Working Together to Safeguard Children (2026)

The updated statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 has been published.

Key updates for 2026 include:

• Family Help: Transitions to a unified help plan, combining Targeted Early Help and Child in Need services to provide earlier, more flexible support
• Anti-Discrimination: Places a strong emphasis on anti-racist, culturally informed practice and challenging discrimination across all agencies.
• Babies and Unborns: Strengthens protection pathways for infants, unborn children, and young people in care or kinship arrangements.
• Hidden Harms: Addresses modern, group-based, and overlapping risks including teenage relationship abuse and complex online exploitation.
• Incident Reviews: Streamlines the serious child safeguarding incident notification process to ensure timely multi-agency reviews and learning