Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026

Working Together to Safeguard Children is the statutory guidance issued by the government that sets out how organisations and agencies should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It applies across local authorities, health services, police, education settings from early years through to post-16 provision, voluntary and community organisations, sports clubs, and any practitioner or organisation with safeguarding responsibilities.

The 2026 update builds on previous versions of the guidance but represents more than a routine refresh. A key development is the expectation that organisations actively learn from serious safeguarding incidents, reflecting a reinforced learning culture and a move from blame to understanding systemic issues. This shift in emphasis, from compliance-focused policy to genuine practice improvement, runs throughout the updated guidance.

Stronger expectations around anti-racist and anti-discriminatory practice

One of the most significant updates in the 2026 guidance is the strengthening of expectations around inclusive, anti-discriminatory practice. Leaders must create inclusive organisational cultures, including through practice, policies, training, and external engagement. Staff are expected to have the ability to identify and challenge racism and discrimination, not merely awareness of it.

This is a meaningful shift. The previous guidance acknowledged the importance of cultural awareness. The 2026 update goes further, placing an active duty on organisations and their staff to challenge racism and inequality in practice. There are clear expectations that organisations and practitioners actively challenge racism and inequality and understand how these issues can affect children's experiences of safeguarding.

For many organisations, this will require a review of existing training programmes and a more honest assessment of whether their safeguarding culture is genuinely anti-racist in practice, rather than simply in policy.

Expanded focus on complex and hidden harms

The 2026 guidance includes expanded guidance on specific harms including child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, coercive control, online harms, and exploitation. It also enhances Section 47 expectations, reinforcing the importance of direct work with children.

The inclusion of coercive control and abusive behaviour in intimate relationships within the expanded scope of the guidance reflects a growing recognition that harm does not always present in obvious ways. Practitioners need the skills and confidence to identify and respond to these forms of harm, including where they are hidden behind seemingly functional family dynamics.

Clearer multi-agency safeguarding arrangements

The 2026 guidance outlines a shared responsibility for safeguarding by strengthening expectations around inclusive, anti-discriminatory practice and requiring practitioners to challenge racism, disproportionality and inequality. It sets out clearer multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

There is an increased focus on multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, with a clear focus on accountability, inspection frameworks, and expectations on data analysis which would assist in demonstrating impact.

This places greater demands on organisations to not only have robust internal safeguarding arrangements but to demonstrate how they are working effectively with partners across health, education, police, and the voluntary sector.

A whole-family approach that remains child-centred

The 2026 guidance reinforces the principle that effective safeguarding requires a whole-family approach while keeping the child's welfare at the centre of every decision. The updated guidance reinforces that safeguarding applies to all children, including those who are looked after, living in kinship care, adopted, or where there are concerns during pregnancy.

The 2026 update sends a clear message that compliance alone is not enough. Organisations need confident leadership, a strong safeguarding culture, effective governance, and staff who feel equipped and supported to act.

In practical terms, the guidance changes create a number of immediate priorities for organisations across all sectors.

Review your safeguarding policies and procedures. Existing policies should be reviewed in light of the 2026 update to ensure they reflect the new expectations, particularly around anti-racist practice, information sharing and multi-agency working. The review should be led by someone with the appropriate safeguarding knowledge and expertise, with sufficient organisational oversight to ensure any changes are implemented effectively.

Assess your training provision. The expectation that staff can actively identify and challenge racism and discrimination, rather than simply being aware of it, sets a higher bar than many existing training programmes meet. Organisations should review whether their current safeguarding training is fit for purpose in light of this update.

Strengthen your learning culture. The shift from a blame-focused approach to one grounded in systemic learning is one of the most significant cultural changes embedded in the 2026 guidance. Organisations should consider how they currently respond to safeguarding concerns and incidents, and whether their processes support honest reflection and genuine improvement.

Ensure governance boards are sighted on the changes. Trustees and senior leaders have a responsibility to understand the implications of updated statutory guidance for their organisation. This is not a matter for safeguarding leads alone. Governance teams need to be satisfied that their organisation is meeting the updated expectations.

At SaS Consultancy Group, we support organisations to understand and respond to changes in the safeguarding landscape. Our partners bring decades of frontline experience across safeguarding, public inquiry work, and trauma-informed practice, and we are well placed to help you assess what the 2026 guidance means for your organisation specifically.

We can support you to review and update your safeguarding policies and procedures, deliver training that meets the updated expectations around anti-racist practice and complex harms, provide ongoing safeguarding consultation and governance advice, and design bespoke staff development programmes tailored to your organisation's context and workforce.

If you would like to discuss how the Working Together 2026 update affects your organisation, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. Get in touch with us at contactus@sasconsultancygroup.co.uk.

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