Prefer audio? Our podcast covers a range of child protection issues to inform, create debate and tell you about the work that we do to keep children safe.

Guidance for schools in UK nations on safeguarding during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

A set of resources to help parents interact with their baby, boosting child development and setting up positive behaviour as their child grows.

Provides learning for practitioners working in the early years sector around identifying abuse and applying professional curiosity to keep children aged five and under safe.

Take a look at our range of resources to support the prevention of bullying from templates, training, leaflets and guidance to podcast episodes.

Guidance for registered and regulated early years providers on safeguarding and child protection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summarises findings from the independent review of children’s social care, The case for change, and looks at the needs, experiences and outcomes of children supported by social care in England.

Provides guidance for social workers across the UK to help them support families and children during the coronavirus pandemic.

An independent evaluation was commissioned to examine whether our SOSS programme increases children’s understanding of abuse and what its impact is in primary schools.

What to consider when working with young parents to ensure both the parents and their child are protected from potential risks and factors.

Find out how young people benefit from using the Childline message boards to support their help-seeking journey.

Our series of posters and wallet cards encourage children to contact Childline if they need to talk.

What we have learned from our approach to programme design, delivery and evaluation over the last decade.

Provides information on how to recognise, respond to and prevent abuse from people in a position of authority such as teachers, care workers and doctors.

Details guidance and legislation that sets out the safeguarding responsibilities of schools and colleges in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Read our summary of the findings from the third national review by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel for England, on babies harmed by fathers and stepfathers.

Read a summary about the revised child protection guidance for people working with children in Scotland.

Explores the data available about physical abuse, including the scale of the issue and the characteristics of children who experience physical abuse.

A summary of the key changes to Keeping children safe in education – England's statutory safeguarding guidance for schools – which came into force on 1 September 2021.

This briefing summarises the key updates to guidance on responding to sexual violence and harassment between children for schools and colleges in England.

A process evaluation of our primary school programme about recognising abusive behaviours, exploring the views of children, parents and school staff taking part in the programme.

Read our research on how the Keeping Safe primary school programme helped to increase knowledge and understanding of abuse concepts in children, parents, carers and teachers.

Read our guidance to help you think about and mitigate the risks involved with making and sharing images of children and young people.

Guidance to help organisations understand the principles of keeping and managing records about child protection concerns.

Online safety support and resources for schools and colleges including training, teaching resources, information for parents, IT systems requirements and ongoing monitoring.

Pulls together all the data available about child neglect, including the scale of the issue and the characteristics of children who experience child neglect.

A guide for parents and carers to help them decide when their child is ready to be at home alone or go out unsupervised. Includes a checklist of scenarios to work through.​

Need help planning or delivering health, relationships, and sex education curriculum in England? Our RSE resources, guidance and training can help you with this.

This briefing looks at findings from reviews of serious child protection incidents in Scotland, and examines evidence of the impact of reviews on child protection practice.

Read how the NSPCC’s Keeping Safe programme has been implemented in schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Northern Ireland.

Provides an overview of Ofsted’s findings and recommendations from their rapid review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges in England.

Use our range of resources on peer-on-peer sexual abuse and healthy relationships for schools and anyone who works or volunteers with children and young people.

Our free resource is designed to help you support young people in designing and leading their own campaign around online bullying. Find out more about how the toolkit.

This report looks at the sustainability and effectiveness of organisations implementing and delivering NSPCC services for local areas.

Child protection plan register statistics

Provides an overview of the key messages and learning from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s annual report for 2020.

Provides an overview of the key messages and learning from rapid reviews and Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (LCSPRs) produced in the last year.

We conducted an evaluation to see how our virtual preventative mental health programme, Pregnancy in Mind, supported parents during COVID-19 and how effective it is when compared to the face-to-face programme.

Find out what the Welsh government’s guidance around child sexual exploitation entails in volume 7 of Working together to safeguard people. Includes information on identifying, reporting, preventing and responding to sexual exploitation.

Read our evaluation a programme to help parents and professionals gain a better understanding of the impact of early adversity of child brain development.

The NSPCC’s local services for children and families were adapted in 2020 to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. Find out more about what our research highlighted and the learning you can take from it.

Explores the data and statistics available about looking after children, their experiences while in care and their outcomes to help professionals make evidence-based decisions.

