New Bill

England and Wales (some clauses extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland)

Crime and Policing Bill

Crackdown on those who assist in self-harm
To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill will protect vulnerable people who are encouraged or assisted to self-harm. Vulnerable people who are encouraged or assisted to harm themselves will have greater protection under a new offence being introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill. Those who provide the tools for self-harm face up to 5 years behind bars and perpetrators face prosecution even if no self-harm takes place. The government is pushing ahead with vital new measures to further protect those at risk – with NHS England Digital's Hospital admissions related to self harm, with age and geographical breakdowns research, showing self-harm hospital admissions among young people have soared by a third.

The government is going further to strengthen safeguards - broadening the law to capture more malicious behaviour, bringing parity between the online and offline world and protect people who are at risk of suicide or self-harm.

The new laws will make it a criminal offence to directly assist someone to self-harm - such as giving someone a blade or sending them pills – whether it is done in person or online. This will build on existing laws that already prevent people encouraging or assisting suicide or self-harm through content online.

Anybody struggling with self-harm or suicidal thoughts is urged to get in touch with their GP or get advice and emotional support from organisations such as the Samaritans, Mind, or SANEline.

Saint Deiniol’s Cathedral, Diocese of Bangor, Church in Wales Safeguarding Audit Report Published.
The Archbishop of Wales, The Most Reverend Andrew John said

“In the autumn of last year, I commissioned two exercises in connection with Bangor Cathedral. The first of these was a visitation and the second a safeguarding audit by the independent organisation thirtyone:eight. I asked that those who conducted these exercises on my behalf undertake a thorough review of the quality of life, faith, discipline, behaviour and culture of the Cathedral.

“Those who undertook these exercises did so on the condition that any sensitive and personal information which might be disclosed by participants (including safeguarding disclosures) would not be released into the public domain. This was to give confidence to anyone who participated. I am upholding their request for confidentiality and therefore releasing today summary reports prepared by the reviewers and their unabridged recommendations.

“It is evident that in recent years great progress has been made at our cathedral. We have seen the fruit of hard work: improved attendance, increased bilingual worship, a raised public profile and an enhanced musical life. These are signs of vitality and growth that we rightly celebrate. But we also know that growth is not just about what is visible—it’s about what is true, just, and safe at the heart of our shared life.

“The reviewers identified some concerns which needed to be addressed. Taken together, the reports described areas where we needed to do better to ensure that the cathedral is truly safe, inclusive, well-governed and thriving.

As reported to the reviewers, the concerns were:

• A safeguarding approach that did not meet the standards expected across the Church in Wales.
• Management practices that lacked transparency and rigour, with some appointments made without proper paperwork, inadequate oversight arrangements and concerns raised about exclusion due to favouritism.
• Weak financial controls, unclear reporting lines, and spending decisions that were insufficiently scrutinised.
• Conduct in some areas—relating to alcohol use and sexual behaviour—that did not reflect the professional standards expected in a Christian church.
• The presence of hurtful gossip, both in person and online, which caused pain and division.

I acknowledge that these findings are hard to hear—but they must be faced if we are to move forward with integrity.”

In the Confidentiality Statement they state:

“This summary report is the property of the Diocese of Bangor and was commissioned by the Archbishop of Wales (also Bishop of Bangor). This agreed Summary report has been prepared for the Archbishop of Wales for the purpose of communicating our findings to those that participated in the Safeguarding Audit undertaken by Thirtyone:eight. Whilst we have taken reasonable measures to maintain confidentiality and to limit access up to this point, we understand the Archbishop of Wales wishes to publish this Summary so that all connected to Saint Deiniol’s Cathedral have access to the key findings of this Review and the full recommendations.”

And the Referral Summary & Context states

“In response to safeguarding concerns being raised in relation to Saint Deiniol’s Cathedral, the Archbishop of Wales invited thirtyone:eight to offer its safeguarding expertise in relation to this situation. In the context of these safeguarding concerns, a decision was made that an independent safeguarding audit should take place. The aim of this audit was to review the safeguarding procedures in the Cathedral. It was decided this would run alongside an Episcopal (i.e. Bishop’s) visitation to understand the spiritual culture and life of those connected to the Cathedral."

