Child Safeguarding National Guidance from the DfE

We recently hosted Shazia Hussain, Director of Children’s Social Care, Department for Education at our Child Safeguarding Conference 2024. Shazia covered the Latest National Guidance on Effectively Protecting and Safeguarding Children. Out of the nearly 12 million children living in England, just over 400,000 (3%) are in the social care system at any one time (Gov UK, 2023). The Department for Education’s ambitious adjustments represent a significant step towards improving the children’s social care system in the UK. By encouraging multi-agency collaboration, supporting families, and implementing data-driven practices, the changes aim to create a more effective system for safeguarding children. Watch the full video here or read the full summary below.

The Department for Education has unveiled a comprehensive reform agenda aimed at overhauling the children’s social care system in the UK. The initiative, led by a director specialising in child protection safeguarding and the social work workforce, builds upon extensive reviews and recent tragic incidents to improve the overall framework for children’s welfare. 

Context and Background 

In December, the Department published a series of key documents and strategies rooted in the independent review of children’s social care and the investigations into the deaths of Arthur Binya Hughes and Star Hobson during the pandemic. These reports have shaped the new reform agenda, which emphasises safeguarding and the importance of multi-agency collaboration. 

Key Reforms and Strategies 

The cornerstone of the reform is the updated statutory guidance, “Working Together to Safeguard Children,” which has not been revised in six years. Major updates include: 

• Multi-Agency Safeguarding: A comprehensive rewrite of the safeguarding chapter, including new expectations for collaboration with prison and probation services and mother and baby units. 

• Partnership Working: Emphasis on partnership from a strategic level to direct practice, ensuring all agencies understand their roles in safeguarding. 

• Senior and Middle Management Collaboration: Encouraging peer learning, knowledge exchange, and mutual challenge within and across agencies to enhance support for families. 

Supporting Families and Children 

The reforms focus on creating positive relationships with families, reducing stigma, and involving parents in decision-making. Key initiatives include: 

• Early Help: Aiming to provide timely support to families, the department has launched Pathfinders in three local areas to test new approaches to family help before rolling out system-wide guidance. 

• Kinship Care: Recognising the role of extended family networks in providing support, the strategy promotes kinship care to prevent children from entering formal care systems. 

• Disabled Children: Strengthening support for disabled children and their families, the guidance emphasises a shift from safeguarding assessments to a more supportive approach. 

Data and Accountability 

A new data strategy outlines plans for transforming data handling in children’s social care, focusing on reducing workforce burdens and improving information sharing among local partners. The aim is to enhance safeguarding functions and support families more effectively. 

National Standards and Child Protection 

To bolster child protection, the department has introduced national multi-agency child protection standards. These standards apply to all practitioners working with children at risk of significant harm and emphasise skills, expertise, and a comprehensive safeguarding response. 

Learning from Serious Incidents 

The reform agenda also incorporates lessons from serious incidents, including better multi-agency coordination and information sharing to prevent future tragedies. Specific changes aim to protect children who have been in state care and ensure that practitioners have a holistic view of a child’s circumstances. 

Improving the UK’s Children’s Social Care System

The Department for Education’s ambitious reform agenda represents a significant step towards improving the children’s social care system in the UK. By fostering multi-agency collaboration, supporting families, and emphasising data-driven practices, the reforms aim to create a more effective and compassionate system for safeguarding children. 

This was presented at our Safeguarding Children in Schools Conference 2024. For more insights on safeguarding please see our latest Online Safety Conference below.

The Online Safety Conference 2024: Safeguarding Children in a Digital World

Keynote: Safeguarding Children Against Sexual Harms and Pornography Online

• Reviewing the impact that viewing pornography online can have on children
• Age verification and age estimation tools to ensure children are protected against pornographic content online: key tips
• Guidance on the importance of regulating online pornography the same way as offline pornography

Jessica Edwards, Senior Policy Adviser – Childhood Harms, Barnardo’s