What You Need to Know About Operation Encompass

Every child has the right to safety and should be assured the best start in life. To help secure this right for each and every child, the government has released a series of measures to protect all children. This includes acts such as the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, the Domestic Abuse Act and the Victims and Prisoners Act. Section 20 of the Victims and Prisoners Act incorporates Operation Encompass into law and places a legal duty on police forces to notify a child’s school if they have attended a domestic abuse incident in that child’s home. In this article we will outline everything you need to know about Operation Encompass.  

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What is Operation Encompass?

Operation Encompass is a safeguarding, information sharing partnership between the police and schools. It seeks to support children who are experiencing domestic violence and abuse by identifying children in need of support and ensuring that it is put in place in a timely manner. 

The impact of domestic abuse on children must not be underestimated. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 identifies children who have been exposed to domestic abuse, regardless of whether they have been physically harmed themselves, as victims of abuse as well, not solely witnesses. 

Operation Encompass was created in 2010 by head teacher Elisabeth Carney-Haworth and her husband, police officer David Carney-Haworth. It was developed after a teacher at Elisabeth Carney-Haworth’s school noticed that a Year 2 pupil’s demeanour was different from usual. The child’s behaviour continued to change and become more dysregulated, however neither he, nor his mother, could say why. In October of the next academic year, Mrs. Carney-Haworth was visited by her Education Welfare Officer who mentioned in passing that she had received a notification about the same child. Mrs. Carney-Haworth had no knowledge of this and the welfare officer proceeded to share details of an incredibly violent domestic abuse incident that had happened in that child’s home in June. 

After hearing this Mrs. Carney-Haworth recognised how this event had impacted the child’s behaviour and felt as though the school had failed that child due to their lack of information. However, she also felt that the school had been failed, as no one at school had been informed of the incident. After discussing this with her husband David, he shared that the police would have had the necessary information and the means to share this with the school in a timely manner. Operation Encompass was born from their recognition of how vital information of domestic violence or abuse is to supporting children in an effective and timely manner.       

Upon its initial development Operation Encompass was a voluntary scheme. However, in 2024, the Victims and Prisoners Act received Royal Assent which turned Operation Encompass into law and placed a statutory obligation on the police to share Operation Encompass notifications with schools. 

Why is Operation Encompass Important?

As mentioned above, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 recognised children as victims of abuse in their own right if they see, hear or experience the effects of domestic abuse. The Act highlighted the potential long lasting impact of domestic abuse on children and the importance of tailored support. Operation Encompass seeks to ensure that this support is offered in a timely manner and that the people who work closely with a child have the necessary context and information to support them effectively. 

Operation Encompass is important as it gives teachers and school staff vital information that can help them to support a child. An Operation Encompass notification gives school staff a heads up that a child may feel and act differently to how they normally do and give them time to put specific measures in place such as arranging for a school counsellor or adapting what activities that child takes part in at school that day. The Home Office guidance on Operation Encompass notes that education settings are often the only consistent support available to some children. As many children affected by domestic abuse are not known to any other services, they run the risk of becoming invisible to social services as they may not reach the threshold for intervention from social care. However, Operation Encompass does not apply a threshold of harm, thereby ensuring that every child affected by domestic abuse benefits from a level of protection and support. 

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How Does Operation Encompass Work?

Under the requirements of Operation Encompass, the police are required to notify a school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) of an incident of domestic abuse before the start of the next school day. If a child is homeschooled, the police should inform the authority responsible officer within Children’s Social Care. 

Incidents are only subject to an Operation Encompass notification if the child is under 18 and a victim of domestic abuse. This includes children who are physically present at the incident, children who are not physically present during the incident and situations where the child might reside in another household temporarily or permanently. The Operation Encompass duty applies to all children in education from reception up to the age of 17 who are enrolled in a registered primary and secondary school. This includes independent schools, private schools, alternative provision settings, further education colleges or 16 to 19 academies in England or Wales. 

Whilst Operation Encompass places a duty on the police to inform schools, the duty only applies to the 43 civilian territorial police forces in England and Wales. However, Service Police are voluntarily implementing Operation Encompass across Ministry of Defence (MoD) schools overseas. 