1. Ofqual launches strategy to maintain standards, quality and trust in qualifications in a ‘changing world’.
The regulator of qualifications in England has pledged to ensure qualifications can be trusted for years to come by students, employers, and wider society. The strategy sets out the organisation’s approach as a guardian of the qualifications system, driving economic growth and protecting the value of qualifications that students take.

The regulator has described this approach as “stewardship”, an approach to regulation that is gaining interest around the world and takes a long-term, proactive view.

It comes at a time of change for education in England, with the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, reform of vocational and technical qualifications and reform of apprenticeship assessments.

The strategy has 5 aims:

• steward – secure the safe, fair, and resilient delivery of qualifications and assessments
• innovate – oversee the improvement and reform of qualifications
• strengthen – strengthen the performance, capacity, and resilience of the qualifications market
• engage – build confidence in qualifications
• develop – develop the skills, processes and systems needed for effective and efficient regulation.

2. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
Gloucestershire Police taking decisive action to improve how they safeguard children at risk

Gloucestershire Police are taking decisive action to bring about rapid change to how it safeguards children at risk following an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which found that they were ‘inadequate’ at responding to children at risk; investigating reports of abuse, neglect and exploitation of children; and in their leadership of child protection arrangements.

The inspectorate rated them as ‘adequate’ at working with safeguarding partners and ‘requires improvement’ at assessing risk to children and making appropriate referrals.

HMICFRS inspectors provided feedback on conclusion of their visit in December last year, identifying areas they could improve. This information has since been used to develop an improvement plan which lays out how they are addressing their concerns.

Among the actions taken, or are in the process of being taken are:

• Launching the Gloucestershire Rapid Improvement Plan (GRIP) – a plan for the whole workforce which sets out how they intend to improve performance over the next 12 months. Keeping children and young people safe is one of the GRIP’s priorities.
• Ensuring greater scrutiny and oversight of how they safeguard children at risk by introducing a monthly Crime and Vulnerability Performance Board chaired by an Assistant Chief Constable.
• Increasing the number of investigators they have in their specialist investigation teams, including the Child Abuse Investigation Team. This has seen 20 additional officers commencing in those roles on 12 May.
• Introducing a dedicated missing person team which will audit missing people cases regularly to ensure appropriate risk assessments are carried out and relevant investigative actions implemented.
• Providing specialist training to hundreds of officers and staff. More than 600 officers have received training on evidence-led prosecutions while all frontline officers and staff continue to receive training on domestic abuse. They are also planning to deliver training which will ensure the voice of the child is always considered when they encounter a case or incident where one is involved.
• Forging even closer working relationships with partners, specifically with those working in education and social care.
• Reaching out for specialist advice and national excellence from the National Police Chief’s Council leads and the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme.
• Issuing comprehensive internal and external communications to inform and educate the workforce and the public on child protection matters. In February this year, they worked with the Internet Watch Foundation to deliver an external campaign on behalf of the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership to tackle online grooming and the distribution of indecent images of children in Gloucestershire via social media apps.

1. Helpful guidance, Online Safety Act: explainer
The Online Safety Act 2023 (the Act) is a new set of laws that protects children and adults online. It puts a range of new duties on social media companies and search services, making them more responsible for their users’ safety on their platforms. The Act will give providers new duties to implement systems and processes to reduce risks their services are used for illegal activity, and to take down illegal content when it does appear.

The strongest protections in the Act have been designed for children. Platforms will be required to prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content and provide parents and children with clear and accessible ways to report problems online when they do arise.

The Act will also protect adult users, ensuring that major platforms will need to be more transparent about which kinds of potentially harmful content they allow, and give people more control over the types of content they want to see.

Ofcom is the independent regulator of Online Safety and will set out steps providers can take to fulfil their safety duties in codes of practice. It has a broad range of powers to assess and enforce providers’ compliance with the framework.