How many children experience sexual abuse in the UK? Our briefing highlights key findings from the data and statistics about child sexual abuse.

Browse our range of online safety resources to help schools and organisations keep children and young people safe online.

This briefing uses insight from NSPCC helpline contacts and Childline counselling sessions to highlight the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on d/Deaf and disabled children.

Learn about what children and young people have been talking to Childline about over the last year. Also includes previous reports and thematic reports.

Published case reviews highlight that practitioners sometime struggle to work with teenagers who are experiencing complex issues. This briefing covers the key issues and learning for improved practice around working with teenagers.

At the end of 2020, we commissioned a review of relevant literature around volunteers supporting vulnerable families. Discover more about the research we found and what the key findings were.

Summary of key changes in the government's 2018 statutory guidance on safeguarding children and young people for England. Includes summary of further updates made in December 2020.

We look at what children and young people have told Childline about being away from school and then returning during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. One in a series of briefings sharing insight from our helplines.

Find out how we've been ensuring that parents and families continue to receive the perinatal support they need during the pandemic and what we've learnt from the process.

Our report covers the experiences of NSPCC staff who have been supporting children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read our evaluation report of InCtrl, a pilot NSPCC service for children and young people that aims to prevent technology assisted child sexual abuse (TA-CSA).

Our report investigates the challenges posed by austerity and welfare reform to services working with vulnerable families in Scotland.

Highlights the issues children, young people and adults have raised to Childline and the NSPCC helpline in relation to children being targeted for sexual abuse online during the pandemic. Includes a breakdown of key findings and themes.

We looked into the impact of scale-up sites delivering DART in comparison to families who previously attended the service at the NSPCC. The service is aimed at mothers and their children who've been affected by domestic abuse.

We conducted an evaluation of our Pregnancy in Mind's face-to-face service which is a preventative mental health service for parents. 

Our briefing compiles available data and statistics on how many children have died due to abuse or neglect to help you make evidence-based decisions about child protection.

What have children and adults told the NSPCC helpline and Childline about physical abuse during the coronavirus pandemic? See our insight briefing for a breakdown of the key themes.

Our annual report compiles and analyses the most robust and up-to-date child protection data that exists across the four nations in the UK.

This briefing uses insight from NSPCC helpline contacts and Childline counselling sessions to highlight the impact of sexual abuse on children and young people during the coronavirus pandemic.

Explains what researchers need to consider when involving children in their research and includes information on ethics in child research and identifying potential risks.

See our briefing on sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) in England from June 2018 to August 2019. Key findings are taken from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s review and includes key learning and recommendations.

Research briefing

Our summary of messages from research into HSB published in 2016 and 2017.

Explains the definition of child abuse and provides an insight into the different types of abuse as well as setting out general signs to keep an eye out for.

Read our report summarising the risks to children’s safety due to the conditions created by the coronavirus crisis, and why these risks might intensify during the pandemic.

This insight briefing uses insight from NSPCC helpline contacts and Childline counselling sessions to highlight the impact of domestic abuse on children and young people during the coronavirus pandemic.

Understand more about the potential risks and impacts of children experiencing domestic abuse as well as what you can do to improve your practice when working with children and families.

Lessons from case reviews published since 2008, where online abuse was a key factor.

This briefing summarises key messages from children who have been talking to Childline about coronavirus (COVID-19).

Key messages about the criminal exploitation of children and young people in England based on rapid reviews received by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel between July 2018 and March 2019.

Key messages from the DfE's analysis of serious case reviews (SCRs) conducted in England.

Summarises key messages from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel's first annual review about serious safeguarding incidents in England.

CASPAR briefing

Summary findings from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services' report looking at how the police service protects children and young people in England and Wales.

A briefing summarising the findings from inspections of how agencies in England respond to child sexual abuse in the family.

Example role description for nominated child protection lead, also known as Designated Safeguarding Officer/Lead (DSO/DSL), named person or child protection officer.

Highlights lessons from case reviews published since 2017 where child sexual abuse committed by adults was highlighted as a significant issue. Includes a summary of risk factors.

An evaluation of Minding the Baby, a service to improve the relationship between mothers and their children.

A briefing on the new Wales safeguarding procedures, focusing on the procedures relating to children and young people at risk of harm.

