The full guidance is divided into multiple parts broadly:
Part One: Safeguarding information for all staff - what they need to know, what to look out for, how to act.
Part Two: The management of safeguarding - how schools and colleges should organise safeguarding responsibilities, policies, procedures, designations such as the “Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)”, working with outside agencies, record-keeping, reviews, etc.
Part Three: Safer recruitment - requirements around recruitment, vetting, background checks, regulated activity definitions, checks on staff/volunteers, sanctions and restrictions (e.g. if someone is barred), ongoing suitability checks.
Additional parts: Covering ongoing safeguarding duties, allegations against staff, children in other settings, and reporting obligations.
What’s New or Changed in the 2025 Update
Key updates include:
New Online Safety Risks Recognised: The definition of online risks has been expanded. Under the “content” category (previously more focussed on inappropriate content/contact/commerce), the guidance now explicitly references misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories as potential safeguarding harms. This reflects the growing concern about digital harms and the impact of harmful online content.
AI & Technology Considerations: The updated guidance references the use of generative AI and related guidance from the Department for Education (DfE), and points to a tool (“Plan technology for your school”) that helps schools assess filtering and monitoring systems. This is a recognition that emerging technologies pose new kinds of risks and that schools need support to manage them safely.
Attendance & Safeguarding Link Strengthened: The guidance now makes statutory the requirements of another document Working together to improve school attendance. In practice, where safeguarding concerns are linked with pupil absence, there is now a stronger duty for schools to engage with children’s services.
Signalling Future Updates: The 2025 edition flags that future versions will address upcoming legislation (e.g. Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill), findings from the national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, and work under the government’s violence against women and girls strategy. As such, schools should remain alert to further developments.
Pending Related Guidance: By September 2025, the final version was expected to include links to revised guidance on relationships, sex, and health education (RSHE) and on support for gender-questioning children - reflecting ongoing policy changes in those areas.
What This Means for Schools, Colleges, and Staff
Schools and colleges must ensure all staff - especially those working directly with children - read Part One and are aware of their safeguarding duties. Governance bodies should review who in their setting needs to read what.
There must be robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place: designated safeguarding leads (DSLs), clear processes for raising concerns about children, appropriate record-keeping, and clear protocols for handling allegations against staff.
Recruitment procedures must comply strictly with vetting requirements and checks, including for volunteers or anyone working in regulated activity. Ongoing checks and record-keeping remain vital.
Online safety must be taken seriously - not just blocking inappropriate content, but recognising broader digital harms like misinformation, conspiracy content, or harmful use of generative AI.
Absence management and attendance monitoring are now more closely linked to safeguarding - persistent or unexplained absence may now warrant more proactive engagement with children’s services.
Governing bodies and trustees have a strategic role: creating a safeguarding culture, ensuring compliance, reviewing policies periodically, and adapting to future updates (e.g. from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill).