Guest author: Jon Trew
In November 2024 the UK Government published a policy paper called “Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive.” The paper includes plans for comprehensive reform of children’s social care in the UK and the government’s commitment to keeping families together and children safe. The DfE emphasises that these reforms are evidence-based, and that the changes they propose are informed by peer reviewed studies and expert research.
This blog outlines the key focal points within the paper and the important proposed changes that will impact how schools and safeguarding professionals work with children and families.
Legislating to keep families together
The “Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive” paper has four main objectives:
- The first is to prioritise support so that children can remain with their families when it is safe for them to do so.
- The second is to ensure a focus on placing children who cannot remain with their parents with their wider family (known as kinship carers) or with foster carers, instead of resorting to residential care homes.
- Thirdly the government intend to address concerns about profiteering in children’s social care and aim to regulate the market by introducing measures that will require private providers to disclose their finances.
- The fourth objective is to invest in the workforce and in data systems by improving the skills of social care professionals and improving their data sharing practices to inform evidence-based interventions for better outcomes.
Family group decision making (FGDM)
The government emphasises that they will be using evidence-based interventions to support families and prevent children from being removed or before issues escalate. One of these interventions is Family Group Decision-Making (FGDM), a process pioneered successfully in Scotland and New Zealand.
The model allows families to participate actively in planning for children’s safety and wellbeing and the proposed reforms include making FGDM’s mandatory. Some research indicates that this approach can reduce the likelihood of children entering care, and help to keep families together.
In order to promote the use of kinship carers the government has pledged to provide resources and training to ensure that the kinship carers can meet the needs of the children in their care, promoting stability and continuity in their lives. They will review and update the statutory guidance for Kinship Care as well as new legislation for disabled children including a review of the guidance document “Working Together to Safeguard Children.”
Changes to safeguarding in schools and home education
To strengthen safeguarding, there are proposals to establish multi-agency child protection units in every local authority area in England. These units will facilitate collaboration among professionals from various sectors, including health and social services, making sure there is comprehensive support for vulnerable children. The paper emphasises that these teams will also include schools and teachers.
Education will be named as a relevant agency under the new plans so that they are automatically included in safeguarding arrangements. Ofsted will be given new powers to investigate multiple residential children’s homes being run by the same company, acting on the recommendations made in response to the abuse uncovered at the Hesley group of children’s homes.
In response to the recent case of Sarah Sharrif among others, parents will no longer have an automatic right to educate their children at home if their child is subject to a child protection investigation, or are on the child protection register with a child protection plan in place. Families with children who are subject to a child protection plan will be required to gain the consent of the local authority before home educating. If a child’s home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local authorities will also now have the power to intervene and require school attendance for any child.child.
One of the practical steps to keep children safe who are not attending school will be that Local Authorities shall be required to maintain a register of ‘children not in school’. This will ensure that home-educated children are visible to authorities, allowing for support and intervention when necessary.
Promoting coordination between social care and schools
Following up on their manifesto pledge the government intend to introduce a Single Unique Identifier for all children so that safeguarding information can be shared more successfully between agencies. The government believe that this system will help professionals access and complete up-to-date information about children they are working with, leading to more informed decision-making and better coordinated care.
The role and the responsibilities of Virtual School Heads will be expanded to ensure that all vulnerable children, including those with a social worker and those in kinship care, receive the educational support they need. This includes championing attendance, attainment, and progress, ensuring that these children are in school, safe and learning.
The paper also identified the needs of young people leaving care as requiring more ongoing support and assistance with items like housing, higher or further education and employment. To support these young people, the planned policies intend to extend the duty of ‘corporate parenting’ responsibilities to include all government departments and relevant public bodies.
The policy acknowledges the detrimental impact of a variety of factors such as poverty on children’s wellbeing and family stability. To meet these challenges, the government has established a new Child Poverty Taskforce and is taking a cross-government approach to tackling child poverty. Additionally, plans to expand free breakfast clubs in every primary school aim ensuring that all children start their day with a nutritious meal, supporting their ability to learn and succeed.
“Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive” represents a significant commitment by the UK government to reform the children’s social care system. The paper focuses on early intervention, promoting family-based care, regulating the care market and strengthening the workforce to create a system where every child can feel safe and supported. The involvement of educational institutions and professionals is identified as highly important in this collaborative, child-centred approach to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children.
Improving safeguarding data sharing practices & collaboration
One of the key themes in the “Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive” document and its underlying research is the need for improvement in data sharing practices to allow schools and safeguarding professionals to make better informed decisions for the welfare of children. Safeguarding software like CPOMS StudentSafe can provide vital support to improve the efficiency of safeguarding information sharing and identifying patterns of concerns in vulnerable children. The platform offers expedient logging and monitoring of fully customisable categories of concern, from attendance to exploitation, allowing safeguarding professionals to produce detailed reports on any safeguarding issue.
When coupled with CPOMS Engage software, education settings and local authorities can readily collaborate to produce a cohesive approach to safeguarding. Through the use of a customised CPOMS Share Contract, safeguarding leads and other agencies can share information and alerts at each touch point involved in a child’s care, providing a complete picture of their wellbeing and ensuring no concerns fall through the gaps.
To find out more about how CPOMS software can enhance safeguarding in your setting, book a free demonstration today.
