Devon Safeguarding Digest: June 2026
Welcome to the Devon Safeguarding Digest. This regular update will help you stay up to speed with safeguarding news and local policy changes.
Milburn review on Young People and Work published
The long-awaited report from Alan Milburn’s review on young people and work has identified various major issues, such as the sharp decline in entry-level jobs.
Relevant to child safeguarding are issues such as a growing mental health crisis linked to social media and wider stress, the continuing impact of COVID‑19 disrupting education and transitions, and loneliness and lack of belonging.
BBC: Why illegal children’s homes are being paid up to £2m per child by councils
Despite the extreme costs and known risks for the most vulnerable children, councils are still relying on unregistered and unregulated children’s homes because the system does not have enough regulated places.
Coram calls for legal oversight of informal school exclusions
The children’s charity Coram has found evidence of a growing use of opaque practices such as off-rolling, internal isolation and off-site direction that are removing tens of thousands of pupils from mainstream education with minimal scrutiny or accountability.
Church of England National Safeguarding Team audit
The report identifies significant transformation in Church safeguarding and identifies various recommendations, such as further developing training and learning and strengthening feedback mechanism with dioceses.