#2026/21Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This law strengthens child protection, care support, and school rules across England. It requires local authorities to offer family decision-making meetings before starting care proceedings in most cases, creates multi-agency child protection teams, and sets clearer duties for sharing safeguarding information. It also expands support for children in kinship care, children in care, and care leavers under 25, including help with housing and homelessness prevention. Schools, local authorities, care providers, childcare agencies, and education bodies will need to update safeguarding, attendance, admissions, inspection, mobile phone, allergy safety, breakfast club, and school uniform practices.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- Local authorities must usually offer family group decision-making before applying for care or supervision orders.
- Safeguarding arrangements must include designated childcare and education agencies, multi-agency child protection teams, and clearer information-sharing duties.
- Support is expanded for children in kinship care and care leavers under 25, including education, housing, homelessness prevention, and staying-close support.
Obligations
What this law requires
Before applying for a care or supervision order in relation to a child, a local authority in England must offer a family group decision-making meeting to the child’s parents or any other person with parental responsibility, unless the authority considers that offering or holding the meeting would not be in the child’s best interests.
If at least one person accepts the offer of a family group decision-making meeting, the local authority must arrange for the meeting to be held before making the care or supervision order application, unless holding the meeting would not be in the child’s best interests.
A local authority must include the offer of a family group decision-making meeting in the letter before proceedings sent to the child’s parents or other persons with parental responsibility.
When exercising family group decision-making functions, a local authority must, so far as reasonably practicable and consistent with the child’s welfare, ascertain the child’s wishes and feelings and give them due consideration according to the child’s age and understanding.
Safeguarding partners for a local authority area must include one or more multi-agency child protection teams in their safeguarding arrangements to support the local authority in discharging its child protection investigation duties under section 47 of the Children Act 1989.