Nursery managers: Are your safeguarding policies up to date?

Two toddlers playing a sensory activity in a nursery.

When it comes to protecting babies and young children, robust safeguarding policies are essential. In a nursery setting, safeguarding is about keeping children safe from harm, while supporting their health and wellbeing.

Young children cannot advocate for themselves, making it vital for nursery leaders and staff to consistently act in their best interests. This involves keeping clear, up‑to‑date safeguarding policies, ensuring that every decision made prioritises children’s safety and welfare.

While most nurseries have safeguarding arrangements in place, there are some common areas where these can slip. At Everywhen, we’ve worked with the care and early years sector for many years – here are some examples of the key areas we've seen overlooked in that time.

Out-of-date policies

Nursery teams are busy, which may make it tempting to stick with the same safeguarding policies without reviewing them regularly. However, this approach risks relying on documents that may no longer reflect current legislation, statutory guidance or local safeguarding arrangements.

Out‑of‑date safeguarding policies can leave staff unclear about what to do if they have concerns about a child, and may also result in non‑compliance with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) safeguarding and welfare requirements. Ofsted expects providers to demonstrate that safeguarding arrangements are effective, current and clear to all staff.¹

Keeping your safeguarding procedures up to date

Safeguarding policies should be treated as living documents. Best practice is to formally review your policies at least annually, and sooner if there are changes to legislation, regulation or local guidance.²

It is important to ensure that your policies are up to date with current requirements, including:

The EYFS statutory framework³

Updated EYFS safeguarding reforms (for example, safer recruitment, absence follow‑up, whistleblowing procedures)⁴

Your local safeguarding children partnership (LSCP) procedures

Finally, keep a clear audit trail, recording any changes made, when they were made and who approved them.

Insufficient staff knowledge

Everyone who works in your nursery needs to understand safeguarding policies and why they matter. Ofsted and the EYFS framework require all staff to receive appropriate safeguarding training, enabling them to recognise signs of abuse or neglect, understand concerns thresholds, and know how to report and escalate worries about a child’s welfare.⁵

Keeping your staff up to date

Even the most up‑to‑date safeguarding policies could be ineffective if staff are not confident in applying them. More often than not, this is not due to unwillingness, but a lack of regular, structured training.

Best practice in early years settings includes:

Offering safeguarding training at induction and regular refresher sessions

Tailoring training to different roles and levels of responsibility

Ensuring staff can confidently explain safeguarding policies and procedures

Having clear points of contact for escalation and support

In the same way that policy updates should be audited, you should also maintain clear records of safeguarding training, including when training was delivered and what it covered. Safeguarding incidents, and the actions taken in response, must also be clearly documented.

Poor recording and documentation

This leads us to a final safeguarding concern that nurseries can face: insufficient recording and documentation of incidents.

If your nursery experiences a safeguarding incident, it’s vital that it is accurately and promptly recorded. Inadequate documentation could mean incidents are missed and can make it far more difficult to demonstrate that appropriate action was taken.

Ofsted inspects how settings record, follow up and review safeguarding incidents. If they find incomplete records, this can raise doubts about the effectiveness of your safeguarding culture.

Improving your safeguarding records

Keeping good safeguarding records isn’t just about meeting regulatory requirements – it plays a vital role in protecting the children in your care.

When reviewing your approach to recording, consider the following examples:

Use one consistent system for logging safeguarding concerns and incidents, and ensure staff are trained to use it correctly

Record what happened, who was involved and what actions were taken, without opinion or bias

Demonstrate how safeguarding records have informed learning, such as updates to training or policies

Regularly audit safeguarding records to ensure concerns have been followed up and actions completed

By keeping clear records, you’re demonstrating that safeguarding is integral to your day-to-day. This means that if you do need to follow-up on an incident, or you have an inspection, you’re ready with the information to hand.

Let's talk

Just as it’s important to regularly review your safeguarding policies, it’s also vital to ensure your nursery insurance remains up to date – particularly following changes to your nursery.

At Everywhen, we specialise in purpose‑driven insurance tailored to the care and early years sector. We help nurseries protect their organisation through insurance solutions tailored to the care and early years sector.

Want to know more? Get in touch today on:

newcare@everywhen.co.uk

0330 123 5342

Nursery Insurance

Jason Brown

Head of Product - Care, Charity and Medical Malpractice

Jason Brown is a respected leader in the care insurance industry with over 15 years’ experience. He works across a number of insurance areas including commercial insurance and medical malpractice.

His current role is Head of Product - Care, Charity and Medical Malpractice at Everywhen. Everywhen combines regional care with national reach, deep sector knowledge and strong insurer relationships to deliver tailored solutions across 55+ schemes. We help our clients navigate everyday and emerging risks with confidence, always and at all times.