Response to Department for Education's consultation on the Child Protection Authority

3 March 2026

As the specialist regulator for social workers in England, we share a common goal with those we regulate – to protect the public, enable positive change and improve people’s lives. We support the government’s determination to bring positive change to the oversight of child protection in England and welcome any work which will address harm and work towards a system that is proactive rather than reactive. We also recognise that
opportunities to share good practice, embed learning from reviews and ensure tracking of recommendations and outcomes are required to bring about lasting change.

The role of the social worker is central to child protection planning and the delivery of effective intervention and support. Our regulatory standards and requirements recognise the importance of ensuring that social workers are prepared for safe and effective practice. Therefore, we welcome the opportunity to comment on the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) consultation on the establishment of ‘The Child Protection Authority’ (CPA).

Consultation feedback

We have not responded to the individual survey questions and instead have provided feedback on each of the themes highlighted within the consultation document.

Functions and vision

The core functions of the CPA are clearly articulated, and it is possible to see how a body with national oversight and the ability to inform and monitor practice could achieve positive outcomes. We agree that there needs to be a joined up approach to tackling the recommendations from various inquiries and research, alongside more effective horizon scanning for emerging themes or trends in practice.

We have valued the work of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (‘the Panel’) and maintained a positive relationship with members to inform our own work. We note that the CPA intends to ‘build on and absorb’ the role of the Panel, though it is not clear in the consultation whether the panel will continue to exist or how it will maintain its independence.

Leadership and oversight

We recognise the value in establishing a central body to lead, monitor and support improvements within the child protection system as recommended through the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and are pleased to see reference to recommendations from other significant reviews being considered.

We note that the consultation document highlights that the CPA will ‘support inspectorates and regulatory bodies’ and report on recommendations to ‘inform regulatory activity’. We value taking a collaborative approach to our work and would welcome opportunities to engage with the CPA, particularly where this allows us to work with other organisations to triangulate and act upon emerging themes and issues. As work progresses, it will be essential for us to understand the proposed relationship between the CPA and Social Work England and the information that may be shared between the two organisations to support regulatory activity. We also note that the consultation states that this work will not impact the independence of inspectorates and regulators and will be eager to understand how this will be ensured.

We welcome the focus on high quality horizon scanning and the analysis of data and research to support future priorities. This aligns with our own regulatory ambitions as we further develop our data and research functions as an organisation. We would welcome the opportunity to share learning with the CPA as it evolves.

System and learning support

We note that the consultation references the CPA’s intention to influence the development and review of the new social work professional development model and post qualifying standards, particularly those relating to child protection. The consultation document does not specify what is included within the new social work professional development and we would welcome clarity on this. If this includes the work of the DfE in relation to Early Career Standards (ECS) and the Lead Child Protection Practitioner (LCPP) role, we are also working with the DfE to inform and influence the different strands of the model. We are considering how we might support the development and delivery of the model through our own regulatory levers such as continuing professional development (CPD) requirements, annotation and education quality assurance.

We believe that children and families social workers will value the ability to access specialist evidence resources to support their professional development. It is positive to see that such resources will be accessed via an online learning platform and adapted to meet diverse local needs. As part of our developing work around CPD we have an interest in understanding what resources are available to social workers to support them to meet our CPD requirements, and would welcome engagement with the CPA to better understand this aspect of its remit.

We have worked closely with colleagues in the DfE in relation to the development of the ECS for children and family social workers, ensuring these are aligned to our Knowledge, Skills and Behaviour statements (KSBs). The KSBs provide detail to on what we expect should be included within the curriculum of social work courses to enable students to develop the required behaviour, skills and knowledge to meet the professional standards. Therefore it is essential that post qualifying frameworks are aligned to the KSBs to ensure they build upon the foundations of learning within the pre-qualifying landscape.

We note the language used about and within these standards is not yet consistent across a range of proposals and would encourage this to be addressed to avoid sector confusion. It will also be important for us to maintain a close working relationship at any of the key review points of the standards referenced within the consultation document, to promote a positive transition to practice for early career social workers.

As part of the CPA’s ambitions in relation to workforce influence, we also note an ambition for the authority to collaborate with regulators and professional bodies to ‘shape training standards and promote consistency across the sector’. Our education and training standards mean that all students who complete a social work course can meet our professional standards and can apply to be registered with us. The recent development of our KSBs seeks to strengthen consistency in how course curriculums are preparing students to meet the professional standards and begin their social work practice. We also set standards for specialist approved mental health practitioner (AMHP) and best interests assessor (BIA) courses.

Both our standards and KSBs were developed in partnership with the sector and reflect the entirety of social work practice, aligned to our role as regulator for the whole profession. We recognise that the scale of reform for children’s social care means that work is progressing at pace. We stand ready to work closely with the DfE and DHSC to consider how to support all social workers in their careers and overcome any unintended consequences, including a perceived split in the profession. Our insight could also support the DfE and DHSC in ensuring that key transition points between children and adult social work services and the needs of children and young people with additional needs, are considered within policy proposals and the development of new guidance and frameworks.

System improvement

We support the ambition for the CPA to play a central role in driving system improvement for children’s safeguarding at a local level through an intelligence led and collaborative approach. We also agree that it is important to ensure that there are processes in place to tackle practice which demonstrates persistent and serious failings, even after significant intervention and improvement.

We note the intention to share information with inspectorates and regulators to focus on driving improvements and see an opportunity to use such information to compare with our own regulatory findings or to shape our own research and engagement. We recognise that the CPA does not intend to duplicate the role of inspectorates or regulators and recognises the need for independence to be maintained. We would therefore welcome the opportunity to work with the CPA to develop mutually beneficial information sharing agreements, or equivalent, and agree expected actions or outcomes when such information is shared.

Structure and engagement with other organisations

We agree with proposals ensuring that the CPA has access to multi-agency and multidisciplinary child protection experts, analysts and practitioners. We also support the commitment to co-production between the CPA and the wider sector. As the regulator for all social workers in England, we believe in the power of collaboration and recognise the importance of giving people who are affected by our work the opportunity to participate in and influence what we do. We have continued to develop our approach to co-production and have established networks such as the National Advisory Forum and Education and Training Advisory Forum who routinely support and influence our work. We would welcome the opportunity to engage with the CPA, using the expertise of our staff and wider networks where appropriate.

I hope the DfE finds this feedback helpful.

Yours sincerely

Colum Conway

Chief Eexcutive