Our Policies
Child Protection policy
Oyster Worldwide offer a variety of childcare and teaching programmes, both voluntary and paid. We are committed to ensuring that both participants and children on our programmes abroad are safe.
Responsible Travel policy
Oyster Worldwide is passionate about the importance of responsible travel. We want our projects to fit in with the local way of life, without having a negative impact on the environment, culture or economy.
This means that we will only send participants to places where there is a real need and where we have been asked to work. Once there, they should fit in with the community, respecting their way of life and supporting, rather than taking, local jobs.
Paid Work policy
We work with a number of employers around that world who take on Oyster participants for seasonal work. Paid jobs range from becoming a ski instructor or working in hospitality, to manual labour on farms.
Health and Safety policy
Adventurous travel always involves some degree of risk. Our priority is to keep you safe and protect you as much as possible, while still giving you an authentic experience of life in your chosen destination.
We conduct thorough risk assessments to make sure we have identified potential hazards and done everything we can to reduce them. We also make sure you have the information you need about the situation locally and how to stay safe and healthy while you are out there.
Financial policy
Since launching Oyster in 2006 we have strived to keep our fees as low as possible, while still providing you with a high quality placement and excellent support.
Most of your project price goes overseas to pay the direct costs of your project. The rest covers the costs of running Oyster’s office in the UK, managing the projects and providing advice and support to customers. The breakdown of costs has been independently assessed and can be seen on our website.
ATOL and International Passenger Protection
Your money is safe with Oyster. Whether we book your flights, or you book your own, you can be sure that your money is protected.
Environmental policy
Oyster has long-standing environmental policies in place to minimise the company’s impact on the environment overseas and in our UK-based offices.
Safeguarding policy
It is important that all Oyster Worldwide’s participants are treated fairly and respectfully during their time at the projects. Our policy ensures that staff act accordingly and also recognise the additional needs of participants under the age of 18.
Animal Welfare policy
Oyster checks potential wildlife projects carefully to ensure that they offer high standards of animal welfare. We also check that volunteers understand key points of good practice before working with animals.
