Recommendation SP39: Working Together guidance on risks to others
From The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1, published 13 April 2026.
Recommendation
The Department for Education should update Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Children’s Social Care National Framework. These documents should highlight that safeguarding and child protection assessments, when considering what support to put in place and planned multi-agency working, must consider the risks posed by children to others.
In brief (written by this site)
In July 2026, HM Government accepted the recommendation and stated that the Department for Education expects to complete implementation by spring 2027 (Home Office response, Jul 2026). It reported that the department was consulting on updates to the statutory framework, with the findings intended to inform revisions to Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Children's Social Care National Framework (Home Office response, Jul 2026). The record holds no update since the government's response of July 2026 (Home Office response, Jul 2026).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
The Department for Education (DfE) is the lead department and expects to complete the implementation of this recommendation by spring 2027. Progress and next steps:
- DfE is currently consulting on the 2027 update to the statutory framework for help, support and protection of children.
- The consultation seeks views on the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children, the Children's Social Care National Framework, and policy underpinning multi-agency child protection team regulations.
- It also seeks views on best practice in responding to extreme violence and expectations for partnership working on this issue.
- The consultation findings will inform updates to Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Children's Social Care National Framework. The consultation findings will also inform wider policy development, including development of non-statutory guidance
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
The government's response to Phase 1 (CP 1623, 2 July 2026) agreed with all 67 recommendations in one sentence, and names only 39 of them individually. Where a recommendation is not named, the response shown is the passage the response gives for the group it belongs to (the recommendations for organisations outside central government, or the recommendations to policing bodies), which is not a response to that recommendation alone; the response does not list the members of any group. The 10 recommendations for Phase 2 of the Inquiry to consider show no response: the response introduces them (paragraph 20) but answers none of them. The government accepts the recommendations that are for central government to deliver. Where a recommendation is for an organisation outside central government, the government's agreement is not that organisation's acceptance.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Department for Education has been found in the sources searched (last checked 2 July 2026). This is separate from the response above.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department for Education
Response