National and London Guidance
- Multi-agency Practice Guidance
- Reviews of Child Protection Services
- London Child Protection Procedures
- Supplementary Procedures
Multi-agency Practice Guidance
Working Together 2018
This guidance replaces Working Together 2015 and sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and how practitioners should conduct the assessment of children. The guidance includes a new approach to the oversight of serious case reviews, new guidelines for assessing the needs of vulnerable children, and marks a reduction in the level of national child protection guidance with the emphasis on core statutory functions. This also includes the revised framework for assessments. A useful summary of changes can be found on the London Safeguarding Children Board website (external link).
Information Sharing: Guidance for Practitioners and Managers
Sharing Information - under revision following the implementation of the GDPR through the Data Protection Act 2018.
What to Do if You're Worried a Child is Being Abused
This document provides best practice guidance for those who work with children in order to safeguard their welfare. It also contains an appendix to help practitioners with the legal issues affecting the sharing of information. The guidance provides general information for anyone whose work brings them into contact with children and families, focusing particularly on those who work in social care, health, education and criminal justice services.
Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education 2018
This document details the duties for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in education, including recruitment and selection processes, recruitment and vetting checks, and dealing with allegations of abuse against teachers and other staff.
When to suspect child maltreatment
The advice in this guideline from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - NICE (external link) covers the alerting features in children and young people (under 18 years) of:
- physical, sexual and emotional abuse
- neglect
- fabricated or induced illness
The guideline does not specifically look at the risk factors for child maltreatment, the identification of child maltreatment and procedures for supporting the child or young person, education and information for parents or children or young people, or training for healthcare professionals.
- When to suspect child maltreatment - 2009 (PDF, 1.9Mb)
- When to suspect child maltreatment - quick reference guide (PDF, 221Kb)
Disabled Children
This guidance is aimed at Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) partners and other professionals working with children and young people and their families. It is intended to help them safeguard and promote the welfare of disabled children and young people. It is supplementary to, and should be used in conjunction with, the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 - available on the GOV.UK website (external link).
Fabricated Illness
This guidance is intended to provide a national framework within which agencies and professionals at local level - individually and jointly - draw up and agree upon their own more detailed ways of working together where illness may be being fabricated or induced in a child by a carer who has parenting responsibilities for him or her.
Reviews of Child Protection Services
- The Munro Review of Child Protection: Final Report (PDF 2.98MB)
- The Government's Response to the Munro Review of Child Protection (PDF 181KB)
- Protection of Children: A Progress Report - Laming (PDF, 1Mb)
- Government's Response to Laming Review (PDF, 568Kb)
London Child Protection Procedures
The London Child Protection Procedures (external link) set out how agencies and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children across London. 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 that are responsible for commissioning or providing services to children and their families and to adults who are parents
- Agencies that have a particular responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
Following the publication of a revised Working Together to Safeguard Children Guide 2013, the London Board began the process of updating the London Child Protection Procedures in line with the new guidance.
Supplementary London Procedures
The London Child Protection Procedures (external link) 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.
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 the following pages on the London Child Protection Procedures and Practice Guidance website:
- Safety planning with children and young people (external link)
- Introduction to Safeguarding Children Abused through Domestic Abuse (external link)
- Barnardo’s Domestic Violence Risk Identification Matrix (external link - PDF, 539KB)
Missing Children
This guidance is the Runaway and Missing from Home and Care (RMFHC) protocol for London and should be followed by local authorities, the Metropolitan police and other partners when children run away or go missing.
Children running away and going missing from care, home and education is a key safeguarding issue for local authorities and local safeguarding children boards. This guidance is designed to ensure that when a child goes missing, there is an effective, collaborative safeguarding response from all agencies involved.
Safeguarding Children Missing Education Process for Schools
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Female genital mutilation is child abuse and constitutes significant harm. Child protection procedures should be followed when there are concerns that a girl is at risk of, or is already the victim of FGM.
This procedure summaries the responsibility of professionals and volunteers to intervene effectively to prevent the genital mutilation of girls, and to support those who have been the victim of FGM.
- Safeguarding children at risk of abuse through female genital mutilation - Introduction (external link)
- Safeguarding women and girls at risk of FGM professionals guidance on GOV.UK (external link)
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.
The guidance should be read in conjunction with the The Licensing Act 2003 (external link).
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.
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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