What is safeguarding? What it means for children and adults

What safeguarding means for children

In England, Working together to safeguard children 2026 and Keeping children safe in education 2026 define safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children as:

• providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
• protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
• preventing impairment of children's mental and physical health or development
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

"Children" means everyone under 18. Keeping children safe in education says safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children "is everyone's responsibility".

What safeguarding means for adults

The Care and support statutory guidance says: "Safeguarding means protecting an adult's right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect." It is about people and organisations working together to prevent and stop abuse or neglect, while promoting the adult's wellbeing and having regard to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs.

The adult safeguarding duties in the Care Act 2014 apply to an adult who:

• has needs for care and support, whether or not the local authority is meeting them
• is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect
• as a result of those needs, is unable to protect themselves from abuse or neglect or the risk of it

The types of abuse safeguarding covers

The adult guidance lists ten types of abuse and neglect, and says the list is not exhaustive:

• physical abuse
• domestic violence
• sexual abuse
• psychological abuse
• financial or material abuse
• modern slavery
• discriminatory abuse
• organisational abuse
• neglect and acts of omission
• self-neglect

For children, GOV.UK says child abuse includes physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and neglect. Working together also describes harm outside the home, such as exploitation and online harm, as extra-familial harm.

How common safeguarding concerns are

Councils in England recorded an estimated 640,240 adult safeguarding concerns in the year to 31 March 2025, and 185,270 enquiries under section 42 of the Care Act. In enquiries that concluded that year, the most common type of risk was neglect and acts of omission (40.8%), and the most common place was the person's own home (51.9%).

Safeguarding and child protection

Working together defines child protection as part of safeguarding: activity to protect specific children who are suspected to be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, inside or outside the home and online. Safeguarding is wider and starts earlier, with help as soon as a problem emerges. Our guide to safeguarding and child protection training explains which training covers which.

Who is responsible for safeguarding

Everyone who works with children or adults at risk must recognise and report concerns. Organisations name a lead: every school and college should have a designated safeguarding lead. For adults, the local authority leads and must make enquiries, or cause others to, when it suspects an adult at risk is being abused or neglected. For children, the local authority, the integrated care board and the police are the three statutory safeguarding partners in each area.

Scotland and Wales

These definitions come from guidance for England. Scotland has the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 and Wales has the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, each with its own guidance.

What safeguarding training costs

Here is what each provider showed on its own course page on 21 October 2026. Rival prices are as a buyer pays them.

Training

The Lift College Safeguarding Adults and Children Training course is 4 hours in 6 modules, for anyone who meets children or adults at work, with a CPD Standards Office accredited certificate the same day you pass. Staff who work mainly with adults can take Safeguarding Adults Level 2, and staff who work mainly with children can take Safeguarding Children Level 2.