Discover our range of safeguarding training: Where knowledge meets best practice

Safeguarding is the process of working to protect children, young adults and adults at risk from harm, including abuse, neglect, exploitation and other forms of maltreatment. A safeguarding training course teaches best practices for protecting these individuals from harm both in the workplace and other situations. It covers actions to take if you suspect abuse or neglect and how to report concerns, enabling safeguarding partners to investigate further.

The terms ‘safeguarding’ and ‘child protection’ are often used interchangeably, but they do have different meanings. Safeguarding is a broader term that encompasses all the actions society takes to protect individuals from harm, such as abuse, neglect and sexual exploitation. While the term ‘child protection’ refers to the efforts made to help children who have already been a victim of abuse, neglect, exploitation or other forms of maltreatment.

Typically, a safeguarding training certificate is valid for 2 years, though there’s no mandatory set expiry date.

Safeguarding involves multi-agency collaboration and an understanding of the various legislation and guidelines on the subject. Given that this information is reviewed and updated regularly, it’s important for those in roles involving contact with vulnerable adults or children to ensure their training reflects these changes.

Safeguarding training should be refreshed periodically to ensure your understanding of the various processes and procedures remains current. Therefore there is no fixed period specifying when you must update your safeguarding training.

As a general rule, everyone who works closely with children and adults at risk is legally required to complete safeguarding training. This includes volunteers, home-based child carers and self-employed individuals who interact with children and vulnerable adults.

Failing to complete a safeguarding training course in roles that require safeguarding knowledge can have consequences both personally and for the reputation of your organisation. The specific safeguarding training you need depends on your sector, role and responsibilities.

If you are prosecuted for a safeguarding-related incident, this will remain on your criminal record and could severely impact your future employment prospects. DBS checks are mandatory for all roles involving work with children and vulnerable adults. Any convictions related to safeguarding failures will always be visible on this certificate.

For those seeking a comprehensive introduction to safeguarding, we recommend our popular online Safeguarding Children course or the combined online Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults course. We provide a variety of sector-specific online safeguarding courses, so please browse our complete course list to ensure you select the most suitable one for your workplace needs.

Most of our online courses take about 2 hours to complete. However, you can pause your progress and return later at your convenience since they can be accessed 24/7.

We also offer face-to-face safeguarding training courses which take around 3 hours. These courses are offered in two different formats:

• A trainer comes to your setting.
• A trainer delivers a live virtual course via a videoconferencing platform.

There are several pieces of legislation for safeguarding children, including various Acts and statutory guidance documents that may be amended or updated over time. Some of the most notable include the Children Act 1989, the Education Act 2002, the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 and the statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education, which is often updated annually.  

Ofsted does not approve safeguarding training courses. Nevertheless, it is best practice to ensure that your chosen safeguarding course has learning outcomes that match Ofsted’s criteria for safeguarding training and to be able to evidence this. Our safeguarding training courses align with Ofsted’s learning outcomes for safeguarding.

For organisations aiming to train multiple staff members, our Learning Management System is easy to use. Administrators can assign safeguarding courses to their entire team or select specific members to receive an invitation for training. Administrators can also track the training progress of each member of staff and chase those learners that might need a reminder.

We also offer face-to-face safeguarding training for groups. Our trainer provides a half day’s instruction either on-site at your location or live via a video link.

Safeguarding training will help you understand the different forms and signs of abuse and neglect, allowing you to recognise situations that you might otherwise overlook. Noticing these signs enables you to identify when a child, young adult or vulnerable adult is at risk of abuse, or when they might have already been a victim of (or are currently experiencing) abuse or neglect. The training also provides information about laws created in response to various historic safeguarding incidents. Safeguarding training will equip you with the knowledge on how to report any concerns, offering a clear framework for doing so. 

Most workplace settings requiring safeguarding training no longer refer to the training in terms of ‘levels’. Historically, Level 1 safeguarding training provided knowledge about the signs of abuse and neglect. Level 2 offered a more comprehensive understanding of safeguarding legislation and procedures. Today, most introductory or foundation safeguarding courses combine the contents of both levels 1 and 2.

However, healthcare professionals do follow a framework that refers to safeguarding levels for training. This framework outlines minimum training and competency requirements for various roles. As specified in this framework, every individual in a healthcare role must complete at least Level 1 safeguarding training.

Any reference to levels in terms of safeguarding training has become outdated, and today most introductory safeguarding courses usually incorporate the content from the historic Levels 1 and 2.

However, some professions still specify that specific levels of safeguarding training are required. This is particularly true for healthcare professionals. We offer online Level 1 and Level 2 Safeguarding for Dentists courses that align with the levels outlined in the intercollegiate document: Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competencies for Healthcare Staff. All dental staff should be trained to at least Level 1 but all healthcare professionals working in a clinical capacity, as well as all non-clinical staff whose duties involve a more in-depth interaction with children or vulnerable adults, should undertake Level 2 safeguarding training in addition to Level 1 training.

For most workplaces, the type of level of safeguarding training that you need is not referenced, although the exception is staff in a healthcare role. Traditionally Level 3 safeguarding training is aimed at those who have roles that require additional safeguarding training such as a Designated Safeguarding Lead in a school and for those who organise and coordinate internal safeguarding procedures and who may communicate with third-party agencies. For healthcare professionals who are in a specialist role and who require an additional depth of safeguarding knowledge then our courses do not extend to Level 3, 4 or 5 (as referenced in the framework: Children and Young People: Roles and Competencies for Healthcare Staff).