Working Together to Safeguard Children

Working Together to Safeguard Children is the statutory guidance for multi-agency working to safeguard children and young people. The guidance was last updated in March 2026.

You can find a copy of the guidance here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children–2

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places duties on a range of organisations and individuals to ensure their functions, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Various other statutory duties apply to other specific organisations working with children and families.

Working Together to Safeguard Children sets out principles for working with parents and carers  and expectations for multi-agency working – these are documented in the resource below:

Working Together Principles and Expectations

A training resource has been produced to set out what you need to know about Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026:

See: Briefing Sessions