Providers’ safety duties are proportionate to factors including the risk of harm to individuals, and the size and capacity of each provider. This makes sure that while safety measures will need to be put in place across the board, we aren’t requiring small services with limited functionality to take the same actions as the largest corporations. Ofcom is required to take users’ rights into account when setting out steps to take. And providers have simultaneous duties to pay particular regard to users’ rights when fulfilling their safety duties.

2. Top Tips for Staff: help your staff keep your organisation safe online
The training package 'Top Tips for Staff' addresses the challenge of making cyber security relevant to everyone in any organisation. It is completely free, easy to use, and takes less than 30 minutes to complete. This training introduces the importance of cyber security and explains how attacks happen, covering four key areas:

1. Using strong passwords
2. Securing your devices
3. Defending yourself against phishing
4. Reporting incidents

The training is primarily aimed at SMEs, charities and the voluntary sector, but can be applied to any organisation, regardless of size or sector. It’s designed for an audience who may have little or no knowledge of cyber security, with tips that complement any existing policies and procedures.

'Top Tips For Staff' can be completed online, or built into your own training platform.

As well as some smaller updates to the content, 'Top Tips for Staff' (English) meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (Level AA), so that the package is more accessible for users.

There are two options for using the e-learning package:

1. Direct your staff to Stay Safe Online: Top Tips for Staff or Gadw’n ddiogel ar-lein: Prif awgrymiadau i staff. The package is free to use, and includes a short quiz at the end, with links to further reading. No login is required - just click on the link and start learning.
2. Alternatively, you can integrate the package into your own organisation's training platform. You can do this by downloading the zip file from the government website (the file you download will depend on your organisation's learning management system). Use the PDF instructions to find out how to integrate the package.
   • Download SCORM+2004 (English)
   • Download SCORM 1.2 (English)
   • Download SCORM (Welsh)

Interested in helping shape ‘Top Tips for Staff’? Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

3. Online Harm Within Schools: Insights from the 2024 POSH Annual Report
The UK Safer Internet Centre’s Professionals Online Safety Helpline (POSH) is a vital support service for those working with children and young people across the UK. The newly published 2024 POSH Annual Report offers an insightful snapshot of the online challenges faced by schools, educators, and safeguarding professionals

With 2,219 recorded cases last year, the report shines a spotlight on the growing complexity of online harms. From issues around online reputation, cyberbullying, and impersonation to the misuse of school branding, the evolving digital environment presents real and pressing concerns for the education sector.

1. New non-statutory guidance: Protective security and preparedness for education settings
This non-statutory guidance is for:

• security and incident leads
• all staff, including non-teaching staff

It applies to:

• all education settings and childcare providers
• all organisations and agencies that have functions relating to learners

The guidance:

• aims to improve security awareness
• helps staff and learners identify security vulnerabilities and suspicious activities
• sets out practical, low-costs steps to improve preparedness and response plans

The Act for Education interactive e-learning resource will teach learners:

• how to identify security vulnerabilities and suspicious activity
• how to respond when there is an incident

The Summary states:
“This non-statutory guidance provides advice to help educational settings be better prepared and able to respond to terrorism and other major incidents. It sets out practical steps to keep learners, staff and volunteers safe in the event of an incident through simple and cost-effective methods. The guidance is aimed at those working in settings who have existing responsibilities for emergency planning and response, site security, and staff new to concepts of protective security and preparedness. It is recommended that all staff read this guidance to ensure they are able to identify security vulnerabilities, suspicious activity and how to respond when there is an incident. For the purpose of this guidance, educational settings cover settings from early years, all schools, further and higher education (including colleges, sixth-form colleges and independent training providers), and alternative provisions (including special schools and children’s social care settings). This guidance can also be adapted to out-of-school settings (OOSS)”.

Key Actions for Schools: (summarised by Claire Stewart SAFEcic’s Development Manager)

• Appoint a Security Lead to oversee emergency planning and act as incident lead if needed.
• Review and test plans for lockdown, invacuation, evacuation, and bomb threats, ensuring they meet the needs of all learners, including those with SEND.
• Train all staff to recognise suspicious behaviour (SCaN), assess suspicious items (HOT protocol), and respond to incidents (RUN HIDE TELL).
• Use the self-assessment tool (Annex D) to review current plans and identify gaps.
• Prepare a ‘grab kit’ with essential items to support response efforts, especially for those with additional needs.

