Operation Encompass cross-border extension
Southport Inquiry · The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · Issued 13 April 2026 · Addressed to: Lancashire Constabulary
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Lancashire Constabulary should consider extending Operation Encompass to share automatically relevant information with schools in bordering areas. The Department for Education should consider national implementation. This is because children will not necessarily attend school in the same police force area as they live.
Southport Inquiry, The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · 13 Apr 2026 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 established a duty for safeguarding partners including police and councils to share information relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, which the Act provides commences in September 2026 (Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, legislation.gov.uk, April 2026).
- The government response states the Operation Encompass duty is implemented across all 43 police forces and that the Department for Education expects to complete the remaining work by September 2026 (Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry, CP 1623, Home Office, July 2026).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Response — verbatim from government
●Home Office
The Home Office and the Department for Education (DfE) are working together on this recommendation. Some elements are already complete, and DfE expect to complete the remaining work by September 2026. Progress and next steps:
- In November 2025, Home Office introduced a statutory duty on policing to notify a child's educational setting when they have attended a domestic abuse incident, regardless of whether the child was present. This scheme is known as Operation Encompass.
- The accompanying statutory guidance makes it clear that notifications must be issued, regardless of whether the child resides in a local area that the attending police force does not operate in.
- The scheme is implemented across all 43 police forces in England and Wales, and Home Office is monitoring the implementation with the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP).
- The statutory duty applies to domestic abuse incidents only.
- In relation to other harm types, DfE has established a new information-sharing duty through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. This makes it clear that information must be shared where it is relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, providing a clear legal requirement for safeguarding partners to act decisively and collaboratively. It will commence in September 2026, with a consultation on draft statutory guidance open until 14 July.
Home Office · 2 Jul 2026 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 2 Jul 2026 · Home Office Government response published 2 July 2026 (CP 1623). The government accepted this recommendation; the lead department reports implementation is in progress. Source →
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.