Trust & Integrity
The value of this site rests entirely on its ratings being real. Here is exactly what we do to keep them that way.
Our Commitment
We protect the integrity of every rating — and we do not remove genuine ratings, whether they are positive or negative. A rating we dislike is still a rating we keep.
Every rating submitted to Rate Cafcass passes through automated integrity checks before it is accepted. These checks run on every submission, not on a sample.
- Duplicate IP and device fingerprint checks. Each submission is checked against both the originating IP address and a device fingerprint. A repeat from either, within the same day, is refused.
- One rating per IP address per 30 days. Guest ratings are limited to one per IP address in any 30 day period. This is enforced in code at the point of submission, not cleaned up afterwards.
- Known manipulation IP addresses are blocked. Addresses identified as sources of rating manipulation are blocked outright and cannot submit at all.
Coordinated 5-star manipulation — detected and removed
We have detected and removed coordinated 5-star rating manipulation submitted from the same IP addresses using multiple devices.
The method was straightforward: the same person, on one internet connection, switching device or browser to generate a fresh device fingerprint and submit repeatedly. The affected ratings were removed, the originating addresses were added to our block list, and the submission checks were tightened so that the same approach now fails at the point of submission.
We do not remove genuine ratings
We remove ratings that are fraudulent. We do not remove ratings that are merely unwelcome.
- Positive ratings stay. A genuine high score is not treated as suspicious simply because it is high.
- Negative ratings stay. A genuine low score is not removed because it is critical.
- No editing of scores. We do not adjust, weight or reinterpret what people submitted.
If we removed inconvenient ratings, the published figures would be worthless — including to us. The only ratings we take out are the ones that were never real.
We intend to distinguish between two kinds of rating:
- Verified. Submitted by an account that has confirmed its identity to the site — for example through a confirmed email or sign-in — so the rating can be tied to a single, persistent person.
- Unverified. Submitted as a guest. These still pass every integrity check described above, but they carry no account behind them.
Both kinds will continue to count. The label is there to show you what a figure is built from, not to quietly discount anybody's experience.
If you believe a rating on this site is fraudulent, please tell us. We would rather investigate ten reports that turn out to be genuine ratings than miss one that is not.
Contact us through the contact page. It helps if you can tell us which region and role the rating relates to, roughly when it appeared, and what makes you think it is not genuine. You do not need to prove anything — we will look at the submission data.
Fake reviews and the law
Submitting fake reviews is not a harmless act. Under the Fraud Act 2006, dishonestly making a false representation — including pretending to be somebody you are not, or misrepresenting an experience you never had — in order to make a gain for yourself or cause loss to another can constitute fraud by false representation (section 2 of that Act).
Impersonating a service user, or organising others to post ratings that misrepresent real experiences, may fall within that provision. Whether any particular act amounts to an offence is a matter for the courts, not for us — but we record what we find, and we keep it.
We monitor every rating submitted to this site. Not a sample, and not only when something looks wrong — every single one.
We do our best to identify and remove coordinated fake ratings. When a group of ratings shows the signature of a coordinated campaign — submitted together, from connections designed to look unrelated, all pushing the score the same way — we remove them and keep a record of what we removed and why. We will not claim to catch everything. We will claim that we look, every day, and that we act when we find it.
If you believe your genuine rating has been removed in error, tell us. Email contact@ratecafcass.co.uk and we will look again and put it back if we got it wrong. We would far rather restore a real rating than lose a real voice.
We do not block anyone from rating. We know that people raising concerns about a family court body may have good reason to protect their privacy, including using a VPN. We will not put a barrier in front of a parent to make our own job easier.
Your rating counts because the others are real
Every check on this page exists so that your experience is not drowned out by somebody gaming the numbers.
Rate Cafcass