This guidance has been developed in collaboration with the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) and sector partners.

2. 2025 Appropriate Filtering and Monitoring Definitions Published
These definitions continue to support education settings and providers across the UK in understanding what should be considered ‘appropriate’ in the context of statutory safeguarding responsibilities—particularly in light of evolving technologies and updated government guidance. The 2025 definitions continue to align with national safeguarding guidance frameworks including, for example:

Keeping Children Safe in Education (England),  Keeping Learners Safe (Wales).  The 2025 version builds on the previous year’s guidance and reflects wider statutory expectations, technological developments, and the growing use of generative AI in education.

Summary of Changes for 2025
Accompanying the updated definitions are:
– A summary of substantive changes introduced this year,
– A consultation summary outlining stakeholder feedback and UKSIC’s formal response.

Some of the key updates include:
– Enhanced definitions of illegal content categories, including coercive control and intimate image abuse;
– Stronger emphasis on the role of filtering in managing access to AI-generated content;
– Clarification that mis/disinformation should be considered within the scope of filtering (not monitoring);
– Revised expectations for monitoring system identification and mobile device testing;
-Reference to the DfE’s Generative AI: Product Safety Expectations for schools in England, while noting that all four UK nations have published or are developing frameworks to support safe and effective AI use in education.

“Filtering systems must effectively and reliably prevent access to harmful and inappropriate content generated by Generative AI systems. Monitoring systems must maintain robust activity logging procedures that capture interactions with generative tools.” — 2025 Definitions

Access the 2025 Definitions and Supporting Documents
Here is the full 2025 guidance:

• Appropriate Filtering – UK Safer Internet Centre (2025)
• Appropriate Monitoring – UK Safer Internet Centre (2025)
• Summary of Substantive Changes – PDF
• Summary of Consultation responses – PDF

Schools and providers across all nations of the UK can also contact the Professionals Online Safety Helpline for support: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

3. Richard Burrows: Paedophile who fled to Thailand 27 years ago jailed for 97 offences
An 81-year-old child abuser who escaped justice by fleeing to Thailand in 1997 ahead of his trial has been jailed for 46 years for a catalogue of horrific sex offences against 24 boys in his care from the late 60s to the mid-90s.

Richard Burrows carried out the earliest attacks while working as a housemaster at Danesford Approved School in Cheshire. He also abused boys through his involvement in the scouting community and radio clubs where young boys were keen to learn about radios and obtain their badges. The victims were all aged between 10 and 15.
Burrows accepted he was a paedophile but denied committing the most serious offences.

In March, a jury at Chester Crown Court found him guilty of 54 offences, including four counts of “buggery” which, if the attacks had happened today, would have been charged as rape. Before the start of his trial in January, Burrows pleaded guilty to 43 counts, including five counts of having indecent images of children, and four counts related to having passports under a false name.

His guilty pleas included possessing 655 indecent photos of boys in magazines which were found sewn into the lining of a tweed coat during a police search in 1997. Seventy-five photos were classed as being in the most serious category.

Four of the 24 victims had died and did not see Burrows finally face justice. The Crown Prosecution Service relied on the accounts they gave to the police in the 1990s or later to build the case against him. Some of these were provided through video recordings which were played to the jury. Many of the surviving victims wanted to face Burrows in court, but for others the CPS arranged for them to give evidence remotely, including from their home, via video link. One victim gave evidence from his hospital bed.

Burrows was arrested a week before his 80th birthday when he arrived at Heathrow Airport in March last year. In 1997 he was charged with a number of child sex offences but fled to Thailand ahead of a court hearing in December that year. He left the UK after getting a passport issued under a false name.

Prosecuting offences going back 60 years
The earliest offence for which Richard Burrows was convicted happened in March 1966 and the last sex attack was in September 1996.

