Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 11 December 2025.

Plans for a new Child Protection Authority unveiled as part of government strategy to protect children from predators and abuse.

Reforms to protect children from abuse will be significantly strengthened through the creation of a new Child Protection Authority, tasked with identifying emerging threats and driving accountability across the system. 

The proposals for a new public body will strengthen England’s child protection system by providing national oversight, ensuring that vulnerable children are not failed by the authorities who are supposed to protect them.  

At present, intelligence on harms can be fragmented, data analysis patchy, and lessons from serious cases slow to translate into practice. The Child Protection Authority will address these issues head on by providing strong leadership to ensure good child protection practice is embedded consistently across local areas. 

Safeguarding failures allowed grooming gangs to operate in many towns and cities and led to horrifying cases like that of Sara Sharif, and the Child Protection Authority will tackle these underlying systemic issues – delivering on a key recommendation from the Casey Audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. 

It comes alongside a broad package of measures being introduced through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which will ensure that agencies responsible for looking after children are working together closely and sharing relevant information, to get frontline expertise to where it’s needed and ensure no child falls through the cracks.  

It also sits alongside the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs announced by the Home Secretary this week. Chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield, the inquiry will examine the actions of the police, councils, social services and other agencies, both locally and nationally, making sure any wrongdoing or cover-ups are brought to light and holding those responsible to account – backed by £65 million of funding.  

The Child Protection Authority delivers on a key recommendation from IICSA’s report and problems identified by the Casey Audit into group-based child sexual exploitation.  

It will help protect children from harms including sexual exploitation and abuse, domestic violence, trafficking, organised crime, and other complex risks. 

Minister for Children and Families, Josh MacAlister said:  

Every child deserves to grow up safe, and we owe it to victims and survivors to confront the problems that have allowed abuse and exploitation to go unchecked.  

The creation of a Child Protection Authority is a key part of our response to the massive failings which have been exposed by the grooming gangs scandal and by horrifying child protection cases like that of Sara Sharif. 

The government is taking broad action to build a more expert, decisive and focused child protection system, and this consultation is vital as we step up protections for children, and we want to hear from practitioners, experts, families and survivors to make sure we get this right.

Alexis Jay, author of the IICSA report, said: 

I am pleased to see the publication of this consultation on the establishment of the Child Protection Authority. 

These proposals are a positive step in the implementation of the second recommendation in my final report and reflect detailed discussions with ministers and officials. I look forward to continuing to work with the department in the design of this new national body to help keep children safe. 

I would encourage anyone with an interest in child protection to respond.  

Sir David Holmes CBE, Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel chair, said:

Every child deserves to grow up safe from harm, abuse, and neglect. The Panel’s work is driven by this principle. That’s why we support the Government’s decision to establish a Child Protection Authority in England — a significant step forward in creating a clearer, more unified child protection system.

The Child Protection Authority will absorb and build on the foundations laid by our Panel, ensuring that national learning from serious incidents translates into practical improvements that frontline professionals can implement. This is an opportunity to deliver a system that is even more evidence-based, collaborative, and focused on outcomes for children. We will work closely with government, safeguarding partners, and practitioners to shape this new authority and ensure it reflects the voices of those who work tirelessly to protect children every day.

We urge everyone who works with children to respond to the consultation so together we can build a system that puts children first.

The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, said:

We welcome the government’s progress in implementing IICSA’s recommendations and, if carefully designed and implemented, the new Child Protection Authority will play a key role in this, supported by specialist bodies such as the CSA Centre.

The number of children supported through a child protection plan due to concerns of child sexual abuse has fallen from 25% to an all-time low of 3.5% in the last 30 years, so today’s publication of new, more detailed data, is a welcome first step in better understanding the reasons for that startling decline.

Better data and analysis will also enhance the CSA Centre’s implementation of evidence-based resources into practice, including our Response Pathway, with initiatives such as our practice leads programme, so we can support professionals to better identify and respond to concerns of child sexual abuse.

Catherine Worboyes, Interim Director of Children and Adult Social Care Pathfinders at Redbridge Local Authority, said:

It has felt like a long time coming, but I’m really pleased that we’re putting one of the main IICSA recommendations into practice by setting up a Child Protection Authority (CPA). As a practice leader, I genuinely believe it is going to make a difference, bringing together the fantastic learning across the multi-agency partners and consistently embedding it across a national system.

In the past learning has not always led to improvements, with a child protection system which has lacked national authority. The CPA is an opportunity to enhance accountability, authority and system development, through better understanding of child led data to prevent emerging risks.

Alongside this, the government is also strengthening child protection through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.  

This includes mandatory sharing of relevant information between public authorities and introducing laws to allow the creation of a Single Unique Identifier to help link data across safeguarding agencies.  

Elsewhere, mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse was introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill on 25 February 2025, and the child safety duties under the Online Safety Act 2023 commenced in July 2025. 

