Updated Working Together to Safeguard Children for 2026

The Government has recently published the updated Working Together to Safeguarding Children 2026 Statutory Guidance and a revised Children's Social Care National Framework. This is a significant development for those working across and with safeguarding partnerships. The updated guidance strengthens how agencies work together to safeguard all children, applies to all children, including those in care or kinship arrangements and also unborn babies.

What’s new?

  • Clearer multi-agency responsibilities for information sharing and joint decision making.
  • Stronger child centred, whole family practice.
  • Enhanced guidance for schools, early years, colleges, voluntary, community, and social enterprise groups and sports settings.
  • Updated national child protection standards for protection, assessment and decision making.
  • Tougher annual reporting requirements.

Additional priorities

  • Anti-discriminatory practice.
  • A seamless family help offer combining early help and section 17.
  • Improved responses to domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, infant abuse, honour based harms, online harms, and exploitation.

What happens now
Oldham Safeguarding Children Partnership (OSCP) will need to review the current governance, processes, and local protocols to ensure alignment with the Working Together 2026 framework. You can access a summary briefing explaining what is new and what it means for the partnership.

OSAB 7-minute briefing: supporting people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus

Following briefings about Learning Disabilities and Learning Difficulties and Learning Disabilities: Communication and Behaviours that Challenge, Oldham Safeguarding Adults Board (OSAB) are pleased to share the next 7-Minute Briefing in a series focused on supporting people with a range of access needs. The new briefing is all about supporting people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus.

The briefing defines deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus; explains the importance of providing support including ensuring effective communication and accessible environments; and provides some safeguarding considerations and details about where further information and support can be obtained for people.

7-Minute Briefings are based on research which suggests that seven minutes is an ideal time span in which to concentrate and learn. Learning for 7 minutes is manageable in most services and often more memorable as it is necessarily brief and not clouded by other issues and pressures. These short, safeguarding snapshots can be a helpful way to support team learning. Please discuss this briefing within your teams, complete the OSAB 7-Minute Briefing Team Discussion Feedback Form to record and evidence how you have used the briefing and send a copy to OSAB.

Strengthening professional practice - children sexual abuse in the family environment

OSCP recently conducted a multi-agency case evaluation using the Joint Targeted Area Inspections (JTAI) model, reviewing six cases to strengthen practice, and ensuring Oldham are prepared for any joint JTAIs. The current national theme focuses on Child Sexual Abuse in the Family Environment, and the JTAI Framework is available online on the government website.

Findings from Oldham’s December 2025 mock JTAI are now published in a thematic report, along with an accompanying PowerPoint and practitioner reflective tool. All materials are available on the OSCP website for use in team meetings and learning sessions. Partners are also encouraged to access and promote child sexual abuse (CSA) training from the CSA centre, with links provided on the OSCP website

Last chance to complete the OSAB workforce confidence survey 2026
OSAB want to hear from YOU!

OSAB are keen to hear from frontline staff and operational managers across statutory and wider partners who work with adults at risk. This is an opportunity for you to have your say on adult safeguarding in Oldham.

The survey will close very soon. It is anonymous so please try to be honest about how you feel, rather than how you think you should feel. OSAB want to hear from you whether you completed the 2025 survey or not.

The anonymous results will be shared with the OSAB membership and used to inform its priorities and work, particularly when developing multi-agency practitioner resources and training.

There are only a handful of multiple-choice questions. Completing the survey should therefore only take a couple of minutes.

OSAB encourage each member of staff to respond for themselves however if you would like to discuss and/or complete the survey with your team then please feel free.

Complete the OSAB Workforce Confidence Survey

Stop the bleed

Staff from community-based services working with children and young people across Oldham recently took part in Stop the Bleed training, delivered by Greater Manchester Police in partnership with OSCP. The initiative supports the partnership’s priorities around tackling Serious Youth Violence and aims to equip professionals with the knowledge and confidence to respond in emergency situations. Participants were highly engaged throughout the training and reported feeling more confident in using the life-saving techniques themselves, as well as in delivering Stop the Bleed sessions to the children and young people who attend their settings. As a result, more young people will be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to provide urgent treatment to someone suffering severe blood loss, helping them act quickly and potentially save lives.

