Working Together 2026 and the Changing Safeguarding Landscape

This briefing provides an overview of the current safeguarding framework and explores the key policy developments shaping practice across children’s services and partner agencies. Centred on Working Together to Safeguard Children (2026), the session will examine the legislative foundations of safeguarding, the government’s wider reform agenda, and the significant changes being introduced through the Families First Partnership Programme and Family Help reforms.

Participants will gain an understanding of how safeguarding responsibilities are evolving, with increasing emphasis on early intervention, multi-agency collaboration, family-led solutions, information sharing, and anti-racist practice. The session will also explore the practical implications of key guidance, including Keeping Children Safe in Education (2025), and consider what these developments mean for practitioners working across education, health, social care, policing, housing, voluntary sector organisations and other safeguarding partners.