SP60 Response Accepted

School safeguarding recording systems

Recommendation

The Department for Education should ensure (either by direct guidance or through Ofsted) that all schools are required to record safeguarding information in a system that is fit for purpose.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- Keeping Children Safe in Education, the Department for Education's statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges, requires settings to record safeguarding concerns and referrals, with the guidance stating it is good practice to keep a separate child protection file for each child (Keeping children safe in education, Department for Education, September 2025).
- The government response stated schools and colleges are already required to record safeguarding information as set out in Keeping Children Safe in Education, reported the recommendation as completed, and said the department is considering additional support for schools in selecting a recording system (Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry, CP 1623, Home Office, July 2026).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by claude-opus-4-8 on 02 Jul 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted
Accepted Department for Education
02 Jul 2026

Department for Education (DfE) is the lead department and has completed this recommendation. Progress and next steps:
- We already require schools and colleges to record safeguarding information, as set out in Keeping Children Safe in Education. Settings have autonomy to choose a system that best fits their context. Non-compliance with this guidance can be identified and picked up through a number of different mechanisms including Ofsted inspections, complaints, whistleblowing and information from local authorities and statutory partners.
- DfE is considering additional support for schools in selecting an effective and secure safeguarding recording system, this may include the development of criteria to support schools in assessing suitable systems.

Read Full Response
Progress Timeline
Department for Education states: Official Report
02 Jul 2026

Government response published 2 July 2026 (CP 1623). The government accepted this recommendation and reports it as completed.

Source
Manual Entry
13 Apr 2026

Awaiting government response. Phase 1 report published 13 April 2026.

Source
Inquiry Southport Inquiry
Report The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 13 Apr 2026
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Department for Education Primary
Themes & Tags
Care safeguarding systems Complaint record keeping failures Education Safeguarding School Attendance
Recommendation age 0.3 yrs
Last formal update 02 Jul 2026