The consultation is proposing that the new body will have powers to hold organisations including safeguarding partners to account on child protection. This will involve working closely with inspectorates and partners such as healthcare professionals, social workers and the police to improve practice. Frontline enforcement in criminal cases will remain with the police.  

The government is consulting on the powers the Child Protection Authority should have, as well its organisational model and governance structure, shaped by feedback from the sector. The Establishing a Child Protection Authority consultation will run for 12 weeks.

The Department for Education is also publishing new analysis and data on child sexual abuse and exploitation in response to a recommendation in Baroness Casey’s Audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, recognising that transparency is essential in maintaining accountability. 

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 11 December 2025.

Around 50,000 specialist places to be created nationwide – making sure more children with SEND can thrive alongside their friends at their local school.

Children with SEND will benefit from a brilliant education close to home as the government announces at least £3 billion to create tens of thousands of new specialist places in mainstream schools.

The Education Secretary has today (11 December 2025) announced a transformational expansion of specialist, calm learning spaces in mainstream schools, equipped with facilities to support children with special educational needs and disabilities, following the launch of the largest national conversation on SEND in a generation.

It will mean young people won’t have to travel miles from home to have their needs met, and can instead get support in tailor-made spaces with the right facilities while also mixing with other classes for subjects or parts of the day that are appropriate for them. 

For too long, children with SEND have been forgotten, with families forced to fight for the support they deserve and a school place that meets their needs. At least 180,000 pupils with SEND currently receive transport to school – journeys that for many are longer than 3 miles, and for 9% are in single occupancy vehicles such as taxis. 

In addition, the government has confirmed it will deliver on all 10,000 places – in all areas – due to be created by planned special free schools. It will do this either by building the planned schools, or by giving local authorities the funding to create the equivalent number of specialist places themselves – often more quickly than through free school projects.  This is on top of the tens of thousands of places created through the new £3 billion investment.

Today’s announcement will lay the groundwork for significant future reform of the SEND support system – helping to make schools inclusive by design, so every child, in every corner of the country can have their needs met where they live.  We will set out more details in the Schools White Paper and subsequent allocation of funding on how this investment will support pupils in mainstream settings, as well as how we will ensure specialist places in mainstream become a core part of the local school offer in all parts of the country.  

Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: 

A child’s background should not determine where they end up. Education is the route to opportunity, and opportunity should be for every child, regardless of their individual needs and circumstances.

For too many families, the reality has been very different, but this government will fix the broken education system for children and young people with SEND by making sure that their local school is also the right school. Ahead our reforms next year, we’re laying the foundations of a new system that shifts children with SEND from forgotten to included and earns the confidence of parents. 

This £3 billion investment will transform lives. It will open the door to opportunity for tens of thousands of children with SEND, giving them the chance to learn, belong and succeed in their local community. This is how we build an education system that works for every child.

Today’s cash boost – which will see 2026 to 2027 allocations issued in spring – builds on the £740 million already invested to create over 10,000 specialist places.  

It will help create calming spaces, supporting children with needs such as autism or ADHD who may feel overstimulated by busy school environments, as well as breakout spaces for children who need more support – giving children the helping hand they need to access mainstream education.  

Anna Heaton, Executive Principal and Trust Lead for Secondary SEND and Inclusion:  

At Delta Academies Trust, inclusion means doing all we can to break down barriers to learning, enabling all our learners to participate and achieve together. 

Our resourced provision units provide a bridge back to learning for our most vulnerable learners and help us ensure pupils access the support they need to fulfil their potential. This results in greatly improved attendance and engagement in learning, but the benefits for our pupils and their families go far beyond this in terms of improving mental health and wellbeing.   

One family told us that the resourced provision unit had transformed their child from one who didn’t want to do anything and couldn’t see a future, into someone who wants to learn and wants to talk about what they will do next.

The government is also today confirming the outcome of its review of mainstream free schools. To prioritise the investment in specialist places being announced today, a number of mainstream free school projects will not go ahead, reflecting the government’s commitment to putting school places where they’re needed most, now and in the future.   

The number of primary school pupils has been falling since 2019, with the number of secondary school pupils due to begin falling from next year. Meanwhile, the number of young people with SEND has risen to at least 1.7 million – an increase of 400,000 pupils since 2020.  

Those projects that will continue are those that meet the needs of communities, responding to demographic and housing demand without creating surplus places. New schools that provide a unique offer for students who would otherwise not get it, without damaging the viability of existing local schools and colleges, will also be supported. 

The capital investment is part of the government’s £38 billion investment in the education estate from 2025 to 2026 to 2029 to 2030, which also includes funding for the expansion of the School rebuilding programme – driving up the standards of classrooms across the country. The government has confirmed today that applications for the further 250 rebuilding projects will open in the new year and that those schools with the most severe need will be prioritised to ensure every child can achieve and thrive.  

Today’s announcement is a pivotal step to improving the life chances of children with SEND across the country, but the work will not, and cannot, stop here.  

Full plans to improve the SEND system will be set out through the Schools White Paper early in the new year.