National LADO standards
IICSA · The Residential Schools Investigation Report · Issued 10 March 2022 · Addressed to: Department for Education
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, E
The Department for Education and the Welsh Government should: introduce a set of national standards for local authority designated officers in England and in Wales to promote consistency; and clarify in statutory guidance that the local authority designated officer can be contacted for informal advice as well as when a concern or allegation needs to be referred.
IICSA, The Residential Schools Investigation Report · 10 Mar 2022 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance was updated in December 2023 (Working Together to Safeguard Children, HM Government, December 2023).
- No published national standards for local authority designated officers as specified in this recommendation have been identified to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
On 30 June 2022, the UK government stated that it was considering the scope and timetable for a review of the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children. It stated that it will consider revised content on the role of local authority designated officers, and that it will consider running a full public consultation on changes to the statutory guidance. On 30 June 2022, the Welsh Government stated that in most, if not all, cases designated officers are qualified social workers and, as such, already adhere to professional standards. However, in addition, Social Care Wales are working on national minimum standards for safeguarding training.
UK Government · 22 May 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
No published activity has been recorded against this recommendation yet.
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.