What the Verified Badge Means on PairLume

A tick on a profile is only useful if you know exactly what was checked. Here is the boundary of ours.

Badges are cheap. Almost every marketplace has one, and the word verified has been stretched to cover everything from a confirmed email address to a full background check. So it is fair to ask what ours covers.

## What we checked before the tick appeared

Identity, against government issued identification, matched to the credentials and the payout account.

Credential documents, for every claim that appears on the public profile.

Licence status, where the professional says they are licensed, confirmed with the issuing body rather than from a photograph of a certificate.

Profile copy, read line by line, with unsupported claims removed.

Agreement to our conduct standards, covering scope of practice, boundaries, confidentiality, cancellation behaviour, and not moving clients off the platform.


## What the tick does not cover

It does not mean we supervise their practice. We are not a clinical supervisor and we do not sit in sessions.

It does not mean we endorse their method. Approaches differ, and we do not rank them.

It does not turn a coach into a clinician. Licensed status is displayed separately, and only after confirmation. If a profile does not say licensed, that person is not licensed on our platform.

It does not guarantee an outcome. Nobody can promise that, and anyone who does should worry you.

It does not mean the person is right for you. Fit is yours to judge, which is why profiles show approach, specialisms, languages, and reviews.


## Why we separate verified from licensed

Because they answer different questions. Verified answers is this person real and is their profile honest. Licensed answers does a regulator stand behind their clinical scope.

Blurring the two would make the marketplace look more clinical than it is, which is exactly the kind of implication that gets platforms into trouble and gets clients into the wrong room.

## The badge can be removed

Verification is a state, not a trophy. It is reviewed when a licence expiry passes, when a credential claim is edited, and when a report comes in. Suspension and removal are real outcomes, and where a client was harmed by the thing that led to removal, refunds follow.

## How to use the badge properly

Treat it as a filter, not a decision. It tells you the profile in front of you is not fiction. After that, read the approach section, check whether the specialisms match your actual problem, look at how the person handles a first session, and read the reviews with a sceptical eye.

If anything on a profile contradicts something you were told in a session, report it from the profile page. Reports go to a person on our team, not to the professional you reported.

## The one line version

Verified means real and honest. Licensed means regulated. Neither means guaranteed, and we will not pretend otherwise.

More detail lives on [how we verify](/how-we-verify) and [licensed and non licensed](/how-we-verify/licensed-and-unlicensed).