Working Together guidance on risks to others
Southport Inquiry · The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · Issued 13 April 2026 · Addressed to: Department for Education
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
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 what support to put in place and planned multi-agency working, must consider the risks posed by children to others.
Southport Inquiry, The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · 13 Apr 2026 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Department for Education published a revised Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance (Working together to safeguard children, Department for Education, March 2026).
- The Department for Education published a revised Children's Social Care National Framework as statutory guidance (Children's Social Care National Framework, Department for Education, May 2026).
- The Department for Education set out the intended scope of multi-agency child protection team regulations under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act, to come into force following consultation (Multi-agency child protection teams: regulation-making powers, Department for Education, January 2026).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Response — verbatim from government
●Department for Education
The Department for Education (DfE) is the lead department and expects to complete the implementation of this recommendation by spring 2027. Progress and next steps:
- DfE is currently consulting on the 2027 update to the statutory framework for help, support and protection of children.
- The consultation seeks views on the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children, the Children's Social Care National Framework, and policy underpinning multi-agency child protection team regulations.
- It also seeks views on best practice in responding to extreme violence and expectations for partnership working on this issue.
- The consultation findings will inform updates to Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Children's Social Care National Framework. The consultation findings will also inform wider policy development, including development of non-statutory guidance
Department for Education · 2 Jul 2026 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 2 Jul 2026 · Department for Education 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.