On 18th March, the Government published an updated version of its statutory safeguarding guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children. It is important to understand the changes that this update brings in; during all the training I’ve been doing since the publication date, I’ve made everyone aware of the new requirements.
I work a lot across all tiers of early intervention, so I am absolutely delighted that there is clarity around universal services and child protection, and much more clarity around the role of Family Help. So that’s a great step forward for those of us that work in that arena.
Also, anyone that’s worked with me in recent years will not be surprised to hear that I’m pleased to see that there is an increased emphasis on the impact of domestic abuse on children and the reminder that police now have a legal duty to inform the appropriate education settings if domestic abuse has happened in a household, whether or not the children were present at the time. That doesn’t replace a safeguarding referral, but comes under ‘Operation Compass’. So if you don’t know how that works in your local authority, it is really important to find out.
In the Working Together to Safeguard Children update, there is a specific focus on some groups of children and young people: the unborn (the realisation of risk before birth), those in kinship care, and those who are adopted and who are, or have been, looked-after children. As safeguarding professionals, we know from all the case studies and from the statistics that those are groups particularly at risk, and that is highlighted in this version of Working Together.
Something else that is very welcome is clarification around expectations when children move from school into home education. If this affects you, it is important to understand your local authority procedures.
Another welcome change is the ongoing emphasis on the need to understand and challenge racism and discrimination, as well as the impact of multiple harms. In child protection, we sometimes think in silos, and encouraging broadening the view to the multiple harms that children might face is important.
A different but still important challenge: for the first time, the role of AI and how this can be a real issue in safeguarding is addressed. There is no doubt that this area will grow in significance.
Finally – something I was training on recently – is the need to be aware of our own unconscious biases when we work in safeguarding. Working Together highlights some examples of where we can think that children who appear mature are older than they actually are, and as a result, we give them too much responsibility. This process is termed adultification. The Government has published its own summary of changes within the new Working Together to Safeguard Children. You can read that here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children–2/working-together-to-safeguard-children-2026-summary-of-changes