Keeping Children Safe – Charities & The 2026 Guidance

What "Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026" Means for Charities

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 is the latest version of the Government’s official statutory Guidance that applies to any organisation or professional who works with children or whose work has an impact on their welfare. Published in March 2026, this update replaces the previous version of the same statutory guidance, namely the 2023 version. While it’s mainly aimed at public bodies like councils or the NHS, the 2026 Guidance also explicitly applies to voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations, including charities.

The revised Guidance shows just how the scope of safeguarding has broadened over the years, together with its importance. It highlights the different needs of babies compared to older children; accepts that children often suffer multiple forms of harm simultaneously; puts greater emphasis on fast-evolving risks like online abuse and exploitation; and highlights that safeguarding extends to all children, including those not yet born. It also aims to reinforce the message that keeping children safe requires organisations to work together, share information and not operate in isolation.

Overall, the direction of travel is towards a more joined-up, preventative system rather than one that reacts after things go wrong, or one that treats safeguarding as a 'box-ticking exercise'.

Even though this Guidance is not issued by the Charity Commission ("the Commission"), it plays an important role in shaping the regulatory landscape. The Commission has consistently emphasised that safeguarding is a key obligation of all charity trustees whose work brings them into contact with children. Where safeguarding failures occur, the Commission may open statutory inquiries, issue regulatory directions, or even disqualify trustees. The updated Guidance effectively raises the standard against which charities are assessed, even if the Guidance wasn't issued by the Regulator itself. 

So What Does This Mean in Practice for Charities?

The focus of this updated statutory guidance is on being able to show that charities are actively trying to prevent safeguarding incidents, rather than just passively implementing policies that gather dust on a shelf. 

So what can charities working with children actually do? Here are a few practical steps to help put the 2026 Guidance into practice.

• Training staff and volunteers regularly - Offering safeguarding training that reflects current risks, particularly around issues like online harm, as well as talking through real-life scenarios and examples to enable staff to feel more confident in recognising and responding to concerns. 
• Identifying newer risks and solutions - This means taking the time to really consider how new risks (for instance grooming through the use of emerging technologies, radicalisation through social media or gaming) show up in children’s lives and whether current safeguarding approaches are keeping up. If new risks are spotted, charities should be ready to respond by putting the right support in place to help keep the children they are working with safe.
• Having easy-to-use recording processes to record safeguarding concerns - Keeping detailed records matters because it helps spot patterns over time. It also ensures there is a clear account of what happened and how concerns were handled if questions are later raised. Increasingly, the focus is on showing what’s actually been done in response to concerns, rather than just saying that safeguarding exists in principle.
• Appointing a safeguarding lead - While each charity trustee is individually responsible for the safeguarding of children, making sure there’s a designated safeguarding lead who oversees concerns means staff and volunteers know exactly who to go to if they are worried about a child. Otherwise, uncertainty could lead to delays. A safeguarding lead can also ensure that concerns are followed up properly.
• Reviewing and updating safeguarding policies - The best policies are those that reflect the organisation's culture. While having policies isn't enough in itself, policies remain the bedrock for any effective safeguarding procedure. Safeguarding policies require regular review to ensure they keep up with the changing risk landscape, especially those identified in the 2026 Guidance. They must set out reporting procedures more clearly and define the respective roles of staff better.
• And most importantly, listen to children - It's important to create better, accessible ways for children to raise their concerns in a way that feels safe for them, and for these concerns to be taken seriously. Responses should be timely and thoughtful, so children can see that what they’ve said has made a difference. Building this kind of trust helps create an environment where children are more likely to share worries early, before issues escalate.

The Charities & Safeguarding team at Hunters regularly advises charities and trustees on safeguarding, governance and regulatory issues. Whether you need help with reviewing safeguarding policies; training trustees, staff and volunteers on safeguarding obligations; understanding your legal duties; or responding to Charity Commission investigations and enforcement action, we can provide practical advice, tailored to your organisation. Please get in touch with Anna Ratkai or Dominik Opalinski who leads our safeguarding team, for a chat.