Guest author: Jon Trew
1. Introduction: The Proposed Legal Duty to Report Child Abuse
On 24th of January 2025, the House of Commons library published research on the proposed introduction of a duty to report child abuse in England. A duty to report is a legal requirement to report allegation of child abuse.
- Currently there is no statutory duty to report abuse.
- Local Authorities have a statutory duty to investigate allegations.
- Individuals such as teachers and health care workers may be required in their job description or contract to report safeguarding concerns.
- Failure to report would only incur a work based disciplinary rather than criminal proceedings.
2. Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) Recommendations
In its final report in October 2022 the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommended the introduction of mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse for individuals working with children.
- The IICSA had, the report said, “heard of many instances in which children who were being sexually abused made disclosures or presented information to someone within an institution, but no action was taken to inform the relevant authorities.”
- This recommendation then became part of the proposed Criminal Justice Bill in 2024.
- The bill was not passed due to the general election and change in government, however the new Labour Government pledged to enforce the mandatory reporting of abuse, saying “we will put measures in the Crime and Policing Bill—to be put before Parliament this spring—to make it an offence, with professional and criminal sanctions, to fail to report or to cover up child sexual abuse.”
3. Potential Criminal Sanctions for Failing to Report Abuse
If these new proposals get past the committee stage and the House of Lords unamended then there will be important rules for practitioners to follow:
- Professionals could be subject to new criminal sanction if they fail to report abuse.
- The briefing suggests that this criminal sanction will apply to “people whose roles involve a degree of care or responsibility for children, such as teachers and healthcare professionals.”
- These criminal sanctions may also apply in the case of failure to report other categories of child abuse outside of sexual abuse.
The Home Secretary in her speech in the House of Commons on Monday 6 January 2025 referred to child sexual abuse and did not refer to the other categories of abuse used in Child Protection plan statistics in England. However, the House of Commons library briefing refers to ‘child abuse’ as well as ‘child sexual abuse’, though there is no reference to the abuse of adults.
4. Mandatory Reporting Laws
The idea of a duty to report abuse is not new. In Wales there has been a duty to report abuse placed on what is called ‘relevant partners’ since 2014. These Relevant partners include:
- Local authorities
- Police
- Providers of probation services
- Local health boards, NHS trusts
- Youth offending teams
However, the government’s proposal of criminal sanctions for individuals who fail to report abuse is a new development, rather than internal disciplinary measures which have been used in the past. Much of the detail remains to be agreed upon before this proposed legislation gets to the voting stage. However, if these changes as they stand are agreed upon then schools will need to update their safeguarding policies.
5. Implications and Concerns of Mandatory Reporting Laws
There has been some debate on the effectiveness of the introduction of a legal duty to report abuse. Critics have raised several concerns, including:
- Police and social services might become easily overwhelmed with a torrent of inappropriate referrals made by staff acting defensively and wanting to avoid any risk of personal liability.
- Failure to report cases of abuse is rarely down to an individual but instead the confluence of a number of factors or systemic failures.
- These may include a lack of training, poor communication, excessive workloads and inadequate record keeping.
6. Best Practices for Documenting Safeguarding Decisions
Good practice when either making or deciding not to make a child protection referral is to make a concurrent record of your rationale.
- This does not need to be an extensive or exhaustive document but simply a note of why you believe the referral meets the threshold for a referral and any other actions you have decided that may be appropriate.
- Training and building competences on the required documentation and importance of information sharing to evidence child abuse is also essential.
7. How CPOMS StudentSafe Supports the Reporting of Abuse
CPOMS StudentSafe allows professionals to record evidence and concerns within a secure, access-controlled digital system.
- Evidence gathered can include individual concerns, body maps or recorded wellbeing forms to capture pupil voice. All of which can form a documented rationale for making a child protection referral.
- The platform’s powerful reporting and recording features also support safeguarding with fully customisable forms that can also be adapted to include a ‘rationale’ field to remind users to justify the decision they have made.
CPOMS StaffSafe is also instrumental in recording allegations of child abuse or low-level concerns involving members of staff who have used their positions to abuse students.
- In some of these cases, a pattern of low-level concerns may indicate levels of inappropriate or over familiar relationships occurring over a long period of time, which can be appropriately evidenced and addressed.
To find out more about how CPOMS software can support safeguarding and the potential requirements to report child abuse in your setting, book a demo today.
Author Information
Jon Trew is a highly experienced safeguarding trainer and consultant and has also worked as a political researcher based in the House of Commons.
