In December 2023 the DfE published a long-awaited update to the statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children (WTTSC). On 23rd February 2024, an update was published.
The webpage which hosts the latest version of Working Together to Safeguard Children describes the changes as follows:
Last updated 23 February 2024
- Page 26, paragraph 48: amended the wording used to describe lead safeguarding partners
- Page 42: corrected the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel email address.
- Page 161: updated the glossary definition of ‘safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children’ to match that on pg 7 to 8
- Page 167: linked to the latest version of ‘Good practice guidance on working with parents with a learning disability’.
UPDATED Statutory definition of safeguarding (Source: Working Together to Safeguarding Children 2023, pages 7 and 8)
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children – defined for the purposes of this guidance as:
- providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
- protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
- preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
- ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or otherwise their family network through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and where this is in the best interests of the children
- taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework.
You can download the latest copy of Working Together to Safeguard Children here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children–2
Although aimed at social care colleagues, DSLs will find the Children’s Social Care National Framework of interest and information can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-social-care-national-framework
