In England, child safeguarding legislation is covered by three main acts:
Together, these provide the framework for child protection and safeguarding.
The Children Act 1989 provides the legislative framework for child protection in England. Key principles established by the Act include:
This is strengthened by the Children Act 2004, which encourages partnerships between agencies and creates more accountability, by:
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 amends both the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004 and received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017. Key provisions include:
The Department for Education (DfE) published the latest version of Working together to safeguard children, the key statutory guidance for anyone working with children in England, in December 2023. The guidance sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to protect children. It highlights the importance of implementing a child-centred approach while considering the needs of the whole family.
This latest guidance updates the previous version which was published in 2018 and updated in 2020.
This statutory guidance sets out the principles behind children's social care (Department for Education, 2023). It separately outlines expectations for senior leaders, practice supervisors and practitioners in local authorities in England.
The Department of Education published advice for practitioners (PDF) in March 2015 that describes the indicators of abuse and neglect and the actions to take if you think a child is being abused or neglected. It's relevant for anyone who comes into contact with children and families while working and applies to the statutory, voluntary and independent sectors.
This Home Office guidance (PDF) published in 2016 gives health and social care professionals, teachers and the police information on their responsibilities under the female genital mutilation mandatory reporting duty, which came into force on 31 October 2015.