What is Early Help? Understanding Safeguarding Changes in 2026

Louise Petty

June 1, 2026

6 min read

Early help plays a vital role in safeguarding children and young people. It’s based on the principle that identifying concerns early and providing support at the right time can prevent problems from becoming more serious later on. For schools and other education settings, early help is an important part of creating a strong safeguarding culture where children feel supported, listened to and safe. In this article, we’ll explain what early help means, how safeguarding guidance is changing in 2026 and what school staff need to know about their responsibilities.

What is Early Help?

Early help is support provided to children, young people and families as soon as concerns about their wellbeing begin to emerge. The aim is to improve outcomes for children before issues escalate and require statutory intervention.

Early help can support families facing a wide range of challenges, including:

Poor attendance or persistent absence.
Mental health difficulties.
Behavioural concerns.
Family conflict.
Domestic abuse.
Substance misuse.
Housing or financial difficulties.
Risks linked to exploitation or online harm.
Additional needs relating to SEND.
Emotional wellbeing concerns.

The support offered through early help will vary depending on the child’s circumstances and local authority arrangements. In schools, this might involve pastoral care, mentoring, attendance interventions or referrals to external services.

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) emphasises that school and college staff are particularly well placed to identify concerns early because they interact with children every day. All staff should be alert to changes in behaviour, appearance, attendance, presentation or wellbeing which could indicate that a child may need support.

Multi-Agency Working and Early Help

Early help is most effective when professionals work together. Schools are only one part of the wider safeguarding system and they often need to work alongside children’s social care, health services, police, early years providers and other agencies.

This approach is known as multi-agency working and it involves professionals sharing information appropriately, understanding each other’s roles and coordinating support around the child and family.

The latest 2026 safeguarding guidance strengthens expectations around collaborative working and reinforces the importance of information sharing. Practitioners should not work in isolation when concerns are identified. Instead, safeguarding should involve joined-up communication and a child-centred approach that remains focused on achieving the best outcomes for the child.

Early Help vs. Family Help

Safeguarding terminology and approaches are beginning to change following updates to Working Together to Safeguard Children. One of the biggest changes is the move from the traditional early help model towards a broader family help approach.

Under the updated guidance, targeted early help and Section 17 of the Children Act are being brought together into a single multi-disciplinary approach. The aim is to create more consistent support for families without the disruption that can happen when services operate separately. This means families should experience more coordinated support, clearer planning and more consistent relationships with practitioners.

Support should be delivered through a family help plan led by a multi-disciplinary team. This is intended to reduce duplication, improve communication between services and ensure that children receive the right support at the right time.

For schools, this change reinforces the importance of understanding local safeguarding arrangements and referral pathways. While many staff may still use the term ‘early help’ in day-to-day practice, professionals should be aware that local authorities may begin transitioning towards ‘family help’ terminology during 2026 and beyond.

The move towards family help also reflects a wider shift in safeguarding practice. Rather than viewing concerns in isolation, professionals are encouraged to consider the wider family context, strengths, risks and support networks surrounding the child.

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What Specific Early Help Indicators Should Staff Look Out For?

Safeguarding guidance makes clear that all staff should be able to recognise when a child may benefit from early help. Emerging needs are not always obvious and concerns may develop gradually over time. Staff should remain professionally curious and avoid assuming that individual incidents are isolated or insignificant.

Staff should also understand that safeguarding concerns can overlap. For example, a child experiencing mental health difficulties may also be vulnerable to online exploitation, bullying or attendance problems.

Professional curiosity is particularly important when identifying emerging needs. Staff should respectfully ask questions, notice patterns and remain open-minded about what a child’s experiences may be telling them.

The 2026 proposed updates to KCSIE place stronger emphasis on recognising emerging concerns early, particularly where risks may be linked to mental health, online activity, exploitation, attendance or family circumstances:

Mental health and emotional wellbeing indicators

Children experiencing difficulties with their mental health or emotional wellbeing may show noticeable changes in their behaviour, mood or presentation. Staff should be alert to indicators such as:

Changes in mood, behaviour or emotional wellbeing.
Anxiety, isolation or social withdrawal.
Sudden loss of confidence or self-esteem.
Increased emotional outbursts or distress.
Changes in academic performance or engagement.
Persistent tiredness or low motivation.
Risk-taking or self-destructive behaviour.

