language: en · status: in-force · last checked: 2026-10-12

Wales — Keeping learners safe: the role of local authorities, governing bodies and proprietors of independent schools under the Education Act 2002

The Welsh Government's safeguarding guidance for education settings in Wales (guidance document no: 283/2022, March 2022, replacing 275/2021). In its own words: "This statutory guidance must be read and followed by local authorities and governing bodies of maintained schools (including maintained nursery schools), voluntary-aided and foundation schools, and further education institutions, under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 …; and independent schools under section 157 of the 2002 Act" ("Who is this guidance for?", page 3 of the PDF; not extracted). It is Wales's counterpart to England's KCSIE. Its safeguarding role is the designated safeguarding person (DSP). Curated here: the DSP provisions and the reporting provisions.

Applicability to EdTech

Who at a Welsh school a safeguarding alert should reach, and what the guidance says about deputies, availability and records:

• The DSP. "Each education setting must identify a DSP with lead responsibility for managing all safeguarding concerns. The DSP must be available to discuss safeguarding concerns" (DESIGNATED-SAFEGUARDING-PERSON.md#para-2-15); the DSP "must be a senior member of the school or college leadership team" (DESIGNATED-SAFEGUARDING-PERSON.md#para-2-16). Staff "must raise these with the DSP", and "The DSP must then decide whether it is appropriate to make a report to social services and/or the police"; staff may also report directly, "however, liaison with the DSP is advisable in all cases where possible" (RESPONDING-AND-REPORTING.md#para-3-39). Concerns raised by a child, parent or member of the public "should be shared with the DSP" (RESPONDING-AND-REPORTING.md#para-3-11).
• Deputies and cover. The headteacher "must appoint the appropriate number of DSPs and deputy DSPs" (DESIGNATED-SAFEGUARDING-PERSON.md#para-2-14); "Each DSP should have at least one deputy who has equal status and access to the same training", and "split-site education settings should have a DSP available on each site" (DESIGNATED-SAFEGUARDING-PERSON.md#para-2-17). Where case handling is delegated, "The DSP should always be kept informed of the progress and the outcome of all cases" (DESIGNATED-SAFEGUARDING-PERSON.md#para-2-19), and the DSP "must keep the headteacher/principal informed of all safeguarding concerns raised in the school or college" (DESIGNATED-SAFEGUARDING-PERSON.md#para-2-23).
• Timing. A report that a child may be at risk "must be made to social services as soon as a concern is identified; this must be within 24 hours. Outside of office hours, reports must be made to social services’ emergency duty service or to the police" (RESPONDING-AND-REPORTING.md#para-3-43); a report made in person or by telephone "must be confirmed in writing within 24 hours" (RESPONDING-AND-REPORTING.md#para-3-44). Reporting "will usually be done through the DSP but the safety of the child must be the priority so there may be occasions when staff will need to contact directly where there is an immediate concern" (RESPONDING-AND-REPORTING.md#para-3-33).
• Records. Concerns should be "logged, recorded and appropriately monitored by the member of staff and/or the DSP" (RESPONDING-AND-REPORTING.md#para-3-12); "Every education setting must have a suitable system in place to support effective data collection of children suspected to be at risk", and such software "can support staff to log concerns and the DSP to identify patterns of abuse, neglect, or other kinds of harm" (RESPONDING-AND-REPORTING.md#para-3-13). Agencies must have policies "specifying arrangements for the retention, storage and destruction of electronic and paper case records" (RESPONDING-AND-REPORTING.md#para-3-16).

Contents

Scope note: the rest of the guidance (local authority and governor roles, specific circumstances, online safety, safer recruitment, the annexes) is not extracted. The guidance is also published in Welsh; the English text is reproduced.

Enforcement

Inspection by Estyn, which the guidance describes in chapter 1 ("Inspections", not extracted — e.g. paragraph 1.41: "Estyn inspects all independent schools in Wales"); the guidance is issued under the Education Act 2002 duties named in its opening section (sections 175 and 157). Not directly enforceable against vendors.

Licence

The corpus reproduces paragraphs 1.11, 2.12 to 2.29, 2.33 to 2.35, 3.11 to 3.17 and 3.31 to 3.46 of the guidance PDF, which is marked "© Crown copyright 2022" (front matter, read 2026-10-12). The Welsh Government's copyright statement (read 2026-10-12) says: "You may use and re-use the information featured in this website (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence". The text is Crown copyright, which is not an exclusion from copyright, so the label is open-licence.

The Open Government Licence v3.0 (read 2026-10-01) says: "You are free to: copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information; adapt the Information; exploit the Information commercially and non-commercially". Its conditions: "acknowledge the source of the Information in your product or application by including or linking to any attribution statement specified by the Information Provider(s) and, where possible, provide a link to this licence", and, where no statement is specified, "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0."; and, under Non-endorsement, the licence "does not grant you any right to use the Information in a way that suggests any official status or that the Information Provider and/or Licensor endorse you or your use of the Information."

Conditions, and how this corpus meets them:

• Acknowledge the source: each document names the guidance and its document number, its source is the gov.wales PDF, and Sources links the publication. Attribution statement: "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0." (licence).
• Non-endorsement: the corpus does not claim official status or endorsement by the Welsh Government.
• Changes: the OGL does not require changes to be marked; the selection, layout and added anchors are described in each document's Meta.
• Exemptions: no logos, personal data or crests are reproduced.

Related

• England — KCSIE — England's statutory guidance and its designated safeguarding lead; does not apply in Wales
• Northern Ireland — Child Protection and Safeguarding in Education — the Designated Teacher
• Scotland — National Guidance for Child Protection — the child protection co-ordinator
• Data Protection Act 2018 — the data protection law paragraph 3.49 points to (not extracted)

Sources

• gov.wales — Keeping learners safe
• Keeping learners safe (PDF, guidance document no: 283/2022) — archived copy: sources/220401-keeping-learners-safe.pdf (retrieved 2026-10-12)