Safeguarding Bulletin - 1 April 2026
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 - Key Changes
The 2026 update to Working Together to Safeguard Children builds on the previous guidance and the wider children’s social care forthcoming changes. There is a much stronger emphasis on practice and not just policy.
Schools, colleges, and other educational settings must also have regard to Keeping Children Safe in Education which provides further statutory guidance as to how they should fulfil their duties in respect of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in their care. Early years providers have a duty to comply with the welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
Our blog examines the guidance in more detail and recommend some key learning points for all school and education staff.
Helping Families - what staff need to know webinar booking now...
The KCSiE 2026 consultation sets out that staff need to know about responses to absence and how to access family help (both from your setting and local agencies). It also sets out that staff should know threshold criteria for child protection assessment pathways, children in care and the procedures and processes for children within the youth secure estate and disabled children.
This session takes DSLs through the requirements and how we can effectively deliver sessions within early years settings, schools and colleges to ensure all staff have clarity about how to respond to young people and families. We’ll consider how these processes link into effective work with families and provide valuable materials to support you in delivering this to your staff teams.
Scheduled for May 8th, 12pm-1pm, this webinar is £10 + VAT, and includes a session recording and slides. Click the button to sign up.
Book now: Friday 8 May @ 12pm - 1pm
Free Webinar: Prevention, necessity and proportionality - the implications of the new guidance on restrictive interventions
New date added due to popular demand: 30th April.
The new guidance for restrictive interventions, including use of reasonable force in schools in England will be effective from April 2026. This guidance illustrates how and when school staff can use restrictive interventions including reasonable force and seclusion to keep pupils and others safe.
This free webinar will look at the implications of the new guidance, how this integrates with the RSHE guidance, KCSiE, and looks at the lessons learnt from other sectors. Our March webinars filled up quickly so click the button to reserve your space for 30th April.
Book now: Thursday, 30 April @ 4pm - 5pm
Child sexual abuse and exploitation recording and reporting
In June 2025 Safeguarding Network shared Baroness Casey's audit on what is commonly referred to as 'grooming gangs' - the National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
The audit was one in a long line of initiatives and measures looking into child sexual exploitation undertaken since the government adopted its first definition in 2009. Reviews and strategies on child sexual exploitation have raised the same issues repeatedly: system failures in information sharing, the need for more training, understanding of risk factors of victims, and the importance of collecting better data and information on perpetrators.
One of the concerns has been a persistent difference between police recorded child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) and what is visible in children’s social care data, particularly the Children in Need (CIN) census and Serious Incident Notifications (SINs). To explore this anomaly, the Department for Education (DfE) commissioned a qualitative study to explore how CSAE is identified, assessed, recorded and reported within Children’s Social Care practice.
Read our summary and download the research
Talking with children about social media
A personal point-of-view from a safeguarding consultant, teacher and parent trying to balance the challenges of the online world.
The way I am beginning to think about the dangers of children’s use of social media is shifting. I have realised that the way I need to talk to children about it needs shifting too...
Until now, most of my concern about social media has centred on the obvious safeguarding risks. I have worried about children being exposed to explicit, traumatic or sexualised content, experiencing online bullying or grooming, being influenced towards self-harm or extreme eating behaviours or being swept up in dangerous online crazes.
Having listened to a recent 'Diary of a CEO' podcast, where Steven Bartlett interviewed social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and Dr Aditi Nerurkar, I have realised the risk is not just about what children are seeing online, but also about the cumulative impact of how they are consuming it...
New screen time guidance for parents of under-5s
Currently, parents are left to navigate fast‑moving technology alone – with a quarter (24%) of parents of 3‑ to 5‑year‑olds finding it hard to control their child’s screen time, and 98% of two‑year‑olds watching screens every day.
A report by early years charity Kindred Squared found that 28% of UK children starting reception cannot use a book properly, with many attempting to “swipe” or tap physical pages like a tablet.
With 90% of children’s development happening before the age of five, parents are being supported to make safe screen swaps like reading bedtime stories together or playing simple games at mealtimes.
Key tips include:
Under 2s: Avoiding screen time other than for shared activities that encourage bonding, interaction and conversation.
2 to 5-year-olds: Trying to keep it to no more than one hour a day. Avoid at mealtimes and in the hour before bed.
Content: Choosing slow-paced, age-appropriate content. Fast-paced, social media-style videos and AI toys or tools should be avoided for young children.
Co-viewing: Watching or using screens together - talking, asking questions and engaging with the content - is better for children’s development than solo screen use.
Pupil absence in schools trends and data
The Department for Education has published new data on pupil absence, including overall, authorised and unauthorised absence and persistent absence by reason and pupil characteristics for the full academic year.
Overall and persistent absence decreased from 2023/24 to 2024/25, while severe absence increased. Top-line findings include:
Across 2024/25, the overall absence rate was 6.78%, a reduction from 7.15% in 2023/24, but higher than pre-pandemic rates (4.73% in 2018/19).
The overall absence rate increased throughout the year, from 6.38% in autumn term, to 6.92% in spring and to 7.15% in summer.
The majority of absence was due to illness, accounting for 3.22% of possible sessions in 2024/25.
18.14% of pupils were persistently absent in 2024/25 (i.e. missed 10% or more sessions), a decrease compared to the previous year when it was 19.95%. In 2018/19, 10.86% of pupils were persistently absent.
The percentage of severely absent pupils (i.e. missing 50% or more sessions) was 2.39% in 2024/25, an increase from 2.30% in 2023/24. In 2018/19, 0.85% of pupils were severely absent.
Children's digital wellbeing
Internet Matters has published its annual ‘Digital wellbeing index’ report for children in the UK.
Children and young people are spending almost a day a week online with nearly half finding it hard to disconnect from online spaces, feeling trapped in a cycle of infinite scrolling and choosing screen time over exercise, sleep or real-world socialisation.
The annual survey of UK children aged 9-16 and their families, tracks the impact of digital technology on children’s physical, social, emotional, and developmental wellbeing. The Index highlights both the positive impacts of the internet and tech devices on children and families as well as areas of concern. A selection from the report's findings...
Nearly half (46%) of children say they keep playing the same games or watching the same shows or films – even when they are not enjoying them - (up from 40% in 2022).
40% of children are turning down real-world social opportunities to stay online.
Three-fifths (59%) of children say they stay up late on their phone, playing games or watching TV.
Sign up for our free safeguarding Bulletin
Interested in membership?
Join over 3,500 DSLs and nearly 40,000 staff in 1,500 education settings receiving high value support, consultancy and the tools you need to keep the children in your care safe.
Shopping cart
Action Required