It might be difficult to accept, but every child can be hurt, put at risk of harm, or abused, regardless of their age, gender, religion, or ethnicity.

Safeguarding legislation and government guidance says that safeguarding means:

•    Protecting children from maltreatment

•    Preventing impairment of children’s health or development

•    Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.

•    Undertaking that role to enable those children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully.

Why should I have safeguards in place?

Making sure my setting has policies and procedures in place for safeguarding and child protection:

•    protects children and young people from harm and abuse.

•    enables me to know what to do if I am worried a child is being abused.

•    Shows that I am responsible and have pride in my work.

I also have to develop safeguards because I:

•    Suspect, or have experienced, an incident of abuse, and want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

•    Have read or seen news about a case of child abuse.

•    Simply want to ensure my home is as safe as possible for children.

In England, the law states that people who work with children have to keep them safe. This safeguarding legislation is set out in The Children Act (1989) and (2004).  It also features in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (to which the UK is a signatory) and sets out the rights of children to be free from abuse. The Government also provides guidance in its document Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 introduces a single list for those barred from working with children and a single list for those barred from working with vulnerable adults. From these lists, a panel of experts (the Independent Safeguarding Authority) will make barring decisions. There will be a 'monitoring' system that will constantly update information on an individual once they have entered the system, and parents will be able to perform online checks for home tutors and music teachers working in their homes.