a record exists and is visible to the organisation. Personal mobile numbers, personal social media accounts and disappearing-message features are not used for student contact.
Yes. A parent or legal guardian is involved in consultations and must consent in writing before HOA submits any university application or visa file for a student under 18. This also aligns with UK requirements: a student under 18 at the date of their visa application must provide written parental or legal-guardian consent covering the visa application, their living and care arrangements in the UK, and their travel to and reception in the UK.
A hand-signed letter from the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) consenting to the visa application, to the living and care arrangements in the UK, and to travel and reception arrangements, together with their contact details and proof of relationship. Both parents sign unless one holds sole legal responsibility, which must be stated in the letter. Universities normally require these before issuing a CAS, so they are prepared early rather than at visa stage.
Safeguarding records are kept separately from ordinary application files, with access limited to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and their deputy. They record what was observed or reported, when, by whom, and what action followed — in factual terms, distinguishing what was seen from what was inferred. They are retained securely and are not shared beyond those who need them to protect the child or who are legally entitled to them.
Yes, and the route is deliberately separate. A concern about a member of staff goes to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, or, if the concern is about the DSL, directly to the Director. A concern can also be taken outside HOA at any time — to the child helpline on 1098, to Nepal Police on 100, or to the local Women, Children and Senior Citizens Service Centre. Nobody has to come to HOA first.
Nepal has no equivalent of the UK’s Disclosure and Barring Service, so HOA does not claim a check it cannot perform. What is done instead is stated plainly in Section 5: identity and qualification verification, written references taken up and confirmed by direct contact, a police report where obtainable, a safeguarding question at interview, and a signed acknowledgement of this policy as a condition of employment.
This policy is published by House of Admissions, a UK-exclusive education consultancy in Nepal, and applies to its own staff and operations. It is not legal advice. The statutory references are to the Act Relating to Children, 2075 (2018) and to the UK Immigration Rules as they stood at the date of issue; both can change, and the duty in Section 68 applies to anyone working with children in Nepal regardless of whether their employer has a policy. Related: Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · All legal documents.