Safeguarding

Phase 2 should consider what single agency or structure should be appointed or established to record, monitor and co-ordinate interventions for children and young people who present a high risk …

Phase 2 should consider the development of a shared multi‑agency risk‑assessment tool that is clear, accessible and suitable for use across public sector services.

Phase 2 should consider whether there should be a further ability to restrict or monitor access to the internet on the part of children and young people, if a significant …

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 …

Lancashire County Council should ensure that by 13 October 2026 all its frontline staff have received suitable training, or refresher training, on Prevent.

Lancashire County Council should ensure that its arrangements for social workers provide appropriate support and supervision for family support workers handling Level 3 cases on the Continuum of Need.

Lancashire County Council should review its processes and training to ensure decisions regarding children and families are made on the basis of assessed need rather than inflexible criteria such as …

Lancashire County Council should ensure that its policies and training emphasise the significance of multiple referrals when considering the relevant risks relating to a child (including the risk to others).

1. Lancashire County Council should ensure that frontline staff are required to familiarise themselves with full case information, with this being embedded through training and performance review. 2. Lancashire County …

Lancashire County Council should ensure frontline staff receive appropriate training on autism spectrum disorder, emphasising that autism does not necessarily explain or excuse behaviour. The Department for Education should ensure …

1. Lancashire County Council should consider how to address repeated lack of consent or manipulation of consent within existing legislation. 2. Phase 2 should consider whether legal reforms are needed …

Lancashire County Council, in consultation with the Youth Justice Board, should arrange for a comprehensive and independent audit to be undertaken of the Lancashire County Council Child and Youth Justice …

1. Lancashire County Council should ensure that staff within Children and Family Wellbeing Service, and Children’s Social Care receive training on the services available through the Child and Youth Justice …

Lancashire County Council, with the Care Quality Commission, should commission an independent audit of the Young Adults Team to ensure assessments for transition to adult care are timely, properly reasoned …

The Department of Health and Social Care / NHS England should ensure that all healthcare trusts involved in the care of children and young people who are at risk of …

At the local level, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust should liaise with all of the relevant community healthcare organisations (including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Criminal …

Nationally, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England should review: 1. Whether there is a need for further development and guidance including on the thresholds for when …

At the local level, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust should by no later than 13 October 2026 carry out and report …

Nationally, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England should consider whether nationwide guidance should be issued on the importance of action points from all relevant meetings involving …

Phase 2 should consider the ability of community and forensic mental health services to deliver clinical interventions to mitigate the risk from violence fixated children and young people.

Phase 2 should consider whether further legislative change is required to allow mental health clinicians to assess children and young people who are isolated from professional support and may pose …

The Home Office (for police forces nationwide) Counter Terrorism Police Headquarters (for Prevent), Department of Health and Social Care (for all healthcare providers) and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local …

The Department for Education, in finalising the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance 2026, and in any necessary amendments to other policy and guidance, should ensure that: 1. In cases …

The Department for Education should carry out an audit to ensure that safeguarding information is reliably being passed between schools and should consider what further role Ofsted may play to …

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.

Lancashire County Council should, by no later than 13 October 2026, carry out and report on an audit (preferably involving an experienced independent external member) to review: 1. The speed …

The Department for Education and the Home Office should review whether further guidance and/or minimum guidance is required in relation to local education authority and police visits to children not …

The Department for Education should ensure that (i) its own policy guidance for teachers and schools (outside the Statutory Guidance for which the Home Office is responsible) is strengthened; and …

The Department for Education should undertake a targeted review, engaging with a representative sample of local authorities, to check both that the current (improved) guidance is now sufficient and understood …

The Department for Education should consider what remedial steps can be put in place to assist in circumstances where, whether through underfunding or underperformance, local education authorities are failing to …

The Youth Justice Board should ensure that a form of clear practical written guidance is drafted which relevant professionals (social care, healthcare, police, education) can provide to parents of children …

The Law Commission should be asked to review the merits of legal reform concerning whether specified categories of persons ought to be under a legal duty to warn about, or …

HSCTs must review and improve governance of safeguarding to ensure that findings from different safeguarding investigations are considered holistically, synthesised and presented to the public part of a Board-level committee.

Policies should include careful consideration of the circumstances in which the CCTV should be viewed; for example, that it should be viewed when concerns are raised by residents, families or …

Vulnerable children and adults are inherently more susceptible to abuse or neglect than other people. Adult safeguarding should be formally recognised as a statutory function, equivalent to child protection.

Metrics on both child and adult safeguarding processes should be reported monthly via a safeguarding dashboard, with the same visibility and status as monitoring elective surgery or emergency department waiting …

Incidents of peer-on-peer abuse should be included in adult safeguarding metrics and included on a published safeguarding dashboard.

