Two parents with two children all holding hands on a walk outside

Investigation and Advice

Our Investigation and Advice service is free and confidential.

It’s there to advise and support children and young people or those who care for them if they feel that a child has been treated unfairly.

We make sure we keep the information you share with us private, unless we think a child or young person is unsafe – we then share the information with other organisations that can help protect the child.

Get in touch

PHONE 01792 765600

Freephone 0808 801 1000

EMAIL

Our opening hours are 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, except bank holidays.

Post: Children’s Commissioner for Wales
Llewellyn House
Harbourside Business Park
Harbourside Road
Port Talbot
SA13 1SB

All telephone calls to and from the Investigations and Advice service are recorded for training and monitoring processes and for complaint resolution.

BSL

If your preferred language is BSL and you would like to get in touch. Please email us and we will arrange an interpreter so that we can talk to you about your issue.

Important information

The laws which set up our office means we can only provide advice to a child or young person:

  • up to the age of 18, or 21 if they have been in care, or up to 25 if they have been in care and are still in education
  • usually living in Wales, or who is placed in England by a Welsh local authority
  • who has a complaint or wants to make representation to a service provider (such as a registered child minder) or certain organisations (including any county council or health authority in Wales).

These laws also mean there are things we cannot do. We cannot:

  • become involved with any legal proceedings, including court cases and decisions made by CAFCASS Cymru
  • offer an emergency service
  • offer a counselling service ourselves

We make sure we keep the information you share with us private, unless we think a child or young person is unsafe – we then share the information with other organisations that can help protect the child.

If we need to share the information with other people that could help then we will tell you what we are doing and why we have decided to do it.

Our Investigation and Advice Officers follow the advice given in the Wales Safeguarding Procedures. 

Additional Learning Needs

Many people contact our service seeking advice on accessing their children’s rights to education when they have additional learning needs (currently known as Special Educational Needs). As well as  contacting our service you may find it helpful to look at SNAP Cymru’s website, which provides detailed, up-to-date advice about the system of support in Wales.

Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing is the term used when a worker passes on information concerning wrongdoing. The wrongdoing will typically (although not necessarily) be something they have witnessed at work.

To be covered by whistleblowing law, the disclosure must be a ‘qualifying disclosure’. This is any disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of the worker making the disclosure, is made in the public interest.

If you are concerned about suspected wrongdoing, danger or risk in your workplace (or your previous workplace) which affect the rights and interest of the children in Wales, you can make a disclosure to us. You do not have to tell your employer before contacting us.

The Prescribed Persons Order 2014 sets out a list of over 60 organisations and individuals that a worker may approach outside their workplace to report suspected or known wrongdoing. The Children’s Commissioner for Wales is one of those organisations listed.

Go to our Whistleblowing page

Other information

Visit our ‘How we handle your personal information’ page

Read a step-by-step guide to how our service works

Read About our legal powers

Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth a galwadau yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a galwadau a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd cysylltu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi .

We welcome receiving correspondence and calls in Welsh. We will respond to correspondence and calls in Welsh, and contacting us in Welsh will not lead to delay.