Section 11 2025/26: Topic 2 - Early Help & Prevention
What is Section 11?
Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places duties on a range of organisations and individuals to ensure their functions, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
What Does Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children Mean?
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children means:
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
promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or otherwise their family network through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and where this is in the best interests of the children
taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the outcomes set out in the Children's Social Care National Framework.
What is the Responsibility of Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership?
All organisations have a general duty to promote and safeguard children. Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) is a statutory body that oversees these arrangements and in order to measure the effectiveness of these duties the Partnership has developed standards with indicators which can support a judgement.
What are the responsibilities of agencies to comply with Section 11?
Section 11 places a duty on:
local authorities and district councils that provide children’s and other types of services, including children’s and adult social care services, public health, housing, sport, culture and leisure services, licensing authorities and youth services
NHS organisations and agencies and the independent sector, including NHS England and clinical commissioning groups, NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts and General Practitioners
the police, including police and crime commissioners and the chief officer of each police force in England and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime in London
the British Transport Police
the National Probation Service
Governors/Directors of Prisons and Young Offender Institutions (YOIs)
Directors of Secure Training Centres (STCs)
Principals of Secure Colleges
Youth Offending Teams/Services (YOTs)
Completing and Scoring the Self-assessment The audit consists of a series of questions which relate to specific arrangements, including policies, procedures, managing allegations and training which help safeguard children and young people.
The audit is a self-assessment – questions are based around expected safeguarding arrangements/practices. Agencies should use the questions to identify areas of strength and areas requiring further development in their own service. For example, ‘does your agency have an up to date safeguarding policy?‘ if the agency answers ‘no‘, this would be a self assessment indicator that this area requires further attention.
When agencies have completed their audit, a blank Action Plan template can be downloaded from the WSCP website and populated with any areas requiring further improvement. The WSCP will dip sample audits after each topic, and action plans on an annual basis.
SAVING YOUR AUDIT To keep a copy of your audit, fill in the questions and click the 'email a copy' option before you click 'done'. The WSCP keep copies of every audit, you can request a copy of your audit by contacting Kat Ryan.
To find out more about Section 11, or for help and support follow the link to our website.
