Every Child Matters was a UK Government policy introduced in 2003, after the death of Victoria Climbié, setting out five outcomes for every child: be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and achieve economic wellbeing. It led to the Children Act 2004. The name was dropped after 2010, but its approach to sharing information and safeguarding still shapes how schools, health services and social care work today.
Origins of Every Child Matters
Every Child Matters has not been official policy for years, but anyone working in safeguarding today still works with its ideas. The label was quietly dropped after 2010, yet the way schools, health services and social care share information about children grew straight out of it.
The policy came in 2003, following the death of Victoria Climbié. She was eight years old and had been seen by social services, hospital staff and the police, but the agencies had not pieced their concerns together. Lord Laming's inquiry set out what had gone wrong, and the Government's response was the Every Child Matters green paper. It led directly to the Children Act 2004, which still underpins child protection law in England.
At the heart of the policy were five outcomes every child should expect:
- Be healthy, in body and mind
- Stay safe from harm, neglect and exploitation
- Enjoy and achieve through learning and play
- Make a positive contribution to their community
- Achieve economic wellbeing and not be held back by poverty
These outcomes pulled together separate thinking into one shared framework. A teacher, GP, youth worker and police officer were suddenly looking at the same child through the same lens.
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Before 2003, a school might worry about a pupil while a health visitor had her own concerns about the same family, and the two would rarely meet. Every Child Matters pushed agencies to talk. The Common Assessment Framework gave them a shared form for recording worries, so everyone used roughly the same language.
Schools were asked to think beyond exam results and consider whether pupils were safe at home. GPs were encouraged to look past the presenting symptom. Social workers built closer links with schools and health teams. None of this was perfect, and plenty of professionals found the paperwork heavy going, but the direction was clear.
One part that did not survive was ContactPoint, a national database holding basic details on every child in England. The coalition government switched it off in 2010: concerns about data privacy and security made the database politically and practically untenable.
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Where things stand now
You will not hear Every Child Matters in team meetings, but the structures it created remain under different names. The Children Act 2004 is still the legal spine. Working Together to Safeguard Children sets out how organisations should cooperate, most recently refreshed in 2023. Keeping Children Safe in Education is updated every September.
Local Safeguarding Children Boards were replaced in 2019 by Safeguarding Partnerships, bringing together the local authority, police and integrated care board. The Common Assessment Framework has largely become Early Help Assessments: a single shared record so families can get support before problems escalate.
Every school and most organisations working with children now have a Designated Safeguarding Lead: the named person staff go to with concerns. Children's views are also taken more seriously. The expectation now is that a child old enough to have an opinion should be asked, listened to, and have that opinion recorded.
This is the picture in England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own legislation. Scotland follows Getting It Right for Every Child, Wales operates under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, and Northern Ireland has its own arrangements through the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland.
How well is it working
The current system is an improvement, but the strain is real. The number of children on a child protection plan in England has hovered around the high forty thousands in recent years, and children's services report rising demand against tight budgets. Child safeguarding practice reviews continue to find examples where agencies held information that was never joined up.
The 2022 independent review of children's social care, led by Josh MacAlister, argued for more focus on family help and earlier support. The Government is piloting reforms through its Families First for Children programme. The framework from the mid 2000s is being adjusted rather than torn up.
If you work with children: share concerns rather than sit on them, use your Designated Safeguarding Lead, record what you have seen and done, and check the current Working Together and Keeping Children Safe in Education.
Parents, relatives and neighbours can speak to a school's safeguarding lead, contact the local authority's children's services team, or call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000. In an emergency: 999.
Every Child Matters as a brand belongs to the 2000s. The thinking behind it: that children are best protected when the adults around them actually talk to each other: is now just how safeguarding is supposed to work.
how the laws have been adapted and the changes implemented to a more workable Every Child Matters.
if anyone else is taking qualifications in childcare, what do they think of this?
Is there still room for improvements?
My daughter is 15 and recently been diagnosed ADHD. She has history of behaviour problems and violence.
She has been victimised, needs ignored and threatened with expulsion from a secondary provision because of her behaviour. They knew she was undiagnosed but school reports and reports from therapists stated she was going to be diagnosed ADHD.
We have been in for several meetings but they constantly put the blame back to my child and her behaviour. Disagree that she can’t help her behaviour and refused to help her until her behaviour changed.
We removed her from there.
We are continuing to have difficulties with them as she is at a new provision now that they must pay for and we have asked for her to have taxi to and from because it’s 2 buses, she lacks concentration, lacks social skills and is paranoid that everyone is talking about her because a teacher at this provision told her they was. She also lacks attention to detail and can’t follow simple instructions so is a Safeguarding risk.
There were several Safeguarding issues when she was at this provision with her leaving at lunch and not returning, leaving lessons and walking around other parts of the building she wasn’t allowed etc but they are still requesting a letter from the GP because I mentioned panic attacks and they are disregarding all the other information even though they say they haven’t!
I have been to my Local MP for help and the papers to expose this provision for its bullying and fighting culture but my child’s needs have and continues to be ignored.
Can you help?
As a mother, my partner who is not my sons father, has a child to another woman. He is 2 years ago, and his mother smoked so heavily during pregnancy that she went into preterm labour. This child suffers now from asthma, and has continuous illnesses. Since meeting him at aged 2, over the last 5 months, I have noticed many issues. He came to me holding his feet, i took his socks off and noticed that his toenails were that long, they had grown under and dug into his skin - i had to cut the nails to get the skin out, then trim them to a comfortable length. I then noticed his £60 trainers were 2 sizes too small for him, making the situation worse as she does not cut his toe nails. This woman does not like me because of my role as a health care professional and knows i have knowledge. This boy is dressed in the most expensive clothes, yet they do not fit him, he smells of urine, has cradle cap still, his skin is bumpy, raw and itchy which we all know - there are treatments out there to eliminate this, if not improve it. Since having him in my life, i have provided his father on the two days he has him, with shoes that fit, warm clothes, as she only dresses him in tight skinny jeans and a short sleeved tshirt, baring in mind he was premature, meaning he cannot maintain his body temperature. I trim his nails when needed, i had used treatment which has eliminated the cradle cap, used epiderm every time, and it has begun to improve. i reported this to social services and nothing has come of it - i do know she has been reported many times previously and he is currently flagged on the system. I have concerns because she will not accept these shoes as they are second hand, and will not dress him appropriately or maintain his personal hygiene. I am at my wits end with these issues and i feel as though i have a duty of care as my profession, as being a mother and simply because this boy has nobody else to stand up for him.
I'm having ongoing issues with my 10yr olds school regarding bullying and twice she has come home and threatens to kill herself , her test results are 0/100% , ive now got key workers involved too. As a single mother im finding this school non coperative and after an hours meeting with the head master yesterday he clearly stated that Every Child Matters policy was abolished years ago . Could someone please clarify thank you sarah
They've been told they have to change schools.
I have accessed a advocate for them. Yet to meet.
Since finding out she is crying herself to sleep at night and is easily upset when thinking of going to school, my daughter has certainly lost her sparkle.
I have written to the schools asking for an explanation of their decision and, so far, I have not had the courtesy of a response, not even an acknowledgment of my email!!
Can somebody tell me how this enforces the 'Every Child Matters' policy?
Thanks
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