Online safety indicators

Online risks can affect children both inside and outside school. Staff should remain alert to signs that a child may be experiencing online harm, exposure to inappropriate content or online exploitation, including:

Sudden secrecy around devices or online activity.
Distress after using phones, gaming platforms or social media.
Exposure to harmful, violent or inappropriate online content.
Unexplained contact with unknown individuals online.
Changes in behaviour linked to online interactions.
Signs of online bullying or harassment.
Excessive or unhealthy online activity affecting wellbeing or attendance.

Exploitation indicators

Children can be vulnerable to different forms of exploitation, including criminal exploitation, county lines activity and child sexual exploitation. Warning signs may include:

Sudden changes in friendship groups.
Unexplained money, gifts or possessions.
Going missing or unexplained absences.
Increased secrecy or withdrawn behaviour.
Risk-taking behaviour.
Signs of coercion, intimidation or controlling relationships.
Unexplained injuries or concerning marks.

Attendance and engagement indicators

Attendance concerns are increasingly recognised within safeguarding guidance as a possible indicator of unmet need or wider harm. Staff should monitor patterns such as:

Persistent absence or declining attendance.
Frequent lateness.
Repeated requests to leave lessons or school.
Sudden disengagement from learning.
Declining academic performance.
Reduced participation in school activities.
Patterns of absence linked to emotional wellbeing or family concerns.

Family and wider safeguarding indicators

A child’s wellbeing can be significantly affected by difficulties within the home or wider family environment. Staff should remain alert to concerns such as:

Family conflict or relationship breakdown.
Domestic abuse within the household.
Substance misuse affecting parents or carers.
Housing instability or financial hardship.
Evidence of neglect.
Poor hygiene, hunger or unsuitable clothing.
Caring responsibilities beyond the child’s age or development.
Repeated low-level concerns which together suggest a wider safeguarding issue.

Whose Responsibility is it to Identify Early Help?

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and identifying the need for early help is not solely the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL).

Whilst the DSL plays a key leadership role in coordinating safeguarding arrangements, making referrals and working with external agencies, safeguarding depends on all staff remaining vigilant and acting on concerns. This whole-school approach is central to creating a positive safeguarding culture where concerns are identified early and children receive support before risks escalate.

All staff working in schools and colleges have a responsibility to:

Recognise possible indicators of abuse, neglect or emerging need.
Maintain a child-centred approach.
Report concerns promptly.
Record concerns accurately.
Contribute to safeguarding processes where required.
Work collaboratively with safeguarding leads and other professionals.

How to Request Early Help

When a member of staff identifies an emerging need, the next steps will depend on the child’s circumstances and level of risk. In most cases, staff should begin by recording their concerns and reporting them to the DSL or safeguarding lead, in line with the school’s safeguarding procedures. Even low-level concerns should be shared if they may indicate a wider pattern.

Once concerns have been reviewed by the DSL, the school may decide that early help support would benefit the child or family. The level of intervention will depend on the child’s circumstances; some children may only require short-term support within school, while others may need coordinated multi-agency involvement.

Early help could involve:

Internal school-based support.
Meetings with parents or carers.
Pastoral interventions.
Support from attendance, wellbeing or SEND teams.
Referral to external services.
An early help assessment or family help assessment.

Where appropriate, schools may work with other agencies to develop a coordinated support plan. This allows professionals to identify the child’s needs, agree outcomes and clarify who is responsible for providing support.

The most recent 2026 safeguarding guidance reinforces that children should receive the right support at the right time. Staff should never delay sharing concerns because they are unsure whether a situation is serious enough, as early action can make a significant difference to a child’s safety and wellbeing.

If concerns increase or the child is believed to be at risk of significant harm, schools must follow safeguarding procedures and make referrals to children’s social care immediately.

Recognising early help needs is not about waiting for serious safeguarding concerns to arise, but about noticing when something may not be right and taking appropriate action early on. All schools must establish strong safeguarding cultures where every member of staff understands their responsibilities and children receive the support they need at the earliest opportunity.