Please note: This resource was published prior to the UK Supreme Court judgment on 2 June 2026 and has not yet been updated. We are reviewing our resources in mind of this legal shift.

In recent years, safeguarding children and adults has become increasingly complex. Sector leaders in social care note that sexual exploitation, gangs and violent crime - including domestic violence and abuse, modern slavery and trafficking - are challenging the children’s and adults’ workforce to reflect on established models of safeguarding and identify opportunities for innovation.

Safeguarding is a field where binary notions of childhood and adulthood have prevailed; as such the notion of ‘transitional safeguarding’ is an emerging one, not currently widely applied in policy or practice.