The Government consultation on EYFS safeguarding reforms proposed adding requirements to address child absenteeism due to the number of incidents of serious harm to children that ‘may have been prevented if absence from their early years setting had been reported to social services or the police’. Of those who responded to the consultation, nearly 65 per cent already had procedures to address absenteeism. New wording in a revised EYFS, which serves to strengthen safeguarding practice, includes three main elements:
What's new for 2025?
New wording in the EYFS under the heading ‘concerns about children's safety and welfare’ will state a number of requirements. Providers, including childminders, must:
How will the changes impact policy?
The new requirement to have a specific policy that addresses attendance mirrors the Department for Education's expectations in the Working together to improve school attendance statutory guidance (2024). Although this guidance is intended for compulsory school-aged children and includes features not relevant to children from birth to five, its principles can be applied in an early years context to establish good practice. For example, making clear how the provider maintains communication systems between the setting, parents and/or carers, including other professionals.
Information sharing is a crucial element of policy and, indeed, practice. Clear and concise expectations of when and why safeguarding procedures will apply must be reflected. Attendance policies, therefore, must interact and align with other safeguarding policies. Recognising the implications of children's lived experiences within the wider family context will inform professional judgements.
A good understanding of risk and protective factors will further support practitioners and leaders to take appropriate actions, whether they be initiating early help processes, referring to children's social care services and/or contacting the police for a welfare check. Policy expectations should include how the setting works in partnership with other professionals with whom the child and family are known.
New wording under ‘information about the child’ will require the setting to demonstrate it ‘should’, where possible, hold more than two emergency contact numbers.
What do the changes mean for practice?
Recognition of personal circumstances and child vulnerabilities is critical when responding to child absenteeism. The shocking death of Sara Sharif, the ten-year-old girl abused and murdered by her father and stepmother in 2023, serves as a stark reminder for professionals that when the most vulnerable children are out of sight, their risks of harm intensify.
Sara's family and her mother, who was separated from her abusive father, were known to social care from 2010. Concerns about violence and domestic abuse towards Sara's mother and Sara's siblings perpetrated by her father were widely acknowledged.
An accurate and wider understanding of vulnerability
We must be able to understand and respond to children's vulnerabilities to counter risks when they are absent from settings. This also includes taking parents’/carers’ vulnerabilities into account. The recent annual report from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (2024) draws upon data and learning from case reviews where children have either died or experienced serious incidents because of abuse or neglect. One of its three spotlight themes is ‘pre-school children with parents with mental health needs’. This important research, as tragic as it is, serves to inform safeguarding practice, helping to highlight rising and current risks for the children with whom we work. Vulnerabilities that compromise children's safety and reduce parents’ protective factors may include parents’ adverse experiences past or present and their existing circumstances. These may manifest in several ways:
With a sharper focus on child absence and when viewing this through the lens of safeguarding, it is important to engage in effective strategies when working with parents and carers. Here are some strategies that serve as a basis for good practice:
case study: Rachel O'Neil, head teacher, Hoyle Nursery School, Bury
I asked Rachel O'Neil, head teacher at Hoyle Nursery School in Bury, how they address absenteeism and work with parents to support children's safeguarding needs.
‘At Hoyle Nursery, while we understand that attendance at this stage is not statutory, we are committed to promoting positive attendance habits from an early age.
‘We ask that parents notify us of any absence, such as illness, on the day their child is due to attend and ideally before the start of their session. If we haven't heard from a parent by the close of the register, we will proactively make contact. If we're unable to reach the first emergency contact, we proceed to the second and usually have at least three contacts listed. If all attempts are unsuccessful, we may conduct a doorstep visit to ensure the child and family are safe and well.
‘Absence is taken seriously, particularly as a significant number of our children fall within the safeguarding remit. We monitor attendance every two weeks using a RAG-rated system within an Excel spreadsheet to identify patterns or concerns. Where dips or irregularities in attendance are noted, we reach out to parents for an informal and supportive discussion. If there is no improvement within two weeks, we follow up with a letter highlighting the child's absences and invite the family in again for a further conversation.
‘We also meet termly with our local-authority-assigned attendance lead to review persistent absences and overall trends. Our procedures are aligned with statutory guidance, including Working together to improve school attendance, and are clearly outlined in our attendance policy.
‘When assessing safeguarding risks, we consider the child's individual needs, developmental stage, previous safeguarding history and any known vulnerabilities – such as speech and language delays, special educational needs, or emotional and behavioural challenges. We also take into account the wider context, including parents’ or carers’ vulnerabilities.
‘As safeguarding lead I ensure that any concerns are logged, monitored and, when needed, shared with agencies.
‘We are also acutely aware that prolonged or unexplained absences can be a red flag. One significant case involved a child who had been off for over a week. Initially, we had some contact with the mother, but this stopped abruptly. Concerned, we conducted a home visit and discovered that the mother had experienced a mental health crisis. The home environment had deteriorated, and the children were left to care for themselves. Emergency services were called. A referral was made to Children's Social Care, and the children were temporarily placed with their grandparents while the mother received hospital treatment.’
