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Safeguarding Children Legislation in Wales FAQs

It is crucial to comply with legislation and guidance in safeguarding, take a look at the latest safeguarding children legislation in Wales below.

• Children Act 1989

  The child protection system in England and Wales is grounded in the Children Act 1989. This Act established several key principles, including the following:

  • The concept of parental responsibility.
  • That a child’s welfare is paramount when the court is considering a question about a child’s upbringing.
  • That children are best looked after by their family, unless intervention in family life is essential.

  Section 17 places a duty on local authorities to promote and safeguard the welfare of children in need in their area by providing a range of services to meet their needs. Section 47 sets out what a local authority must do when it has reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.

• Children Act 2004

  The Children Act 2004 was introduced as a development and extension of the Children Act 1989. This Act established a Children’s Commissioner in England and created Local Safeguarding Children's Boards (LSCBs) in England and Wales.

  The Act focused on multi-agency working, stating that all agencies and individuals that work with children, including local authorities, the police and health services, have a duty to ensure they consider the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when carrying out their functions (Section 11).

• Education Act 2002

  The Education Act 2002 sets out the safeguarding duties of schools and colleges.

• Keeping Leaners Safe 2015

  Keeping Leaners Safe 2015 consists of statutory guidance concerning how education providers can ensure they have effective systems in place to safeguard and protect children. This guidance includes the responsibility of education providers to prevent unsuitable people from working with children and young people; to promote safe practice and challenge poor and unsafe practice, and to identify instances in which there are grounds for concern about a child’s welfare.

• National Independent Safeguarding Board Wales

  The National Independent Safeguarding Board was set up under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. Its three primary duties are:

  1. To provide support and advice to Safeguarding Boards with a view to ensuring that they are effective
  2. To report on the adequacy and effectiveness of arrangements to safeguard children and adults in Wales
  3. To make recommendations to the Welsh Ministers as to how those arrangements could be improved.

  To find your regional board, click here.

• Online Safety Act 2023

  The Online Safety Act 2023 places legal responsibility on tech companies to prevent and rapidly remove illegal content, such as that related to terrorism and revenge pornography, and to prevent children from seeing material that is harmful to them, such as content promoting self-harm and eating disorders, bullying and pornography.

• The Social Services and Wellbeing Act 2014

  The Social Services and Wellbeing Act 2014 constitutes a legal framework for improving the wellbeing of people by outlining safeguarding provision for both adults and children who need care and support. In relation to children, ‘wellbeing’ includes the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional, social and behavioural development as well as their ‘welfare’.

• Working Together to Safeguard People 2018

  Working Together to Safeguard People 2018 comprises of seven volumes of statutory guidance, the goal of which is to implement and follow the Social Services and Wellbeing Act 2014. For the purposes of adult safeguarding practice, Volumes 1, 3, 4 and 6 are especially relevant.