There was no forensic evidence, such as DNA left on clothes. The bulk of the evidence against Burrows came from the testimony of his victims which showed a pattern of behaviour and were sometimes supported by other children, now adults, who they had confided to or who had seen the victims being upset after an attack.

The sex offences were prosecuted under the Sex Offences Act 1956 because they occurred before the law was updated in 2003.

1. New alert issued as Action Fraud reveals staggering rise of extortion phishing email reports in March
Action Fraud are urging the public to look out for phishing emails that relate to extortion as the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) received over 2,924 reports in March 2025, a staggering increase compared to only 133 reports made in February.

What to do if you receive an email like this:

• As with other phishing emails, do not to engage with the phisher, forward the email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., which is the NCSC's Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS), and then delete it.
• If you are considering paying the Bitcoin ransom, you should be aware that doing so, you will likely become the target of more scams, as the phisher will know they have a ‘willing’ customer.
• The inclusion of genuine passwords or other personal information in phishing emails is a strong indication that you may have been affected by a historic data breach.
• If the phishing email includes a password you still use, then change it immediately.

If you have been a victim of extortion or concerned that someone may be in possession of intimate images of you, you should report it to your local police force by calling 101.

If you’ve lost money or provided financial information as a result of any phishing scam, notify your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud or by calling 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.

2. Jailed: Scammer fooled 80-year-old man into smuggling class A drugs
A Nigerian national who duped elderly victims - including an 80-year-old - into smuggling class A drugs has been jailed, following a National Crime Agency investigation.

“Callous” Tonny Iheoma Ezeh, 51, convinced innocent drugs mules they were entitled to huge, legitimate windfalls and they had to travel abroad to get paid.

Ezeh, who holds Nigerian, Canadian, and Jamaican passports, fooled two German men aged 80 and 67 into carrying methamphetamine hidden in sweets into the UK for onward flights to Hong Kong.

The 67-year-old was stopped on 18 October last year and three days later the 80-year-old was stopped. Both had flown into Heathrow Airport and were each unwittingly carrying around 3kg of methamphetamine.

Both men were charged with smuggling class A drugs but the charges were dropped once investigators established that Ezeh had scammed the pair.

On 13 May Ezeh pleaded guilty to smuggling class A drugs when he appeared at Isleworth Crown Court. He was jailed for nine years and three month.

Ezeh was based in Mexico where he organised drug shipments with other Nigerian contacts based internationally.

His mobile phones revealed that he was part of a West African crime group responsible for transporting Class A drugs internationally via air passenger courier and fast parcels.

Elderly and vulnerable couriers were singled out and recruited via email finance scams.

Ezeh’s crime group told the victims they were the beneficiaries of large sums of money. To obtain the money – millions of Euros or dollars - they travelled to Mexico and signed fake paperwork and were given gifts of ‘Elvan Chocolate Truffles’. These were to be given to hosts in Hong Kong where the money would be paid to them.

But before the men could catch connecting flights from the UK to Hong Kong, they were arrested by Border Force officers.

NCA officers arrested Ezeh when he flew into the UK on 23 December last year.

1. Ugandan judge sentenced to over six years for modern slavery offences
Lydia Mugambe, 50, has been sentenced to six years and four months at Oxford Crown Court for:

• Conspiring to do an act to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law by a non-UK national
• Arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation
• Requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour
• Conspiracy to intimidate a witness

She will also pay the Victim compensation totalling: £12,160 and an Indefinite Restraining Order preventing Mugambe from contacting the victim directly or indirectly has been granted.

2. Abusive care home manager jailed
A care home manager in the North East who physically and sexually abused residents has been jailed for three years and three months.

Concerns were first raised around William Malcolm’s inappropriate and unprofessional conduct in 2022 and then began a complex and long-running investigation. Malcolm, 61, who was also a registered mental health nurse, was caring for vulnerable and elderly residents in the home.

His treatment of both people in his care and non-residents started to alarm employees who say they witnessed a range of disturbing events. Witnesses say they saw Malcolm use hateful names towards people, swear at them, simulate sex with them and, in some cases, sexually assault them. After being arrested, Malcolm was charged with a string of offences in November 2023.