Guidance on appropriate staffing and supervision ratios for children and young people. Includes best practices for organisations outside of education and early years sectors.

Read our feasibility study of an early intervention for parents experiencing domestic abuse.

Defines what disguised compliance is and why it's important that practitioners are able to recognise it. Includes lessons from case reviews published from 2014 onwards where disguised compliance is a key factor.

Learning from an evaluation of Together for Childhood, a preventative approach to child abuse and neglect that involves community engagement and partnership working.

A 2019 research study into how parents and carers can keep children with disabilities safe from sexual abuse.

Advice you can share with parents you work with on safe, positive ways to hold and care for their baby and reduce the dangers of rough handling.

Looks at learning from published case reviews that specifically relate to the voluntary and community sector and highlights the key issues identified as well as how practice can be improved.

A compilation of findings and learning from published reports of inquiries and investigations into safeguarding practice in the voluntary and community sector.

A set of recommended standards to help voluntary, community and faith organisations keep children and young people up to the age of 18 safe. Includes templates, examples and links to further information.

A step-by-step approach to help you set up safeguarding and child protection measures. For voluntary, community and faith organisations and groups working with children and young people aged 0-18.

Download and use our template to create a consent form for your organisation that will help you collect the information and permissions required.

We've designed a template to help you write a document that reflects the safeguarding needs of the children and young people your organisation works with.

A systematic review of effectiveness of Childline and the outcomes for children who contact the service, including evidence about children’s helplines across the world.

Report analysing the concerns being raised to Childline and the NSPCC helpline about peer sexual abuse.

Report about how Childline, the NSPCC helpline and O2 are responding to children’s and parents’ concerns about sexual content online.

Guidance on designing and delivering mental health services to vulnerable groups of children and young people, includes an annual assessment of Local Transformation Plans.

Resources to share learning about how to respond if a child tells you they have experienced abuse. Includes free poster resource.

Summary of the DfE guidance on what schools in England must deliver for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education from 2020.

A framework to help local areas develop and improve multi-agency responses to children displaying harmful sexual behaviours (HSB).

An evaluation of the NSPCC's service to support women in safeguarding their children against men who pose a risk of sexual harm. Read the full report now.

An evaluation of three NSPCC early intervention services aiming to improve the wellbeing of families in the military community.

Read our 2013 research into the childhood experiences of abuse of young men and women and how they disclosed and sought help.

We evaluated our Protect and Respect service which supports young people who have been or are at risk of being sexually exploited. Find out what the key findings were.

Find out how these guidelines are used to decide whether a child is mature enough to make decisions about things that affect them.

Our It's Not OK teaching resources can be used with children and young people aged 11+ and is designed to help them recognise concerning behaviour and identify characteristics of positive relationships.

Evaluation of Letting the Future In for children with learning disabilities (LTFI-LD), a service to help children and young people with learning difficulties move on from sexual abuse.

We have a variety of leaflets and resources which you can share with parents and carers to provide useful information and help make conversations about keeping their child safe easier.

Study into provision of support in Northern Ireland for women experiencing mental health problems during pregnancy and the year after birth.

Evaluation of the NSPCC’s Speak out Stay safe programme, which teaches school children to recognise and speak out about abuse and neglect.

Evaluation of a service delivered by the NSPCC to support families where a parent has alcohol or substance misuse problems.

Key findings and recommendations from the Perinatal Mental Health in Wales Project exploring how services are experienced by women and their partners.

What we learned from supporting local authorities to use an evidence-based resource for assessing whether or not to return a child or young person home from care.

Review of how we supported organisations to use Graded Care Profile 2 (GCP2), a evidence-based tool to measure the quality of care being given to a child and identify whether a child is at risk of neglect.

Summarises how we've supported other organisations to deliver Baby Steps in order to reach and help more families. Includes key findings, barriers to implementation and actions we're taking to address these.

Evaluation of a service to assess and support the families of men who pose a sexual risk to children and to make decisions about actions to protect children.

A review of global trends in the prevalence and services for child maltreatment in order to inform research, policy and practice in England.

Preliminary study estimating the lifetime costs of child abuse and neglect

Research into the backgrounds and behaviours of boys and young men who engage in harmful sexual behaviours using online and mobile channels.