The dashboard should include the number of allegations reported, together with the screening decision (referral to the Adult Safeguarding Gateway, referral to the joint protocol or no further action). Particular …

There should be common standards for the conduct of safeguarding investigations. These should be drafted and approved by the Northern Ireland Adult Safeguarding Partnership (NIASP) and adopted by the DoH …

A quarterly multidisciplinary audit of 10% of safeguarding files per ward or residential unit should be conducted. Findings must be integrated with incident data and reported to the Executive Team, …

Where there is evidence or suspicion of widespread abuse involving multiple staff and residents, focusing solely on individual perpetrators is insufficient. An independent review of enabling conditions should be conducted …

Protection plans should include an assessment of risks arising from the plan itself. Where multiple protection plans are in place for vulnerable adults within a single unit, cumulative risks arising …

Consideration of staffing (including skill mix as well as total numbers) should be a mandatory part of safeguarding investigations in all settings.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust must treat the deceased with the same due regard to dignity and safeguarding as it does its other patients.

NHS trust boards should ensure that the security and dignity of deceased people are included in safeguarding training, policies and assurance.

The remit of the Chief Nurse in NHS trusts should explicitly include executive responsibility for safeguarding the security and dignity of deceased people in NHS mortuaries and body stores.

NHS England should formally incorporate the safeguarding of deceased people into its safeguarding framework for NHS trusts.

The Church in Wales should make clear that the operational advice of provincial safeguarding officers must be followed by all members of the clergy and other Church officers. It should …

The Church in Wales should introduce independent external auditing of its safeguarding policies and procedures, as well as the effectiveness of safeguarding practice in dioceses, cathedrals and other Church organisations. …

The Church of England should make changes and improvements to the way in which it responds to safeguarding complaints (whether related to allegations of abuse, or a failure to comply …

The Church of England should introduce appropriate guidance which deals with safeguarding within the context of a religious community affiliated to the Church. It must ensure that these organisations meet …

The Church of England should amend the current canon requiring clerics to comply with the Bishop's Guidance on Safeguarding. The use of the words 'due regard' in Canon C30 is …

If religious organisations have undertaken internal reviews or enquiries into individual safeguarding incidents, their findings should be sent to the national review body (set up under the Children and Social …

The Home Office should introduce legislation permitting the Disclosure and Barring Service to provide enhanced certificates to UK nationals and residents of England and Wales applying for: 1. work or …

The Chair and Panel recommend that the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education share policy responsibility for managing and safeguarding children in custodial institutions. This is to ensure …

The Chair and Panel recommend that the Youth Custody Service takes steps to ensure that its training provides staff with an appropriate understanding of safeguarding in the context of the …

The Chair and Panel note that Prison Service Instruction 08/2012, which sets out the mandatory actions for young offender institutions and secure training centres for 'maintaining a safe and secure …

The Inquiry recommends that the UK government takes steps to improve compliance by regulated activity providers with their statutory duty to refer concerns about the suitability of individuals to work …

The Inquiry recommends (as originally stated in its Children Outside the United Kingdom Phase 2 Investigation Report, dated January 2020) that the UK government introduces legislation permitting the Disclosure and …

The Inquiry recommends that the UK government and Welsh Government introduce legislation which places certain individuals - 'mandated reporters' - under a statutory duty to report child sexual abuse where …

The Inquiry recommends that the UK government enables any person engaging an individual to work or volunteer with children on a frequent basis to check whether or not they have …

The Chair and Panel recommend that the Home Office ensures that the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is amended so that, where a fitness to practise hearing has been conducted …

Lambeth Council should develop and publish a comprehensive action plan which details the actions that it will take in response to the issues raised throughout the Inquiry's investigation report. The …

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious in England and in Wales should each nominate a lead member of the clergy for safeguarding to …

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales should ensure that safeguarding training is mandatory for all staff and volunteers in roles where they work with children or victims and …

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious should publish a clear framework for dealing with cases of non-compliance with safeguarding policies and procedures. That …

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious should publish a national policy for complaints about the way in which a safeguarding case is handled. …

The Cabinet Office must ensure that each government department reviews its child safeguarding policy or policies in light of the expert witness report of Professor Thoburn. There must also be …

All political parties registered with the Electoral Commission in England and in Wales must ensure that they have a comprehensive safeguarding policy. All political parties must also ensure that they …

The Government should reaffirm the guidance in Working Together to Safeguard Children so that the police are notified as soon as possible when a criminal offence has been committed, or …

National guidance should be produced to inform the decision as to whether or not to notify the police. This guidance could usefully draw upon the criteria included in a local …

The Integrated Children's System should record those cases where a decision is taken not to refer to the police.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection should, as part of any social services inspection, review whether decisions not to inform the police have been properly taken.

New arrangements should be introduced requiring those who wish to work with children, or vulnerable adults, to be registered. This register – perhaps supported by a card or licence – …