National LADO Network Response to the Improving Help and Child Protection Framework Consultation

Introduction

The National LADO Network (NLN) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Department for Education’s Improving Help and Child Protection Framework consultation.

The NLN supports the ambition to strengthen child protection practice, improve multi-agency working, and provide greater consistency within safeguarding arrangements. We welcome efforts to enhance statutory guidance and ensure that vulnerable children receive effective and coordinated safeguarding responses.

However, members of the National LADO Network have identified several important considerations regarding the future role of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) function, the proposed Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs), and the management of allegations and safeguarding concerns relating to adults working with children. The views set out below are informed by discussions involving LADOs from across England and reflect substantial operational experience in safeguarding practice.

1. The Future Purpose of the LADO Function

The NLN supports greater consistency, clarity and national understanding of the LADO role. However, we strongly caution against any reforms that inadvertently narrow the scope of the function.

Members consistently emphasised that the strength of the LADO role lies not only in responding to allegations where harm has occurred, but in its preventative safeguarding function. The LADO role provides:

  • Independent safeguarding oversight.
  • Professional challenge and scrutiny.
  • Advice and guidance to employers and safeguarding partners.
  • Workforce safeguarding expertise.
  • Identification of patterns, trends and emerging concerns.
  • Early intervention where concerns indicate future risk.

The Network believes that any revised framework should preserve these functions and avoid creating a model that is solely harm-based or incident-driven. Effective safeguarding frequently depends upon recognising risk before significant harm occurs.

2. Harm, Risk, Suitability and Prevention

A recurring theme across the discussion was the distinction between actual harm, future risk and suitability.

Many cases managed by LADOs involve concerns relating to:

  • Professional boundaries.
  • Grooming or inappropriate conduct.
  • Suitability to work with children.
  • Transferable risk.
  • Criminal behaviour outside work.
  • Behaviour that may indicate escalating risk.
  • Concerns that do not fit neatly within traditional allegations thresholds.

The NLN strongly recommends that future statutory guidance explicitly recognises that allegations management must consider both actual harm and potential risk to children. Restricting intervention to situations where harm has already occurred would weaken safeguarding protections and undermine opportunities for early intervention.

Professional judgement remains essential and should be preserved within any future framework.

3. Transferable Risk, Risk by Association and the Fourth Criteria

The consultation provides an important opportunity to strengthen guidance in one of the most challenging areas of LADO practice.

The NLN recommends that revised statutory guidance should contain explicit sections addressing:

  • Transferable risk.
  • Risk by association.
  • Suitability assessments.
  • Conduct occurring outside the workplace.
  • Domestic abuse concerns.
  • Criminal investigations and convictions.
  • The “fourth criteria” and concerns falling outside traditional allegation categories.

These areas represent a significant proportion of complex safeguarding work undertaken by LADOs. Clear national guidance would support consistency and improve decision-making across agencies.

4. Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs)

The NLN supports efforts to improve multi-agency responses to children who experience significant harm, including children looked after.

However, members identified a number of operational questions that require further clarification, including:

  • Governance arrangements.
  • Accountability and decision-making responsibilities.
  • The relationship between child protection processes and looked after children processes.
  • Cross-boundary arrangements where children are placed outside their home authority.
  • The interface between MACPTs and existing allegations management processes.

The Network supports the principle of streamlined decision-making but considers that further detail is required to ensure roles and responsibilities are clear and that new arrangements do not create duplication or gaps in safeguarding oversight.

5. Foster Carers and Independent Oversight

The NLN recognises the unique position occupied by foster carers and welcomes ongoing consideration of how allegations concerning foster carers should be managed.

However, there was overwhelming support amongst LADOs for retaining independent safeguarding oversight in relation to foster carers.

Children in care are frequently amongst the most vulnerable children within the safeguarding system. Many have experienced trauma, instability and disrupted attachments. Independent scrutiny provides an important safeguard and helps ensure that children’s experiences are fully considered.

The Network therefore recommends that revised arrangements continue to provide for independent oversight of safeguarding concerns involving foster carers and avoid excessive reliance on internal fostering processes.

6. Standards of Care and Allegations Management

NLN members acknowledge the importance of distinguishing between standards of care concerns and safeguarding allegations.

However, practitioners consistently reported that concerns often evolve as information emerges. Matters initially viewed as standards of care issues may reveal safeguarding concerns when considered cumulatively or through the child’s experience.

The Network therefore recommends that future guidance includes:

  • Clear definitions.
  • Worked practice examples.
  • Decision-making frameworks.
  • Threshold guidance.
  • Expectations regarding professional consultation and oversight.

Such guidance would promote consistency whilst preserving opportunities for early safeguarding intervention.

7. Quality Assurance, Escalation and the Authority of the LADO Role

The NLN welcomes discussion regarding strengthening the authority of the LADO function.

Members reported situations where employer conclusions appeared inconsistent with the available safeguarding evidence. While employment decisions should remain the responsibility of employers, safeguarding systems require effective mechanisms for challenge where outcomes do not adequately address risk.

The Network recommends:

  • Stronger escalation pathways.
  • Clear routes for challenge.
  • Greater clarity regarding regulatory involvement.
  • Strengthened quality assurance expectations.
  • Recognition of the LADO’s role in ensuring investigations remain child-focused and evidence-based.

8. Agency Workers, Direct Payments and Non-Traditional Employment Arrangements

The NLN strongly supports further development of guidance relating to:

  • Direct payment arrangements.
  • Self-employed professionals.
  • Sole traders.
  • Volunteers.
  • Agency workers.
  • Organisations without clear management structures.

These arrangements create significant uncertainty regarding accountability, investigative responsibility and safeguarding oversight.

The consultation presents an opportunity to provide clearer expectations and nationally consistent practice standards.

Conclusion

The National LADO Network supports the consultation’s objective of improving child protection arrangements, increasing consistency and strengthening statutory guidance.

However, the Network strongly believes that future reforms must:

  • Preserve the preventative safeguarding function of the LADO role.
  • Recognise risk and suitability concerns alongside actual harm.
  • Strengthen guidance on transferable risk, risk by association and the fourth criteria.
  • Maintain independent scrutiny, particularly in relation to foster carers.
  • Strengthen escalation and quality assurance mechanisms.
  • Clarify responsibilities in increasingly complex workforce arrangements.

The NLN welcomes continued engagement with the Department for Education and would welcome further opportunities to contribute practitioner expertise to the development of both the final framework and accompanying statutory guidance.

This response reflects the collective views expressed by LADOs during discussions with the Department for Education and highlights the importance of maintaining a robust, preventative and independently scrutinised safeguarding system for children.