Mandatory child protection training

It’s essential that anyone who works or volunteers with children or young people has the knowledge and skills needed to help keep children safe. But what does that mean in practice?

Statutory guidance sets out the child protection requirements for people working or volunteering with children in the UK.¹ These requirements differ depending on a person’s role and whether they work directly with children or have a specific safeguarding responsibility. There is also separate guidance for people working in sectors such as education, healthcare, early years, childcare and social work.

How often should training be refreshed?

Child protection and safeguarding should be part of your induction process for all new staff and volunteers – whatever the role and responsibilities, and whichever sector you work in.

There is different guidance for how often training should be refreshed, depending on a person’s role, the sector and whether you are in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales. You should follow the guidance from your regulatory body, local authority and UK nation.

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Training requirements

Everyone who works or volunteers with children should understand the role they have in keeping children safe. This includes being able to recognise the signs and indicators of abuse and knowing how to follow their organisation’s safeguarding and child protection procedures.

Our introductory child protection training covers these essential skills, giving learners the basic knowledge they need to keep children and young people safe.

> See our introduction to safeguarding and child protection course

Members of staff or volunteers who have a safeguarding role or responsibility should have training to help them carry out their role. This should cover:

recognising and responding to issues
building a safer organisational culture
safer recruitment
developing or implementing safeguarding policies and procedures
information sharing
local child protection procedures
relevant legislation and guidance.

> See courses for designated, named and lead officers

All staff working in the education sector should receive child protection training to equip them with the knowledge and skills to safeguard pupils attending their school or college. This should be reviewed and updated regularly.

Staff and governors with additional child protection responsibilities should have further training to enable them to fulfil their roles.

> See all our courses for schools and colleges

The Royal Colleges and health professional bodies have published intercollegiate guidance which sets out the knowledge, skills and training requirements for healthcare staff in the UK.

> See our courses for health professionals

Childminders and staff working in day care and early years care should have appropriate training in child protection and know what to do if they have a concern.

> See our courses for early years

Social workers in the UK must be registered with the relevant regulator. In order to register, social workers must have a social work degree and meet the regulator's standards.

> See our advanced training courses

Choosing the right training

It’s important that all staff and volunteers undertake training that is matched to their needs and requirements. For basic understanding this could be provided informally – but you should ensure that all of the skills and knowledge needed are covered.

> Find out more about different safeguarding levels and what they mean

We provide a range of courses from the basic and introductory to more specialist and advanced skills. All of our training is developed by experts and is regularly updated to follow the latest guidance and legislation.

And we offer training through elearning, virtual live events and face-to-face sessions so you can find a method that suits you.

Depending on your role, you may also want to undertake additional learning and development by attending conferences and child protection events.

“I am very pleased that I chose NSPCC… Very useful and eye-opening information delivered. This was one of the best courses.”

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What is CPD and is it important?

CPD stands for continuing professional development and it refers to the ongoing training that professionals undertake to keep their skills and knowledge up to date. As with mandatory training requirements, different sectors have different requirements for CPD - although increasingly professionals are carrying out CPD voluntarily. Doing CPD helps make sure you have the latest insight and are aware of current best practice, and demonstrates your commitment to your profession.

All of our courses on NSPCC Learning are CPD certified, which means you can be confident you're receiving the very highest standards of training.

Expert training that you can trust

As UK's experts on safeguarding and child protection, we understand the issues organisations and people working with children can face.

That’s why professionals trust us to provide the support, training and resources they need to help protect the children and young people they work with. In fact, 98% of our customers would recommend NSPCC training.²

Our highly-rated training courses are clear, easy-to-use, up-to-date and in line with the latest statutory guidance. And we provide elearning, virtual live training and face-to-face courses so you can choose the learning style that best meets your needs.

> Browse all safeguarding and child protection courses

Want to know more?

Our customer services team would be happy to help answer your questions about our courses or provide further information.

Call us on 0116 234 7246 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm or email your query to learning@nspcc.org.uk.

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From introductory courses to specialist subjects, our range of online training is expertly designed to support you in protecting children and young people.

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