Evaluation of a programme to help build children’s confidence and improve parents’ protective skills in families where there are parental mental health problems.

We look at how well our service to reduce the impact of parental drug and alcohol misuse on children worked.

Research into what young people and professionals say about the effects of offline and technology-assisted child sexual abuse, and how best to respond to it.

What we learned from supporting organisations to deliver Domestic Abuse, Recovering Together™, a service which helps mothers and children who have experienced domestic abuse.

Qualitative findings from a UK pilot of an early intervention programme designed to enhance a mother's relationship with her baby.

An overview of what happens to children following the disclosure or discovery of sexual abuse in the West of Scotland.

An anti-online grooming activity pack, helping keep children and young people safe online.

What works in a service for teenage boys who display harmful sexual behaviour.

Findings from the largest randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a therapeutic service to help children who have been sexually abused.

​What children are telling Childline about the services they receive following sexual abuse.

Research by NSPCC and SCIE to identify from case review practice issues around how professionals in different agencies communicate and make decisions.

Research report into the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people.

Evidence-based proposition for rethinking how we put the health and well-being of young children in care and the quality of their future life outcomes at the heart of decision-making in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Findings from three evidence scopes investigating the relationship between child neglect and other forms of maltreatment. 

An overview of research into child sexual abuse images and approaches to tackling the issue.

What the evidence base can tell us about the online harmful sexual behaviours displayed by children and young people.

Findings from a National Working Group on Safeguarding Disabled Children survey into the effectiveness of local arrangements to safeguard disabled children.

A set of 18 quality markers to help local agencies and reviewers in commissioning and conducting high quality case reviews.

Research on parent’s awareness of issues surrounding sexting, and what information and support they would like to receive.

A guide for anyone who works or volunteers with a child or young person who has been sexually abused.

A story in pictures providing advice for deaf adults to help them find out what what to do when they have child protection concerns about a child.

A story in pictures providing advice for deaf adults to help them find out what they can do when a child is being bullied.

The experiences of young people contacting Childline about bullying in 2015/16​.

Gain an insight into how the care system can be changed to prioritise and achieve good emotional wellbeing and mental health for children care.

Highlights deaf and disabled children’s views and experiences of the child protection system, barriers to protection and how signs of abuse can be better recognised.

Read our investigation into how welfare reform and austerity policies are affecting work with vulnerable families in Scotland.

A leaflet summarising what is known about the clinical presentation of inflicted head and spinal injuries in children.

A leaflet summarising how neglect and emotional abuse affects children aged 5 to 14. Part of the Core info leaflet series.

A leaflet on what is currently known about teenagers’ experiences of neglect and emotional harm. Part of the Core info leaflet series.

A systematic analysis of neglect in serious case reviews in England, between 2003 and 2011.

Explores the different issues to consider when looking at service data, self-report data, trends and comparing statistics across different areas in relation to child abuse.

We provide a summary of the key issues and risks that child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) need to be aware of as well as what best practices CAMHS practitioners should follow.

Highlights the key issues you need to be aware of when engaging with young people and compiles learning from case reviews to help you improve practice around CSE.

We look at lessons from case reviews published since 2010, where culture and faith were highlighted as significant issues. Includes summary of risk factors and learning for improved practice.

A summary of the key issues highlighted when working with d/Deaf and disabled children and how practices can be improved. Includes further reading materials.

Highlight how the education sector can improve safeguarding practice and what key issues they need to be aware of. Learning is taken from case reviews published since 2008.

We've compiled learning from case reviews published since 2010, where HSB was highlighted as a significant issue, to help you improve your practice when responding to the safeguarding implications of HSB.

Lessons from case reviews published since 2013, which have highlighted lessons for health professionals to improve safeguarding practice.

This briefing highlights lessons from case reviews published since 2008, where agencies were unaware of men who posed a risk to the child or who could have protected the child.

Summarises the potential risks posed to babies and children aged two and under in vulnerable families and improving practice to support new parents.

Take a look at what we've learnt looking at case reviews published since 2014, where neglect was a key factor.

A summary of the risk factors and learning identified in published case reviews to help improve police safeguarding practice.

A summary of risk factors and learning for improving practice for reunification and highlights key issues related to children returning home from care.

Use our free online tool to audit your school’s current safeguarding arrangements and meet best safeguarding and child protection practices.