Legislation & Government guidance
There are a number of key pieces of legislation and government guidance that support the work of the Boards.
This revised guidance can be found at www.gov.uk/working-together-to-safeguard-children–2 and covers:
- the legislative requirements placed on individual services
- a framework for the three local safeguarding partners (the local authority; a clinical commissioning group for an area, any part of which falls within the local authority; and the chief officer of police for a police area, any part of which falls within the local authority area) to make arrangements to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of local children including identifying and responding to their needs
- the framework for the two child death review partners (the local authority and any clinical commissioning group for an area, any part of which falls within the local authority) to make arrangements to review all deaths of children normally resident in the local area, and if they consider it appropriate, for those not normally resident in the area.
This document replaces Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015).
Links to relevant supplementary guidance that practitioners should consider alongside this guidance can be found in Appendix B of the document.
Refer to our Working Together 2018 resource.
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk
It includes provision for local safeguarding arrangements to replace LSCBs; proposals for local and national practice learning reviews to replace SCRs and reforming CDOP; important proposals on social work regulation, care leavers; the statutory inclusion of PHSE in schools and other measures.
The Care Act brought about the Local Safeguarding Adults Boards and can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk
Key government issued or updated documents each of which is significant for organisations and individual professionals working with children and families:
- Keeping Children Safe in Education: information for all school and college staff
- Child abuse concerns: guide for practitioners
- Information sharing: Advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services to children, young people, parents and carers.
Links to some of the national and government bodies that influence the safeguarding profession:
- Association of Directors of Children Services (ADCS) is the national leadership association in England for statutory directors of children’s services and other children’s services professionals in leadership roles.
- Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for education and children’s services in England.
- Department of Health (DH) leads, shapes and funds health and care in England, making sure people have the support, care and treatment they need, with the compassion, respect and dignity they deserve.
- Home Office leads on immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime policy and counter-terrorism and works to ensure visible, responsive and accountable policing in the UK.
- Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills who inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages. Ofsted is a non-ministerial department.
- Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE)
Some of the other legislation that safeguards children, young people and adults in the UK: