The Children's Wellbeing & Schools Act 2026 - Part 1

In the first of a three-part series, we review The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 and look at the implications for safeguarding practice.

A Shift in Safeguarding Direction

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 represents one of the most significant shifts in children’s social care and safeguarding policy in recent years. While much public discussion has focused on the education elements of the legislation (See our next article Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026: Part 2), Part 1 is arguably more significant in terms of how it begins to reshape safeguarding systems, family intervention, multi-agency working and the long-term responsibilities of public services towards vulnerable children.

At its core, the legislation signals a move away from safeguarding systems that respond mainly after harm has escalated, towards systems focused more heavily on prevention, earlier intervention and stronger multi-agency working. In many ways, the Act is laying the foundations for how future safeguarding systems may operate.

Earlier Intervention and Family Involvement

Perhaps the clearest example of this is the introduction of Family Group Decision-Making (FGDM) before care proceedings begin. Before a local authority applies to court for a care order or supervision order, families must usually be offered the opportunity to participate in structured family decision-making meetings.

This reflects a growing belief that, where safe and appropriate, wider family networks may help prevent situations escalating to court intervention. The reforms place greater emphasis on restorative approaches, earlier support and involving families in safeguarding planning rather than relying primarily on crisis intervention once risks have significantly escalated.

The legislation also strengthens expectations around hearing the child’s voice and introduces greater senior oversight in some high-risk safeguarding decisions involving very young children. Together, these changes reinforce a more child-centred and accountable safeguarding culture.

Towards More Integrated Safeguarding Systems

Another major theme running throughout Part 1 is the idea that safeguarding must become genuinely integrated across services. Schools, colleges, childcare providers, health services, police and children’s social care are expected to work together more formally and more consistently than before.

The Act strengthens the role of education and childcare agencies within safeguarding arrangements and introduces Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs), bringing together professionals from education, health, social care and policing within more coordinated child protection responses.

The direction of travel is clear. The legislation is attempting to reduce fragmented safeguarding systems where agencies hold separate pieces of information but fail to form a complete picture of risk. Increasingly, the reforms suggest a future safeguarding model where agencies are expected to operate collaboratively around the child rather than within separate professional boundaries.

Information Sharing and Future Safeguarding Systems

This becomes even clearer through the Act’s strong focus on information-sharing. One of the recurring themes following serious case reviews has been that agencies often failed to share important information early enough or effectively enough. Part 1 attempts to address this directly.

The legislation strengthens duties requiring safeguarding information to be shared where it may help protect children or support child welfare functions. It also creates powers for national safeguarding information standards and the use of consistent identifiers for children across agencies.

While these changes may sound technical, they are potentially highly significant. The Act is effectively preparing safeguarding systems for more joined-up digital records, improved interoperability between agencies and more coordinated safeguarding oversight in the future.

Stability, Relationships and Long-Term Support

Underlying many of the reforms is a growing recognition of the importance of relational stability for children. This can be seen in the sections relating to kinship care, sibling relationships, care leavers and children living in temporary accommodation.

The legislation strengthens recognition of kinship care and requires local authorities to publish “Kinship Local Offers” explaining available support. It also strengthens duties around sibling relationships and expands “Staying Close” support for care-experienced young people into early adulthood.

Taken together, these reforms reflect increasing understanding that vulnerability does not suddenly end when a child enters care or turns 18. Instead, the legislation increasingly recognises the importance of continuity, trusted relationships and long-term support in improving outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.

Accountability and Oversight Within Children’s Care

Part 1 also reflects growing national concern about instability within the children’s social care system itself. The legislation introduces stronger oversight of care providers, greater financial scrutiny and powers linked to profit regulation and provider accountability.

Alongside this, the Act introduces powers relating to the regulation of agency workers within children’s social care and strengthens oversight where children are cared for in restrictive or highly controlled settings.

In practice, these reforms suggest increasing concern about fragmented care experiences, workforce instability and the wider resilience of the children’s care system. The legislation increasingly frames stability, continuity and accountability as safeguarding issues in their own right.

A Wider Responsibility Towards Care-Experienced Children

Another important shift within Part 1 is the expansion of corporate parenting responsibilities. The Act reinforces the principle that improving outcomes for looked-after children and care-experienced young people is not solely the responsibility of children’s social care departments, but a shared responsibility across public services.

This reflects a broader move towards collective accountability for vulnerable children and greater recognition of the long-term impact that trauma, disadvantage and care experience can have across adulthood.

Preparing for Future Online Safety Regulation

The legislation also begins laying the groundwork for future developments in online safety and digital safeguarding. Provisions relating to VPN services, social media and children’s online wellbeing create stronger powers for future regulation around age assurance, harmful platform features and children’s access to high-risk online environments.

These sections are less about immediate operational change and more about creating the legislative framework for future online safety regulation. The reforms build upon the Online Safety Act 2023 and reflect growing concerns around online exploitation, cyberbullying, harmful sexual behaviour, livestreaming risks, addictive platform design and AI-generated abuse.

Overall, Part 1 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 signals a broader transformation in safeguarding policy. Increasingly, safeguarding is being viewed not simply as responding to harm once it occurs, but as a coordinated system focused on prevention, earlier identification of risk, stronger family support and long-term stability for vulnerable children.

Perhaps most significantly, the legislation lays the groundwork for more integrated safeguarding systems in the future: systems where education, social care, health, housing, police and online safety responsibilities are increasingly connected rather than operating separately.

SSS Learning

2 June 2026