On 1st September, the latest version of ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) from the DfE came into force. ️Every year, updates are made to the statutory guidance on safeguarding children and safer recruitment for schools and colleges.
Whilst changes to KCSIE for 2024 might be minimal, it’s vital that all school staff understand how it impacts their roles and responsibilities. To get you started, we’ve highlighted three key updates to this year’s version of KCSIE. Plus, how you can have peace of mind that your school or college is compliant with the guidance.
The full version of KCSIE 2024 can be read by clicking the button below.
1. Revised definition of ‘safeguarding’
One of the most notable changes to the guidance is how ‘safeguarding’ is defined. KCSIE 2024:
- Emphasises the importance of early intervention, stating safeguarding should provide ‘help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge’
- Highlights that children should be protected from ‘maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online’
- Promotes staff ‘taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes’
2. Updates to the term ‘deliberately missing education’
In ‘Part one: Safeguarding information for all staff’ which sets out what school and college staff should know and do, there’s been an important replacement in paragraph 29, ‘Safeguarding issues’.
KCSIE 2024 states ‘All staff should have an awareness of safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm. Behaviours linked to issues such as drug taking and/or alcohol misuse, unexplainable and/or persistent absences from education, serious violence (including that linked to county lines), radicalisation and consensual and non-consensual sharing of nude and semi-nude images and/or videos can be signs that children are at risk.’
The phrase ‘unexplainable and/or persistent absences from education’ has replaced ‘deliberately missing education’, lessening the bias around absence always being a deliberate act. Whilst the change appears minor, its implications are far from it. By removing any assumption around student absences, staff know to take an open-minded approach – one that considers all the signs which outline that a child may be at risk of harm.
3. The use of ‘exploitation’ across the statutory document
From paragraph 19 onwards, ‘exploitation’ is used alongside ‘abuse and neglect’. The nature of abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation means they’re rarely standalone events and have a tendency to overlap. This additional wording encourages staff to be on the lookout for indicators of all three behaviours, supporting the update that children can be at risk of harm both inside and outside of the school/college and home, as well as online.
Is your school compliant with KCSIE 2024?
It’s mandatory that all school and college staff have read and understood the changes to KCSIE 2024 and how this affects their responsibilities. Yet, we know that many schools still don’t have a robust process in place to ensure staff have done so. This leaves organisations vulnerable, particularly the governing bodies and proprietors that are responsible for their school’s safeguarding arrangements.
The challenge of keeping compliant with statutory safeguarding guidance
We understand that keeping track of which staff have and haven’t read KCSIE 2024 and other important documents is no mean feat. Whether you’re a standalone school with tens of staff or a MAT with hundreds, there’s always different job roles to juggle. All of which bring their own requirements for different documents, policies, and procedures.
If only there were a way to lessen the juggle…!
Upholding KCSIE compliance with Every HR
Good news – there is. With Every HR, our education HR software, schools and colleges can easily send the most updated version of a documents, policy, or procedure to all staff from a single place. You can then see, in real-time, the stats for who’s read, and who’s yet to read, the information.
What’s more, for staff yet to acknowledge and read the document, our education HR software gives the option to send either an automated or personal email reminder. You can add a reading deadline, too, encouraging staff to play their part in keeping the organisation compliant. Before you know it, upholding compliance has become less of a juggle and more of a well-rehearsed act.
We also understand the questions and issues that can arise around document management. So, Every HR keeps an audit trail of past and present documents (like all the previous versions of KCSIE) that have been distributed, to who, and when, so you can confidently evidence what you’ve communicated to staff.
Feel KCSIE compliance confident, with Every HR
With KCSIE 2024 having been in play for almost a month, we hope you feel confident staff have read and understood the changed guidance.
For more information on how you could use our education HR software, Every HR, to promote best document practice in your school or MAT, reach out to our friendly team.
