Guidance | Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 (March 2026 Update)

This briefing provides an overview of the March 2026 update to Working Together to Safeguard Children, the statutory guidance that shapes how all agencies in England work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It summarises what the guidance is, who it applies to, the core principles it sets out, what has changed since the 2023 version, and why these updates matter for practice. It also highlights the key actions professionals and leaders need to take, along with links to essential supporting resources.

What the guidance is:

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 is the statutory multi‑agency safeguarding guidance outlining how professionals must work together to help, support and protect children. It reinforces that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and applies to all children, including those living with birth or extended family, children in kinship care, adopted or looked‑after children, and those where there are concerns during pregnancy. The guidance adopts a child‑centred, whole‑family approach and addresses early help, Family Help, multi‑agency safeguarding arrangements, child protection practice and responses to a wide range of harms, including domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, coercive control, online harms and group‑based exploitation.

Who the guidance is for:

The guidance applies to a wide range of professionals and organisations working with children and families. This includes local authority children's social care, the full range of health services, police and criminal justice partners, and all education providers from early years settings through to post‑16 education. It also applies to VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) organisations, sports clubs and any practitioner with safeguarding responsibilities. In addition, it provides clarity on expectations for specialist settings such as youth justice services, prisons, mother‑and‑baby units and services supporting disabled children, young carers and looked‑after children returning home.

What the guidance outlines:

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, with strengthened accountability, improved information‑sharing duties and annual reporting that must demonstrate impact rather than simply describing activity.

It also expands the framework for delivering help, support and protection through the Family Help model, integrating targeted early help and Section 17 support into a single offer delivered by multidisciplinary teams through a coordinated Family Help Plan. High‑quality assessments, strengthened Section 47 processes, direct work with children and improved guidance for supporting babies, including unborn children, are also emphasised.

What has changed:

The 2026 update introduces several key changes from the 2023 version.

1.       It explicitly confirms the guidance applies to all children, including unborn babies and those in various care arrangements.

2.      Expectations for anti‑racist and anti‑discriminatory practice have been significantly strengthened, requiring active recognition and challenge of racism and disproportionality.

3.      The guidance expands on responses to specific harms, including child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, coercive control, hidden harms and online or group‑based exploitation.

4.     A major shift is the embedding of the Family Help model, designed to provide more seamless and consistent support for families.

5.      Multi‑agency accountability requirements have also increased, including clearer expectations around impact‑based reporting and robust data analysis.

6.      The statutory framework has been streamlined to be more usable and to align with wider children's social care reforms, and processes relating to serious safeguarding incidents have been clarified and simplified.

Why the updates matter:

These updates matter because they aim to create a more coherent and inclusive safeguarding system that supports earlier and more effective intervention. The Family Help model is designed to reduce fragmentation between early help and statutory support, enabling more consistent relationships with practitioners. The strengthened focus on anti‑racist and anti‑discriminatory practice helps to build trust with families and improve outcomes where inequalities or disproportionality have previously been evident. Enhanced guidance around multiple and overlapping harms improves the capacity of services to respond effectively to risks arising both inside and outside the home, including online. Clearer expectations for accountability ensure that safeguarding partnerships must demonstrate the real‑world impact of their work on children’s safety and wellbeing.

Actions for professionals and leaders:

• Review and update local safeguarding policies and procedures to reflect the Family Help model and strengthened Section 47 requirements.
• Revise multi‑agency safeguarding arrangements, including information‑sharing agreements, governance processes and accountability structures.
• Strengthen workforce development to embed anti‑racist and anti‑discriminatory practice across all roles and agencies.
• Update training materials on child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, coercive control, online harms and contextual safeguarding to match strengthened expectations.
• Improve quality assurance processes so annual reports and audits demonstrate actual impact, not just activity.
• Communicate changes clearly across the workforce, including education, health, police and VCSE partners, ensuring consistent understanding and implementation.
• Review and update safeguarding policies, curriculum content, and staff training to reflect the strengthened expectations on identifying and responding to harms such as child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, coercive control, online harms and extra‑familial risks.

Links and supporting resources:

• Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 (Full statutory guidance)
• Summary of Changes (March 2026)
• Children’s Social Care National Framework (Updated 2026)
• Supporting Local Areas to Embed Working Together and the National Framework