Children Social Care measures - Strengthen the role of education in safeguarding

The aim of this measure is to strengthen the role of education in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements to better protect children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

In 2022, the Independent Care Review and the Child Safeguarding Review Panel’s review into the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Starr Hobson, recommended that education become a statutory safeguarding partner, alongside local authorities, police and integrated care boards.

The intent behind this recommendation was to ensure that the contribution and voice of education was included when identifying priorities and support for children and families.

The government have also heard through multiple expert reviews of the child protection and safeguarding system that current arrangements do not go far enough to ensure that education has an effective and proportionate role. Reports describe inconsistent communication between education settings and children’s social care, police, and health services, and a lack of strategic connections when making decisions. This means that crucial knowledge and insights of education settings are missed from decision-making by safeguarding partnerships; especially when one considers that the school sees most children on a daily basis and can be quick to notice changes in a child’s presentation be that physical or emotional. The school can often be the only consistent feature in a child’s day to day life and the place where they feel safe.

The government aims to build on existing legislation and recognises that the current system needs to change to ensure education is adequately represented both operationally and strategically. The aim of the legislative change is two-fold, to ensure that: Safeguarding partners automatically include all relevant education and childcare agencies in their safeguarding arrangements. These arrangements will enable education and childcare agencies to have representation at both the operational and strategic decision-making levels of safeguarding arrangements.

The above analysis relates to Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which has not yet become law and may be subject to change as it passes through Parliament. We will be posting updates to this page if there are any key developments but the above may not reflect the latest changes to the legislation.  Please contact our School Support (schoolsupport@wslaw.co.uk)  or Schools HR (schoolshr@wslaw.co.uk) teams if you require an update on the latest status of the Bill.