Everyone working with or connected to children should take allegations of harm and abuse against children and young people seriously. Any adult working or volunteering with children and young people, at some point, may be the subject of an allegation that they have harmed a child or behaved in a way that suggests they may present a risk to children. This is a difficult position for all involved.

Every Local Authority has a statutory responsibility to have a LADO who is responsible for co-ordinating the response to concerns that an adult who works with children may have caused them harm. A child is a person under the age of 18 years. The criteria for making a referral to LADO are that an individual has:

Behaved in a way that has harmed a child or may have harmed a child.
Possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child.
Behaved towards a child/children in a way that indicates they may pose risk of harm to children.
Behaved or may behave in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children.
The completed LADO referral form should be emailed to the LADO inbox:

All employers should identify a Designated Senior Manager (DSM) to whom allegations or concerns should be reported and a deputy in his/ her absence or if he/ she is the subject of the allegation.

All allegations should be reported by the Designated Senior Manager to the LADO on the same working day.

Employers should refer to the Safeguarding Toolkit for more information.

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