Section 3 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 will require the safeguarding partners in each area to set up one or more multi-agency child protection teams, to support the local authority's child protection enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989. When we checked legislation.gov.uk on 20 October 2026, section 3 was in force only for making regulations, so the duty does not apply yet. The DfE's policy summary says the aim is for the teams to come into force in 2027, after public consultation on the regulations.
The idea is already reflected in the guidance. Working Together 2026 says practitioners across agencies responsible for child protection decision-making should come together as an integrated team to support the local authority's section 47 duty (paragraph 247), and that child protection should be led by expert social workers supported by multi-agency practitioners (paragraph 249).
For a school, nothing changes yet. The DSL still refers to children's social care, contributes to strategy discussions and section 47 enquiries when asked, and attends conferences. Who sits in the teams, and how education is involved, will be set out in regulations and guidance that haven't been published.
Some areas already run multi-agency teams at the front door, such as a MASH. They are local arrangements, not the teams in the Act.