Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduced to Parliament
Protecting children at risk of abuse and stopping vulnerable children falling through the cracks are at the heart of a landmark children’s Bill. The Bill is central to delivering on the government’s Plan for Change, which will put children’s futures at the centre of rebuilding public services and break down barriers to opportunity. The measures will help ensure all children get the best start in life, to drive the sustainable, lasting change that children and families need – and deserve – to achieve and thrive.
Over recent years, there have been a number of shocking cases of children being failed by a disjointed system. The new measures will write children’s best interests into law and make child-centred government a reality.

The Bill will introduce new registers to identify children who are not in school. With better knowledge of where children are, councils can more easily deliver the support that’s needed and ensure a high-quality education is being provided. It will also pave the way for a unique identifier number for children across services – like the national insurance number works for adults. 

Parents will no longer have an automatic right to educate their children at home if their child is subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan. If a child’s home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local authorities will also now have the power to intervene and require school attendance for any child.  

Teachers and educators are often the first to spot warnings of abuse or neglect, and last year, schools were the second largest referrer of cases into children’s social care. Measures in the Bill will make sure that teachers and schools are always involved in decisions around safeguarding children in their area.  

Breaking the cycle of crisis intervention is critical to securing better outcomes for children. Families should be able to rely on being able to access the help they need to keep their family together, but too often, disjointed services stand in the way. 

The government is doubling the investment for Family Help services to £500m next year, allowing local authorities to support vulnerable families and protect children before issues escalate to tragedy. The significant cash boost will strengthen family security and go towards providing wrapround support for families struggling with issues like substance misuse or mental health, getting help to the family and identifying children at risk earlier in the process, before problems get worse.  

Better data sharing is critical to ensuring issues can be spotted earlier and acted on. The unique identifier number for children will allow those responsible for the safeguarding and welfare of children to better join together relevant data, preventing children from falling through the cracks. 

While there will always be cases where children need to go into the care system, with earlier intervention, families can often be supported to stay together. 

That’s why the new laws will see all councils offer Family Group Decision Making – a service that brings extended family members together where a child is on the brink of entering care. This comes alongside a requirement on councils to publish a local kinship offer, so that family members and friends stepping in to care for children know what support is available to them. This could include training or access to peer support groups which provide valuable support networks for new carers.

The Bill will also support the government’s crackdown on excessive profit-making by children’s social care providers, including introducing a backstop law to potentially cap the profit providers can make.  

New measures under the Bill will also help deliver on commitments to drive high and rising standards in education. They include:

• Councils will be able to welcome proposals for all types of school, not just academies, so new schools are opened by the provider with the best local offer for local children and families.
• All new teachers will hold or be working towards Qualified Teacher Status before they enter the classroom. They will also need to complete a statutory induction period.
• Every schoolteacher will have the same core pay and conditions offer, and schools will have greater flexibility to attract and retain the best teachers.
• Schools and councils will have to work together when it comes to school admissions, with councils given greater powers to ensure admissions decisions reflect local needs including the placement of vulnerable children.
• Failing schools run by local authorities will not be automatically forced to become an academy, opening up a broader range of levers to quickly drive-up standards.

Prosecutors publish updated ‘deception as to sex’ guidance which clarifies the law on when deceiving someone or failing to disclose birth sex could affect consent in rape cases to assist prosecutors in their decision making in this complex area of law. The title of the guidance has been updated to more accurately reflect that this part of the law is based on a person’s sex, rather than gender identity. The law, which the guidance reflects, states there is no difference between a deliberate deception about birth sex and a failure to disclose birth sex. Central to the update, the guidance makes clear:

In line with the law on consent – charges will depend on whether a victim was aware of the person’s birth sex and therefore consented to sexual activity by choice. The suspect must also have reasonably believed consent had been given.

It also clarifies that a suspect may deceive a complainant as to their birth sex if they choose not to disclose their sex or trans identity. It also clarifies there is no expectation for a complainant to confirm the sex of the defendant prior to sexual activity.

Not every situation where a trans or non-binary person fails to disclose their sex will involve a criminal offence – each will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Prosecutors are given guidance on the evidential considerations to be applied in these cases, including where the suspect is trans or non-binary, as well as relevant case law and an explanation of how a failure to disclose sex could remove consent.

