Social media and comments policy

Comments received via the Cass Review website

We encourage and welcome open, lively debate, but the decision on whether and how to respond to comments received via this site and any other comments channel we may use in future, remains at our discretion.

The views expressed by any third parties are solely theirs and are not necessarily endorsed by the Cass Review. The fact that the Cass Review is engaging formally or informally with a group or individual to establish their views on an issue should not be seen in any way as endorsement of that group or individual. Any public comment by a group or individual about the Cass Review, its members, staff, affiliates, suppliers, or work, should not be considered as in any way necessarily representing the official position of the Cass Review.

Comments Policy

We would ask people making public comments about, or asking questions of, the Cass Review, to:

  • remain on-topic. Please don’t post messages that are not related
  • respect other people. Comments should not be malicious or offensive in nature, and should not constitute a personal attack on a person’s character
  • not incite hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality or sexuality or any other personal characteristic
  • not reveal personal details, such as private addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or other online contact details
  • be reasonably concise, and don’t constitute spamming of the site
  • not be persistent or repeat negative messages which aim to provoke a response and/or don’t constructively add to the conversation
  • not impersonate or falsely claim to represent a person or organisation
  • not be party political in nature. While we recognise that provision of health services is always high on the political agenda, and whilst we acknowledge that references to political parties and their policies may often be inevitable, we reserve the right to exclude comments which are purely party-political in nature or seek to advertise political events.
  • not include swearing, hate-speech or obscenity
  • not break the law – this includes libel, condoning illegal activity, and breaking copyright
  • not advertise commercial products and services – you can mention relevant products and services as long as they support your comment
  • be in English – unfortunately, we do not currently have the resource to interpret comments in other languages
  • if you are aged 16 or under, please get you parent/guardian’s permission before submitting a comment. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

We reserve the right to suspend comments at any time, and remove comments older than six months.

Twitter

We have created a Cass Review account on Twitter @TheCassReview to facilitate engagement and announce news and updates via that platform, as we know it is used by a lot of the individuals and communities relevant to our work. However we reserve the right not to respond to comments or questions directly via this particular platform. We will seek to cover questions raised on Twitter via the Cass Review website where we can, particularly via the website FAQs section, but will only do so if comments and questions follow our Moderation Policy.

Retweets (RTs)

Tweets we repeat (RT) do not imply endorsement on the part of the Cass Review. We may retweet news, links and personal observations we believe are relevant to the work we do.

Importantly, our decision to RT should not be taken as explicit endorsement of any position or argument that may vary from the current official position, nor should it be taken as an indication of a possible shift in the current official position.

Twitter as a source of official policy

The Cass Review has been commissioned to make recommendations to NHS England and NHS Improvement about gender identity services for children and young people. Tweets by the Cass Review should not be considered as the authoritative source of new policy or guidance from the NHS. Any change or evolution in NHS England and NHS Improvement’s official position on legislation, guidance, investigations and audits will be communicated, by them, through traditional channels: official publications and statements on the NHS England website, speeches, and media releases.

Following

The Cass Review twitter account reserves the right not to follow any other accounts.

Cass review team members and affiliates tweeting

Individuals holding positions within or representing the Cass Review, are entitled to have their own personal Twitter accounts and tweet under their own names or pseudonyms. The activity of these individuals or organisations on Twitter – including any tweets, retweets, direct messages, or their following of, or following by, any groups or individuals – should be considered the product of each individual as a private citizen or each organisation in its own right, and does not represent the official position or view of the Cass Review.

Team members may follow accounts on Twitter that they believe are relevant to their work or external interests. This could include following the Twitter accounts of organisations and individuals who comment on issues relating to the Review. Decisions to follow a particular Twitter user within a personal account, does not imply endorsement of any kind.

The same applies to organisations and their employees or associates who may have been commissioned by the Cass Review to carry out work on its behalf.

Contact Us

We encourage users of social media to use the contact form on our website to contact the Review, rather than any other channel, including social media contact channels. We monitor the review inbox during regular office hours (Monday – Friday, 0900-1700 GMT) and will respond within as reasonable a time frame as we can, depending on the nature of the enquiry. We do not accept responsibility if our website goes down for technical reasons beyond our control and this delays a response.