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 UK1. 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.
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.
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:
There is specific guidance for people working in the education, healthcare, early years and childcare and social work sectors.
Education
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
Healthcare
The Royal Colleges and health professional bodies have published intercollegiate guidance2 which sets out the knowledge, skills and training requirements for healthcare staff in the UK.
> See our Safeguarding for health professionals level 4 course
Early years and childcare
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.
Social work
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.
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.
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.
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.
> See our full range of training courses
References
NSPCC Learning Child protection system in the UK
Increase your confidence in identifying and responding to possible signs of child abuse and neglect with our introductory online, live virtual and face-to-face training courses.
From £30 to £245
Are you aware of how children use the internet? Take our e-safety training to help you keep the children and young people you work with safe online.
£30 per person
Develop or refresh your awareness and understanding of child protection with our elearning courses for primary and secondary schools.
£30 per person
Develop your confidence in protecting children and young people in your school with our DSL core and advanced training courses. Available as face-to-face or virtual.
From £450 per person
New to a designated child protection role? Attend our face-to-face training course and gain the skills you need to protect the children you work with. Also available as live virtual training.
£310 per person
Develop the safeguarding skills, knowledge and competencies required for Level 4 healthcare professionals.
from £450 per person
Training to safely recruit the right staff and volunteers to ensure they are safe to work with children and young people. Available as virtual training.
From £35 to £225
New to a safeguarding supervisory role? This course will improve your supervision skills, so you can protect children and support staff with safeguarding concerns.
From £1125 per person