The new guidance forms part of the Rape and Sexual Offences prosecution guidance.

Safeguarding bishops apologise to survivors following Archbishop’s speech
The Lead Bishops for Safeguarding, Joanne Grenfell, Julie Conalty and Robert Springett have written to survivors and their advocates following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech in the House of Lords. They have written after watching Archbishop Justin’s farewell speech in the House of Lords.
“Both in content and delivery, the speech was utterly insensitive, lacked any focus on victims and survivors of abuse, especially those affected by John Smyth, and made light of the events surrounding the Archbishop’s resignation. It was mistaken and wrong. They acknowledge and deeply regret that this has caused further harm to you in an already distressing situation.

The Safeguarding Bishops know that the Church of England has seriously failed over many years at many levels in relation to safeguarding, and they are so sorry that yesterday’s speech was the antithesis of all that they are now trying to work towards in terms of culture change and redress with all of you.

As lead Bishops for Safeguarding in the Church of England, they apologise to you.

They will continue to do all they can to change the culture of the Church, so that abuse is exposed and prevented, those in authority are held to account, and the searching light of truth is allowed to shine into every corner of our lives."

If you are, or are in contact with someone affected by this letter, please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit Reporting abuse and finding support where other support services are listed.

A new report reveals that 485 children were affected by serious child safeguarding incidents between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024
The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel is calling on the government to ensure that children at risk of being harmed, both inside and outside their families, are at the heart of its strategies to break down barriers to opportunity. This comes as the Panel’s latest annual report reveals that 485 children were affected by serious child safeguarding incidents between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. This is when a child dies or is seriously harmed, and abuse or neglect is known or suspected.

The recently announced reforms in the government’s paper ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’ are an important step in the right direction, with plans to implement the Panel’s recommendation for multi-agency child protection teams in every local authority. As the proposal for local multi-agency child protection teams shows, safeguarding children involves many different agencies from across policing, healthcare, education and others. Therefore, it is imperative that the mission-led approach now being promoted across government is carefully connected so different departments work together at a national level.

The Annual Report 2023 to 2024 highlighted 3 specific themes, which reinforce the importance of join-up between different government departments:

Safeguarding children with mental health needs
Over a fifth of children were recorded as having a mental health condition, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. The overwhelming majority of these children were aged 11 to 17, with the youngest being just 6. Distressingly, 92% of all children who died by suicide were recorded as having a mental health condition.

As part of the government’s ‘opportunities’ mission, it is vital that the Department for Health and Social Care, NHS England and other relevant bodies, including local commissioners, work with the Department for Education to ensure there is sufficient and appropriate mental health support available for vulnerable children.

Safeguarding pre-school children with parents with mental health needs
Over half of incidents involving the death or serious harm of a child aged one to 5 involved a parent or relevant adult with a mental health condition. Reviews highlighted that parental mental health was often overlooked as a potential risk factor when considering parents’ capacity to care for their children.

As the new Mental Health Bill progresses through Parliament, the Panel is calling for greater measures for supporting effective partnership working between adult mental health services and children’s services.

Safeguarding children from risks outside the family home

Almost a quarter of serious incidents featured harm perpetrated by adults and peers who were not members of the child’s own family. This includes gang violence, child sexual abuse and child criminal exploitation.

As part of the government’s ‘Safer Streets’ mission and its commitment to reduce violence against women and girls, there must be joint working between the Home Office and other relevant departments to ensure vulnerable children are not forgotten.

Royal College of Nursing

The Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) updated position on decriminalisation of Termination of Pregnancy follows a debate at RCN Congress.
The RCN has updated its position statement on abortion, also known as Termination of Pregnancy (TOP), calling for it to be decriminalised in England, Wales and Scotland. They believe it should be treated as a health matter rather than a criminal issue.
Despite the legal framework in place, there are instances where women find themselves outside these parameters, often in vulnerable situations and facing desperate circumstances. Instead of receiving support, some of these women have been subjected to criminalisation.

It remains a criminal offence for a woman to procure her own abortion without the approval of 2 doctors – as outlined by the Abortion Act of 1967 – in England, Wales and Scotland. In Northern Ireland, a 2020 law offers women the autonomy to make decisions about their pregnancies without the threat of prosecution.

The position statement is to reaffirm the commitment to decriminalisation.

