Working together to safeguard children
Source: gov.uk (2025-06-12)

Statutory guidance on multi-agency working to help, support and protect children.

This guidance is for:
- statutory safeguarding partners (health, local authorities, and police)
- directors of children’s services
- education and childcare settings
- social workers
- health professionals
- police (including British Transport Police)
- adult social care services
- housing and homelessness services
- Prison and Probation Services
- children’s homes
- secure establishments (secure training centres and young offender institutions)
- youth offending teams
- UK Visas and Immigration, Immigration Enforcement, and Border Force
- Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass)
- the armed services
- Channel panels
- voluntary, charity, social enterprise (VCSE) and faith-based organisations, and private sectors
- sports clubs and organisations
It applies to:
- all organisations and agencies that have functions relating to children
- all education providers and childcare settings
Statutory guidance is issued by law. You must follow it unless there’s a good reason not to.

Working together to safeguard children 2023

The guidance was updated in 2023, with a focus on:
- strengthening multi-agency working across the whole system of help, support and protection for children and their families
- keeping a child-centred approach while bringing a whole-family focus
- embedding strong, effective and consistent multi-agency child protection practice
The update includes:
- principles for working with parents and carers that centre the importance of building positive, trusting and co-operative relationships to deliver tailored support to families
- expectations for multi-agency working that apply to all individuals, agencies and organisations working with children and their families across a range of roles and activities
- new national multi-agency child protection standards that set out actions, considerations and behaviours for improved child protection practice and better outcomes for children
Statutory framework

The updated statutory framework sets out the legislation relevant to safeguarding. It should be read alongside the statutory guidance.

Additional materials

Practitioners can also share and use with children, young people and their families:
- Working together to safeguard children: an illustrated guide for children, young people and their families
- the short accompanying animated video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ntSqMCSUI)
- a toolkit of resources
All children should be helped, supported and protected when things are difficult. The illustrated guide, animated video and toolkit explain to children, young people and their families how individuals, organisations and agencies work together to help, support and protect them.

These materials were co-produced with children and young people, along with the Department for Education’s Social Care Advisory Board, facilitated by the National Children’s Bureau.

Practitioners who would like to use the toolkit can email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) to request this.

Improving practice with children, young people and families

Improving practice with children, young people and families (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-practice-with-children-young-people-and-families) provides advice for local areas on embedding Working together to safeguard children and the Children’s social care national framework.