Malcolm, of West Hope Close, South Tyneside, denied all the charges.

Last month, a jury at Newcastle Crown Court unanimously found him guilty of 13 offences – 10 charges of sexual assault, two of ill-treating a person in care and one racially aggravated harassment.

He was sentenced to three years and three months’ imprisonment.

Malcolm will also spend the rest of his life on the Sex Offenders’ Register and was given a string of supplementary orders to further protect the public, including multiple restraining orders.

3. Couple jailed for 46 years for sexually abusing a child
A couple from Wales have been jailed for 23 years each after footage was shared online of them sexually abusing a child. Jonathan Leonard, 58, from Caldicot, Monmouthshire, and Ann Bray, 62, from Newport were arrested by officers from the National Crime Agency in September 2024 after information was received from the FBI.
Both Leonard and Bray's devices were seized upon arrest, and Bray's device contained videos and images of the pair abusing a child from 2021 to 2024.NCA investigators discovered Bray had been grooming the child to participate in sexual activity with the pair.

Videos and images of the abuse were taken by Bray and shared to Leonard. Officers found chat messages between them discussing the abuse, their fantasies, and making plans to commit the offences. Leonard subsequently shared some of these images online. Both Bray and Leonard were also found to be in possession of a number of other indecent images of children and extreme pornography. They were interviewed by officers but refused to answer any questions about their involvement. They were charged with multiple child abuse offences and pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court on 24 January.

Leonard and Bray were both sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment, with eight years to be spent on licence today (19 May).

4. Sex offender identified during Met Police Live Facial Recognition operation
The deployment of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology by Met Police officers in Southwark helped put a registered sex offender back behind bars. LFR is an advanced technology where Met officers position a van equipped with cameras in a pre-agreed location in London.

These cameras capture live footage of people passing by and compare their faces against a database of wanted offenders. If a match is detected, the system generates an alert. An officer will then review the match and decide if they wish to speak with the individual.

On the afternoon of Friday, 10 January, a police van with LFR was operating in the Denmark Hill area, when cameras alerted officers to 73-year-old David Cheneler as being a registered sex offender. Upon being stopped by officers, he was found to be with a six-year-old girl.

Further checks confirmed he was in breach of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO), which prevented him from being alone with a child under the age of 14. He was also in possession of a lock knife that was hidden in the buckle of his belt. He was arrested and taken into custody.

Further enquiries from Met officers established Cheneler had picked the child up from school as a favour for her mother, which he’d also done on two previous occasions after building a relationship with them both over the course of a year.

Safer Internet Day 2025 reaches more parents, carers, and young people than ever before
Safer Internet Day 2025 reached more young people than ever before, with 57% of UK children aged 8-17 hearing about the day, alongside 50% of UK parents and carers, an increase of almost 20% compared to the previous year.

The report looks at the reach of Safer Internet Day 2025 and the positive impact that it had on children, young people, parents, carers, and teachers.

The theme of Safer Internet Day this year was: Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online. The highlights were:

• Over 160,000 downloads of education materials
• The #SaferInternetDay hashtag trended at no.1 throughout the day on X
• 1,726 organisations and schools across the UK registered as official supporters

More than just reach
Although the day reached more people than ever before, what is truly impressive is to see the real-life impact that Safer Internet Day has on those that get involved.

Young people said:

• 76% felt more confident about what to do if something is worrying them online
• 57% talked to their parent or carer about how to stay safe on the internet
• 34% spoke to their parent or carer about something or someone that had been worrying them online
• 43% spoke to someone about online scams
• 28% talked to someone about their experiences online that they had not spoken about before
• 79% learnt something new about online safety as a result of Safer Internet Day 2025

Parents and carers said:

• 71% feel better prepared to keep their child safe online
• 69% felt more confident about what to do if their child came to them with a problem they had online
• 34% said their child spoke to them about something that had been worrying them online
• 77% talked to their child about using the internet safely
• 73% are more aware of the impact online scams can have on their child