It follows a debate on abortion at RCN Congress 2024. This issue was debated in response to a motion posed by the RCN Women’s Health Forum, and the publication of a position statement was subsequently mandated by RCN Council.

• The RCN is clear that any change in the law must require strong regulatory and quality monitoring processes, to ensure people can access free, safe and effective abortion care.
• The RCN also supports health care professionals’ right to conscientious objection. Nursing and midwifery staff will be encouraged to tell their colleagues and their manager if they have a conscientious objection to the procedure and arrange for a suitably qualified colleague to take over responsibility for that person’s care.
• The RCN acknowledges there are a range of opinions and stances on abortion across our membership and that professional and clinical discussion is likely to arise as a result of the position statement.

In 2023, a woman was prosecuted for using abortion pills to end her own pregnancy and sentenced to 28 months in prison. She was eventually released early, but her criminal record remains. Other women are currently awaiting similar trials. Decriminalisation of abortion should also include the suspension of any pending or current prosecutions.

The RCN will also be joining a multi-organisational campaign calling for the decriminalisation of abortion, involving organisations such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Ofcom has, four months ahead of the statutory deadline, published its first-edition codes of practice and guidance on tackling illegal harms – such as terror, hate, fraud, child sexual abuse and assisting or encouraging suicide – under the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023

The Act places new safety duties on social media firms, search engines, messaging, gaming and dating apps, and pornography and file-sharing sites. Before they can enforce these duties, they are required to produce codes of practice and industry guidance to help firms to comply, following a period of public consultation.

“Ofcom have consulted carefully and widely to inform their final decisions, listening to civil society, charities and campaigners, parents and children, the tech industry, and expert bodies and law enforcement agencies, with over 200 responses submitted to their consultation.

As an evidence-based regulator, every response has been carefully considered, alongside cutting-edge research and analysis, and we have strengthened some areas of the codes since our initial consultation. The result is a set of measures – many of which are not currently being used by the largest and riskiest platforms – that will significantly improve safety for all users, especially children.

The illegal harms codes and guidance marks a major milestone in creating a safer life online, firing the starting gun on the first set of duties for tech companies. Every site and app in scope of the new laws has until 16 March 2025 to complete an assessment to understand the risks illegal content poses to children and adults on their platform.

Subject to the codes completing the Parliamentary process by this date, from 17 March 2025, sites and apps will then need to start implementing safety measures to mitigate those risks, and the codes set out measures they can take.[4] Some of these measures apply to all sites and apps, and others to larger or riskier platforms. The most important changes Ofcom expect the codes and guidance to deliver include:

Senior accountability for safety. To ensure strict accountability, each provider should name a senior person accountable to their most senior governance body for compliance with their illegal content, reporting and complaints duties.

Better moderation, easier reporting and built-in safety tests. Tech firms will need to make sure their moderation teams are appropriately resourced and trained and are set robust performance targets, so they can remove illegal material quickly when they become aware of it, such as illegal suicide content. Reporting and complaints functions will be easier to find and use, with appropriate action taken in response. Relevant providers will also need to improve the testing of their algorithms to make illegal content harder to disseminate.

While developing the codes and guidance, Ofcom heard from thousands of children and parents about their online experiences, as well as professionals who work with them. New research also highlights children’s experiences of sexualised messages online, as well as teenage children’s views on our proposed safety measures aimed at preventing adult predators from grooming and sexually abusing children.[5] Many young people we spoke to felt interactions with strangers, including adults or users perceived to be adults, are currently an inevitable part of being online, and they described becoming ‘desensitised’ to receiving sexualised messages.

Taking these unique insights into account, our final measures are explicitly designed to tackle pathways to online grooming. This will mean that, by default, on platforms where users connect with each other, children’s profiles and locations – as well as friends and connections – should not be visible to other users, and non-connected accounts should not be able to send them direct messages. Children should also receive information to help them make informed decisions around the risks of sharing personal information, and they should not appear in lists of people users might wish to add to their network.”

