Statutory guidance

Children's social care: national framework

Statutory guidance on the principles behind children’s social care, its purpose, factors enabling good practice and what it should achieve.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 15 December 2023
• Last updated: 7 February 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Children's social care national framework

PDF, 389 KB, 66 pages

An illustrated guide to the children's social care national framework

PDF, 1.48 MB, 18 pages

Children's social care national framework: easy read version

PDF, 4.19 MB, 23 pages

Details

The national framework document is for those who work in local authority children’s social care.

Statutory guidance shows what you must do to comply with the law. You must follow it unless there’s a good reason not to.

It includes relevant information for all safeguarding partners and agencies who work with children’s social care.

Additional versions

Practitioners can also share and use:

• the illustrated guide, for children and young people
• the easy read version
• British Sign Language captioned and audio summary version
• our animated guide to the framework

Supporting information

The national framework is also supported by the children’s social care dashboard. This brings children’s social care data together in one place to understand progress towards the outcomes and enablers set out in the national framework.

There is separate information for local authorities and safeguarding partners on how to embed the guidance.

Foundations practice guides

DfE has also commissioned Foundations to develop a series of evidence-based practice guides that local authorities can use to help them achieve the outcomes set out in this framework.

The practice guides that Foundations has published so far are:

• Kinship care
• Parenting through adversity (children aged 0–10)

Local authorities and leaders can share and use the practice guides along with a reflective tool that will accompany each one.

Guides are topical and more will be published as systematic reviews on each evidence base are completed.

Published 15 December 2023
Last updated 7 February 2025 + show all updates

1. 7 February 2025

   We have updated the page to include a link to the recently published Foundations 'Parenting through adversity (children aged 0–10)' practice guide.

2. 27 February 2024

   Added an easy read version of the framework, and a link to a summary version in British Sign Language. The British Sign Language version is on YouTube.

3. 25 January 2024

   Added a link to an animated guide to the framework. The animated guide is on YouTube.

4. 15 December 2023

   First published.