• contents
• keywords & contacts
• quick guide
• contact us
• search
• the knowledge

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places a duty on key people and bodies to make arrangements to ensure that their functions are discharged with regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The application of this duty will vary according to the nature of each agency and its functions.

The key people and bodies that are covered by the duty are:

• local authorities, including district councils;
• the police;
• the probation service;
• NHS bodies(Strategic Health Authorities, Designated Special Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts, NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts and NHS Direct6);
• organisations (currently the Connexions Service) providing services under section 114 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000;
• Youth Offending Teams;
• Governors/Directors of Prisons and Young Offenders' Institutions;
• Directors of Secure Training Centres; and
• British Transport Police.

The section 11 duty means that these key people and bodies must make arrangements to ensure two things. Firstly, that their functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and secondly, that the services they contract out to others are provided having regard to that need.

The duty does not give agencies any new functions, nor does it over-ride their existing functions. It, however, requires them to carry out their existing functions in a way that takes into account the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

As set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, to fulfil their commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people all organisations that provide services for children, parents or families, or work with children, should have in place:

• clear priorities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children explicitly stated in key[0] policy documents and commissioning strategies;
• a clear commitment by senior management to the importance of safeguarding and promoting children's welfare through both the commissioning and the provision of services;
• a culture of listening to and engaging in dialogue with children - seeking their views in ways appropriate to their age and understanding, and taking account of those both in individual decisions and the establishment or development and improvement of services;
• a clear line of accountability and governance within and across organisations for the[0] commissioning and provision of services designed to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people;
• recruitment and human resources management procedures and commissioning processes, including contractual arrangements, that take account of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, including arrangements for appropriate checks on new staff and volunteers and adoption of best practice in the recruitment of new staff and volunteers;
• a clear understanding of how to work together to help keep children and young people safe online by being adequately equipped to understand, identify and mitigate the risks of new technology;
• procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse against members of staff and volunteers (see paragraphs 6.32-6.42) or, for commissioners, contractual arrangements with providers that ensure these procedures are in place;
• arrangements to ensure that all staff undertake appropriate training to equip them to carry out their responsibilities effectively, and keep this up to date by refresher training at regular intervals; and that all staff, including temporary staff and volunteers who work with children, are made aware of both the establishment's arrangements and their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children;
• policies for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children (for example, pupils/students), including a child protection policy, effective complaints procedures and procedures that are in accordance with guidance from the local authority and locally agreed inter-agency procedures;
• arrangements to work effectively with other organisations to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, including arrangements for sharing information; and
• appropriate whistle blowing procedures and a culture that enables issues about safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children to be addressed.

The section 11 duty complements the duty placed by section 175 of the Education Act 2002 on local education authorities and the governing bodies of both schools and further education institutions to make arrangements to carry out their functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Local authorities should, therefore, follow this guidance in conjunction with the guidance Safeguarding Children in Education (Department for Education and Skills, 2004). Proprietors of independent schools also have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils at school under section 157 of the Education Act 2002 and the Education (Independent Schools Standards) England Regulations 2003. The Safeguarding Children in Education guidance issued by the Secretary of State in September 2004 is summarised in Appendix A.

The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (2003; 2004) supports the section 11 duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It sets out 11 standards to be met by health, social and educational services by 2014. Standard 5 requires services to promote and safeguard the welfare of children and to ensure all staff members are suitably trained and aware of action to take if they have concerns about a child's welfare.

End