What we check, what we do not check, and how to report a problem.
We do not run background checks. Not on providers, not on guardians, not on customers, not on anybody.
We do not guarantee anybody’s safety, and we do not describe providers as vetted, screened or approved.
We do not verify anybody’s age. Customers confirm they are 18 or over; that is a statement they make, not something we check.
Where you see “Identity verified” on this platform, it refers only to the identity check Stripe performs before somebody can be paid. It is not a criminal record check and it is not a character reference.
The minimum age to provide a service is 13. This is enforced when the account is created and again in the database, so it cannot be worked around.
A provider aged 13 to 17 cannot take a paying customer until a parent or guardian has connected to their account and consented.
Consent alone is not enough. After a guardian signs, somebody from Count On Local meets the family before that provider can start. We do this in person wherever we can, and we write down who we met and what we decided. A form cannot tell whether a young person actually wants to do this, or whether the adult understood what they agreed to; a conversation can.
That consent is itemised: eleven separate points, each acknowledged individually, signed with the guardian’s full legal name. We store the exact wording they agreed to, so what was consented to is answerable years later.
A guardian can withdraw consent at any time, and it takes effect immediately.
A provider cannot be their own guardian.
Where you see “Guardian connected”, a guardian has genuinely completed that process. An adult provider with no guardian does not show that badge.
Confirm the legal role of the guardian, whether guardian consent should also constitute contractual acceptance, and whether any launch state requires a higher minimum age, work permit, parental authorization form, hour restriction or task restriction.
Providers choose from a fixed list of outdoor tasks that Count On Local publishes. They cannot add to it, and the description they write cannot widen what they are allowed to do.
Not offered on this platform: entering a customer’s home, childcare, driving or transport, ladders, power tools, chemicals, or any care involving medication.
Some tasks require a guardian to approve that specific category, over and above their general consent.
A minor’s service page is reachable by a direct link or a QR code — that is how it is meant to be shared, with neighbours the family chooses.
It is not listed or indexed. Search engines are told not to index it until a guardian separately consents to a public listing, and that consent can be withdrawn.
Even when a page is public it shows business information only. Never a home address, a school, a date of birth, a last name, or the provider’s schedule.
Messages between a customer and a provider happen inside Count On Local and are tied to a job. There is blocking and reporting, and stricter controls where the provider is a minor.
A connected guardian can see that this messaging exists and can act on it.
Anyone can report a safety concern from their dashboard, at any time.
This works even if your account has been suspended. Somebody suspended last week who sees something dangerous today still needs to be able to say so, and the report is usually about somebody else.
Reports are read by people at EDW Ventures LLC, not by an automated system.
Accounts can receive a strike, be suspended, or be banned. Every one of those is a decision made by a person with a written reason attached, and the decision history is retained as described in our Privacy Notice.
Strikes never suspend an account automatically. A third strike raises it to a human, who decides.
A suspended account cannot take any action on the platform, but can still read its own pages and can still file a safety report.
We never impose a financial penalty on anybody.
EDW Ventures LLC currently carries no business/liability insurance covering Count On Local. Advise whether coverage is legally required or commercially prudent before launch, what limits/types are appropriate for a marketplace involving minors and household services, and whether users should receive an explicit no-platform-insurance disclosure.
Emergency guidance, the mandatory-reporting position and who holds it, escalation route and response commitments, and what we tell a guardian and when. Safety reports are reviewed by a person at EDW Ventures LLC. This section must not go out with our words in it — it is the one page somebody reads in the worst moment.