Stop the Bleed Day is a national initiative which is happening on 29 April 2026. For more information visit the Stop the Bleed Day website

If you are interested in any future Stop the Bleed training offered by OSCP, please email your expression of interest to: OSCP.group@oldham.gov.uk

New resources package: exploring domestic abuse through lived experience

In November, OSAB and OSCP supported Made by Mortals to deliver Walking on Eggshells: Ending Male Violence Against Women, an immersive learning conference on White Ribbon Day. The day brought together people from across safeguarding, health, education, social care and the voluntary sector to explore creative, person-centred ways of understanding and responding to domestic abuse and domestic violence.

Rather than a traditional conference, participants experienced co-created audio stories, a short film, music, and guided reflection, all shaped by lived experience. Together, these resources opened up honest conversations about coercive control, the impact of domestic abuse on children, so-called honour-based abuse and violence, and the emotional toll this work can take on practitioners.

You can sign up to the Members Area of the Made by Mortals website to access all of these resources, along with a report capturing the learning and impact from the day. This complete learning package is for organisations and groups to use in training, reflection and organisational development. 

New OSCP resource: understanding attachment – why it matters

OSCP is pleased to share a new resource developed in collaboration with Oldham CAMHS: a short explainer video and an accompanying PowerPoint presentation on “What Is Attachment and Why It Is Important?” 

Attachment is a fundamental aspect of child development, shaping how a child learns, trusts others, copes with stress, builds relationships, and seeks help. Strengthening our understanding of attachment supports the delivery of responsive, trauma informed practice across all services.

Please feel free to share these resources widely across your teams and networks. They are suitable for practitioners at all levels and can be used in team meetings or as part of individual continuing professional development.

Working together to protect our most vulnerable from radicalisation and extremist grooming

OSARN is Oldham’s multi agency network bringing together professionals who work with young people, vulnerable adults, and individuals who may be susceptible to radicalisation. The network strengthens Oldham’s safeguarding approach by improving awareness, confidence, and capability across all sectors.

Please join OSARN via Oldham's Safeguarding Against Radicalisation Network (OSARN) - Membership Sign Up Form or QR code above.

The Aim
To build a strong, informed, and confident workforce that can identify radicalisation early, intervene effectively, and protect those vulnerable and susceptible to radicalisation in Oldham’s safe and safeguarded.

What OSARN Does 

  • Builds a shared understanding of radicalisation as a form of grooming and exploitation
  • Upskills professionals to recognise early warning signs
  • Strengthens joint working between statutory services, schools, health, police and the VCFSE sector
  • Ensures Oldham stays ahead of emerging risks, trends, and online influences
  • Creates a coordinated safeguarding response across the borough

What You Gain by Joining OSARN 

  • Monthly CPD sessions covering topics such as Hate Crime; Cultural Awareness & Diversity; Misogyny; Misinformation & Disinformation; AI & Extremist Use of Technology; Online Radicalisation & Gaming; Incels; Extreme Right Wing; Islamist Extremism; and Left Wing, Anarchist and Single Issue Terrorism
  • Monthly safeguarding bulletins, guidance, and updates
  • Access to Prevent training opportunities
  • An annual OSARN event celebrating best practice and partnership work
  • Drop In Sessions
  • Quarterly Meetings

Why OSARN matters 

  • Radicalisation is an exploitation risk just like any other form such as CSE, CCE, Modern Day Slavery etc
  • Early identification prevents harm and protects the vulnerable
  • Multi-agency collaboration creates a safer Oldham
  • Partners share intelligence, learning, and best practice
  • Ensures safeguarding is consistent across all sectors, including frontline VCFSE organisations who work with those at highest risk