1. Top tips for jobseekers at risk of ‘fake DBS check’ recruitment scams
Persuading job seekers to pay for a non-existent DBS check is a tactic being used by fraudsters to extract cash from their victims, with January and February a peak period for scammers to pounce. Typically referenced as ‘advanced fee scams’, victims are encouraged to pay upfront for ‘recruitment administration’ - including a supposed Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check to progress with the recruitment offer. Text and WhatsApp messages can be cleverly designed to get jobseekers to part with their details. The DBS has compiled a list of top tips for job seekers to stay safe from fake DBS check scams in any recruitment search and is set to deliver a LinkedIn webinar sharing tips and sector guidance to support job seekers to stay safe throughout their employment search. The webinar will take place on Wednesday 21st February 2025 from 2pm and will last around 15 minutes.
The DBS’ Regional Outreach team can also provide localised support to organisations and networks to offer support and guidance around all things safeguarding.

2. Did you have a #FraudFreeXmas?
People celebrating this festive season were encouraged to have a #FraudFreeXmas and stay alert to fraudsters taking advantage at this time of year, as Action Fraud revealed the 12 frauds of Christmas.

1. New measures are unveiled to improve service to help keep victims of crime engaged in the justice process against the backdrop of delays with a strong focus on victims of rape and serious sexual offences, to recognise the devastating impact these crimes can have.

All adult victims of rape and serious offences are now being offered a pre-trial meeting with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) ahead of trial, as well as access to a dedicated Victim Liaison Officers (VLOs) as a single point of contact to answer any questions they have. To date. over 40 VLOs have been recruited and over 550 staff who will be meeting victims have received training.

The measures have been developed following direct input from victims of rape and serious sexual offences, meaning a more tailored service to meet their needs.

Further measures as part of the Victims Programme include:

• Piloting an improved service to all victims of crime who have their case charged by the CPS.
• Consulting directly with victims of crime through Victim Reference Groups.
• Working closely with partners including the police and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs), to ensure the right support is in place for victims.
• The CPS's Victims Programme will be independently evaluated to ensure it translates into real improvements for victims.

2. Stalking victims will be better protected under a raft of new measures unveiled by the Home Office.
Stalking victims are to be given more protection and perpetrators will face robust management under a raft of new measures unveiled by the Home Office from the 3 December 2024. Not knowing the identity of an online stalker can be extremely unsettling with victims left in the dark as to whether the offender is known to them, which can put them in more danger.

For the first time, the Home Secretary will issue new ‘Right to Know’ statutory guidance to empower the police to release the identity of an online stalker at the earliest opportunity. This will set out the process for disclosure more clearly to the police and provide victims who are subject to this chilling crime with greater reassurance that they will be quickly told the identity of the individual threatening them online.

The guidance was inspired by the experience of broadcaster and activist Nicola Thorp. She was stalked and abused online in a terrifying ordeal lasting months by a man she did not know, who set up almost 30 social media accounts to send her a constant stream of violent misogynistic messages. Former Coronation Street actress and Talk TV host Nicola has been working with the government to give victims the right to know who their online stalkers are after police said they could not reveal the identity of the offender even after he was arrested, despite the perpetrator once saying he had got so close to Nicola on a train, he “could smell” her.

The man, who called himself The Grim Reaper in some of his messages to Nicola, is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence with a lifetime restraining order handed down after his appearance in court – the first time Nicola learned his true identity.

In further measures to tackle stalking, victims will also be given more protection from offenders by making Stalking Protection Orders more widely available – these orders can ban stalkers from going within a certain distance of their victims or contacting them, and can also compel them to attend a perpetrator programme to address the root causes of their behaviour.

Currently, Stalking Protection Orders can only be made by the courts if the police apply for them. Under new measures, courts will be given the power to impose Stalking Protection Orders directly at conviction – or even on acquittal if there is enough evidence to suggest that they are still a risk to the victim. This will help stop, for example, offenders from contacting their victims from prison.

Further measures include:

• defining stalking in statutory guidance and setting out a framework to help support services including the police, education and health services work together and share intelligence on cases to ensure that proper protections are put in place for every victim of stalking so that no one is failed by vital information falling through the cracks
• national standards on stalking perpetrator programmes will be published to ensure that interventions properly address an offender’s stalking behaviour in a consistent and evidence-based way across England and Wales
• new data on stalking offences will be published by the Home Office which will help inform policy and policing decisions on this crime

In addition, the government has committed to accepting or partially accepting all the recommendations arising from the recent super-complaint on stalking made by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust and a consortium of other organisations and campaigners to demand better support for victims, and a stronger response from the authorities, in the wake of the sharp rise in stalking offences over recent years.