An Operation Encompass notification involves a telephone call, email or notification to an education setting’s Key Adult, usually the DSL, before the start of the next school day. Each police force will have its own designated process and systems for making notification. 

Timeliness is a notable part of Operation Encompass and that is key to making a notification effective. A notification is therefore most effective when made before the start of the next school day. However, in cases where this is not possible the notification should be made as soon as possible. Timely information-sharing enables schools to provide support as soon as they are made aware of a child’s experience. This can help schools to respond early to signs of trauma, distress or changes in behaviour, maintain routine and stability by minimising disruption to learning and monitor safeguarding concerns. 

An Operation Encompass notification should include the following information:

• The name, date of birth and protected characteristics (e.g., disability, race, religion etc.) of any child from that education setting who is related to any adult involved in the incident, whether the adult is the alleged perpetrator or non-abusive relative.
• The relationship of the child to the victim and to the perpetrator.
• The police reference number.
• The location, time and date of the incident.
• If the child was present and if so, where they were. Notifications should be shared even if the child was not present at this particular incident.
• The voice of the child, such as what they are saying and how they are behaving. This involves actively listening to children and considering their opinion and views, whilst recognising that each child will have their own experience of domestic abuse. 
• If the child was spoken to, what they said, how they were acting and whether this conversation was in the presence of another adult or the police officer only.
• The context and the circumstances of the incident, including context on whether an arrest was made, whether the incident was attended in person or via Rapid Video Response and, where possible, information on previous domestic abuse incidents. 

Each child’s experience and needs vary. In cases involving siblings or multiple children who attend the same school, police may choose to issue a separate notification for each child, or issue one notification, which should still include the voice of each child. This should be in line with the force’s respective process. Where a force’s process is to issue one notification for multiple children, the force should ensure the format of their notification allows for the voice and experience of each child to be captured separately. It is not sufficient for the notification to group together the experience of multiple children. 

An Operation Encompass notification should not include: 

• Anything that will breach the anonymity for victims of sexual offences as, under the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, this must be preserved.
• Details pertaining to sexual offences, even if they occurred within the domestic abuse incident, must not be disclosed in the notification. 

In some cases Operation Encompass may also apply in situations where a child is identified as the individual showing abusive behaviour. This includes situations involving child to parent/carer abuse or teenage relationship abuse and cases where the domestic abuse incident involves another child. 

In the case of weekends and school breaks, notification should be made before the start of the next school day following the incident. 

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Guidance for Teachers

Below you will find some guidance on how teachers and schools can support the implementation of Operation Encompass. This information has been gathered from the Operation Encompass website and should be read in full and includes additional guidance on Operation Encompass and details of further resources. 

Operation Encompass guidance for teachers:

• Safeguarding trained staff and their deputy/ies must be the Key Adults in terms of Operation Encompass. Operation Encompass uses the phrase ‘Key Adult’ as the safeguarding role in schools is described differently depending on where the school is located. A Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) would be an example of a Key Adult

• All Key Adults should undertake the free online National Key Adult training. All school staff and governors can undertake this free training. All DSLs should undertake the training as police forces will not share information until the training has been completed. Supplementary training from other providers, such as High Speed Training, can also be beneficial to support teachers and DSLs feel confident in their responsibilities. 

• If a school is receiving telephone calls from the police the Key Adult/s need to be available prior to the start of the school day to receive this information.

• If the Operation Encompass notification is electronic, then the Key Adult/s must ensure that they check for and open any notifications prior to the start of the school day. 

• The school’s participation in Operation Encompass should:
  • Be known and understood by all staff, including school governors
  • Form part of the school’s safeguarding policy
  • Be part of the safeguarding information on the school website
  • Form part of the school’s communication with new families
  • Be visible in school through the use of Operation Encompass posters
  • Lead training for all staff about domestic abuse, the impact on children and the simple ways in which schools can support these children
  • Support staff and children by using the resources available on the Operation Encompass website 

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Information is vital to offering better tailored support and by having the necessary information teachers and school staff can better support a child that is experiencing domestic abuse. When this information is shared in a timely manner, adjustments can be made and processes put in place to ensure a child is adequately monitored and their emotional health and well being protected. 

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Further Resources:

• The Impact of Domestic Abuse on Children
• What is Professional Curiosity in Safeguarding?
• Safeguarding Courses