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London Safeguarding Children Board Guidance

All 32 London boroughs follow the London-wide procedures and guidance issued by the London Safeguarding Children Board (external link).

This means that children and families who move across London borough boundaries can expect similar procedures to be followed when it comes to child protection.


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London Child Protection Procedures

These London Child Protection Procedures set out how agencies and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Their target audience is professionals (including unqualified staff and volunteers) and front-line managers who have particular responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and senior and operational managers, in:

  • Agencies which are responsible for commissioning or providing services to children and their families and to adults who are parents;
  • Agencies which have a particular responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Following the publication of a revised Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010 (PDF, 2.4Mb), the London Board began the process of updating the London Child Protection Procedures in line with the new guidance. Until this happens, the requirements within Working Together 2010 should be taken to supersede those within the London Child Protection Procedures where discrepancies arise.


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Supplementary London Procedures


The London Child Protection Procedures (PDF, 7.7Mb) are supported by a number of supplementary procedures on specific areas of practice.

Gangs / Serious Youth Violence

Following a number of requests to respond to the needs of children affected by gang activity and/or serious youth violence in London, the London Safeguarding Children Board (external link) has produced a supplementary safeguarding children procedure with the Youth Justice Board, London Serious Youth Violence Board and a multi-agency practitioners steering group.


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Domestic Violence

The London procedure for safeguarding children abused through domestic violence should assist any professional and volunteer whose work brings them into contact with children and their families, to prioritise the needs of a child/ren, assess the risk of harm to the child/ren (taking into consideration the needs of their parents / carers) and respond appropriately in sharing information, referring on etc.

For more information, see:


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Children Missing from School

This good practice guide is designed to support professionals in education services both within the local authority and in schools and other educational establishments, together with the Metropolitan Police, LA children’s social care and health services, in their combined efforts to safeguard children who are missing from school.

The guidance is offered with the aim of providing a minimum standard of safety for children who are registered with London schools and who are or go missing from school, and give rise to concern that they may be classified as missing whereabouts unknown.


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Missing from Care and Home

This procedure supports an effective collaborative safeguarding response from all agencies involved when a child goes missing. It provides guidance for assessing both the risk of the child going missing and the risk to the child when they are missing. The procedure describes appropriate staff / agency actions to locate the child, to effect their return and to identify the issues which caused, and may continue to cause, the child to go missing.


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Female Genital Mutilation

This procedure provides guidance for frontline professionals and their managers, individuals in London’s local communities and community groups, such as, faith and leisure groups, on:

  1. Identifying when a child may be at risk of being subjected to FGM and responding appropriately to protect the child
  2. Identifying when a child has been subjected to FGM and responding appropriately to support the child
  3. Measures which can be implemented to prevent and ultimately eliminate the practice of FGM
  4. Safeguarding children at risk of abuse through female genital mutilation (Word, 365Kb)


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Licensed Premises

This safeguarding children policy is for all staff (paid or unpaid) involved in premises which have been licensed under The Licensing Act 2003. This policy will give some basic information about what to do if you are concerned about a child and how your local children’s social care and Metropolitan Police Team will respond to and deal with reports about children whose welfare is causing concern. This guidance should be read in conjunction with the The Licensing Act 2003 (external link).


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Sexually Active Children

This procedure is designed to assist professionals to identify where children and young people’s sexual relationships may be abusive and the children and young people may need the provision of protection or additional services. For young people 13 years and over, this risk assessment will inform practitioners when to involve LA children’s social care and when a situation requires criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service.


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Sexually Exploited Children

The sexual exploitation of children is child sexual abuse. The sexual exploitation of children defines a broader context of abuse than formal ‘prostitution’; the full spectrum of sexually exploitative situations includes children and young people exchanging sex for accommodation, food, gifts and drugs.


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Children Affected by Adults Viewing Sexual Abuse Images Online


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Trafficked Children

This procedure provides guidance to professionals and volunteers from all agencies in safeguarding children who are abused and neglected by adults who traffic them into and out of the UK in order to exploit them.


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