3. Government announces the Get Britain Working White Paper to reform employment, health and skills support which it promises will tackle economic inactivity and support people into good work. Mel Merritt, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the National Autistic Society, writes:

“Only 30% of autistic people are in work, the lowest of any disability. This shouldn’t be the case. Most autistic people can and want to work but face multiple barriers in finding and progressing in employment. We hope today’s reforms will close the unacceptable autism employment gap and genuinely remove these barriers.

“We welcome the independent review into how employers can better support disabled people and the commitment to engage with disabled people on the green paper. Jobcentres and employment support need an overhaul, and changes need to include autism training for all job coaches and assessors.

“While the overhaul of the disability benefits system is long overdue, there is a culture of blame and anxiety around work and benefits for many autistic and disabled people, and it is important that their voices are heard throughout this process. Autistic people face barriers to employment including poor autism understanding, discrimination and a lack of adjustments. Unless the Government acts to lift those barriers, then autistic people will not be able to engage fully with the Government’s support offer and may be at risk of being unfairly punished.”

Self-healing practitioner jailed for gross negligence manslaughter after death of diabetic woman
A man convicted of gross negligence manslaughter following the death of a 71-year-old diabetic woman at a ‘slapping therapy’ workshop has been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, with a five-year extended licence period.

Hongchi Xiao, 61, from California, USA, had promoted the practice as a ‘cure’ for diabetes at the workshop in Seend, Wiltshire in 2016.Danielle Carr-Gomm, who had Type 1 diabetes, died on 20 October 2016 from diabetic ketoacidosis after she stopped taking her insulin at the event.Xiao led the workshop and assured Mrs Carr-Gomm that her condition could be healed by a method of self-healing known as Paida Lajin, which is said to expel ‘poisonous waste’ from the body through slapping and stretching.Mrs Carr-Gomm was congratulated by Xiao when she announced on the first day of the workshop that she had stopped taking her insulin.But she became very unwell after she stopped her injections and Xiao neither told her to start taking her insulin or sought any medical assistance despite assuming a position of leadership over her care.Her death was as a direct result of not taking her insulin injections at the slapping therapy workshop.

Rosemary Ainslie, Head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said:

“Hongchi Xiao knew the consequences of Danielle Carr-Gomm’s decision to stop taking insulin could be fatal - he had seen it before. The prosecution successfully applied for bad character evidence to be made admissible, so that members of the jury could hear about Xiao’s previous conviction in Australia which arose from strikingly similar circumstances and followed the death of a child also deprived of insulin."

The CPS’s Extradition Unit was instrumental in Xiao being convicted both in England and Australia. Initially, they represented Australia in the English extradition court process, which resulted in Xiao’s return to Australia, for prosecution. He was then successfully extradited back to England in 2023 following further work between the CPS’s Extradition Unit and its Australian counterparts, so that he could be successfully prosecuted for the manslaughter of Mrs Carr-Gomm by the CPS Special Crime Division.

Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother convicted of her murder
The father and stepmother of a 10-year-old girl whose body was discovered in her bed after the family had fled to Pakistan have today been convicted of her murder. Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool have been found guilty of murdering Sara Sharif following what the court heard was a “campaign of abuse”. Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, who was living in the house at the time, was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child. The prosecution case was that the trio were all complicit in causing her death.

The jury at the Old Bailey heard that Sara was a victim of assaults and abuse for weeks with injuries including fractures, burns, bruising and a traumatic head injury. Such was the severity of her injuries leading up to her death, the post mortem concluded that Sara died from complications from multiple injuries and neglect and could not give a definitive cause of death. After Sara died at the family home in Byfleet, Surrey on 8 August, Sara’s step mother Beinash Batool called a travel agency to enquire about flights to Pakistan. Her father Urfan Sharif eventually booked the one-way flights for the next day, and when asked why they were so urgent, he claimed his cousin had died.

Urfan called police on 10 August, saying he had “legally punished” Sara and she had died, before claiming he had beaten her, but not intended to kill her. Police found Sara’s body in the family home with a note written by Urfan, saying he had killed her and had “lost it”. The trio returned to the UK on 13 September 2023 and they were arrested on arrival in the UK from Pakistan.