Amend Children Act 1989

We accept the absolute need for children and young people to have their voices heard, raise concerns and challenge any aspect of their care, including where they may be experiencing or at risk of serious harm. We will address this through the reforms in our Stable Homes, Built on Love strategy.

Our ‘Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’, published in April 2025, set out the government’s work to respond to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendation to amend the Children Act 1989. The update is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-abuse-progress-update . The department will publish new national standards and statutory guidance for advocacy for children and young people and has committed to establishing a Child Protection Authority. In December 2025, we published the consultation on the authority’s scope, functions and powers, with the aim of making the system clearer, more unified and ensure there is ongoing improvement through effective evidence-based support for practitioners.

To enable this strengthening of protections for children looked after by local authorities, we will introduce new National Standards for Advocacy for Children and Young People and revised statutory guidance on Providing Effective Advocacy for Children and Young People Making a Complaint under the Children Act 1989 in 2025. This does not need an amendment to the Children Act 1989, but this will include new standards on: The provision of specialist non-instructed advocacy for children with complex needs and learning disabilities (as recommended by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s report on Safeguarding children with disabilities in residential settings). Requirements for advocacy in the safeguarding of children – being clear on the role of advocates in the identification of concerns and the need to make direct referrals and to escalate where necessary.