What is Operation Encompass, and what do schools need to do?

What it is

Operation Encompass is an information-sharing scheme between the police and education settings. When officers attend a domestic abuse incident, they tell the school of each child connected to the household, so that staff know what has happened and can support the child from the start of the next school day.

It started in 2010 as a voluntary scheme, set up by David and Elisabeth Carney-Haworth, and ran in all 43 police forces in England and Wales before it became law. Section 20 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 inserted section 49A into the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and that section came into force on 7 November 2025. It requires every chief officer of police to have arrangements so that, where an officer has reasonable grounds to believe a child may be a victim of domestic abuse, the child’s school is notified as soon as reasonably practicable.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 recognises children as victims in their own right if they see, hear or experience the effects of domestic abuse. Notifications cover every child connected to the household, including children who weren’t there at the time and children who live in another household some or all of the time.

Local arrangements vary

The duty is on the police. Each force has its own process and system for sending notifications, by phone, email or another secure electronic route (Home Office statutory guidance). Some forces also notify the local authority. How your school receives, records and acts on notifications should be set out in your child protection policy and agreed with your local force and safeguarding partnership. The national rules are below.

What it means for schools

KCSIE 2026 says the duty “places no new responsibilities on education settings” (Annex A). Schools use the information within their existing safeguarding duties.

The duty covers children from reception up to age 17 at registered primary and secondary schools, including independent schools, alternative provision, further education colleges and 16 to 19 academies. Where a child is home educated or missing education, the police must notify the local authority instead. Early years settings aren’t covered by the duty, but forces can choose to notify them.

The Key Adult

The Home Office statutory guidance says notifications must only be shared with trained Key Adults, which specifically include the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and their deputy. KCSIE says the DSL is likely to be the Key Adult, and that DSLs may wish to use a central safeguarding inbox so they have oversight of every notification.

The Operation Encompass charity runs Online National Key Adult Training, which KCSIE points schools to. Make sure your force has the current contact details for your Key Adults, especially after staff changes.

When notifications arrive

The notification should be made before the start of the next school day after the incident. In exceptional circumstances where that isn’t possible, it should be made as soon as possible. After weekends and school breaks, it should arrive before the start of the next school day. Over the summer holiday the police should still notify as soon as possible, and should consider notifying the local authority too.

What a notification contains

KCSIE 2026 and the Home Office guidance say a notification should include:

• the child’s name, date of birth and protected characteristics
• the child’s relationship to the victim and to the alleged perpetrator
• the police reference number
• the location, time and date of the incident
• whether the child was present and, if so, where they were
• the voice of the child: what they said and how they were behaving
• the context, including whether there was an arrest, whether the incident was attended in person or by video, and previous incidents where possible

It must not include information about sexual offences disclosed at the incident, because victims of sexual offences have a legal right to anonymity.

What the school does

There is no single national procedure for schools. A typical response, within KCSIE’s framework, is:

1. Read it promptly. The Key Adult checks for notifications at the start of each school day and reads them as soon as they arrive.
2. Record it on the child’s child protection file, confidentially and securely. KCSIE says notifications must be held securely and in line with data protection law.
3. Decide what support the child needs that day, and which staff need to know. Share on a need-to-know basis.
4. Be available to the child, without asking them to retell what happened. If they do talk, write down their words exactly.
5. Consider a referral. KCSIE says Operation Encompass “does not replace statutory safeguarding procedures or referrals”. If you are concerned about the child’s welfare, follow your usual procedures, and refer to children’s social care straight away if the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. If the police have already referred, they should tell the school.
6. Look at siblings in your school, and other settings they attend.

When there’s no notification

Operation Encompass only covers incidents the police attend, and much domestic abuse is never reported. KCSIE 2026 says children can see, hear or experience the effects of abuse at home, or suffer it in their own relationships, and that this can affect their health, wellbeing and “ability to learn” (Part one, paragraph 45). The NSPCC lists effects such as changes in behaviour or mood, slipping schoolwork, anxiety, including worry about a parent’s safety, withdrawal, aggression and being constantly on alert. None of these proves abuse, but any concern goes to the DSL in the usual way, notification or not. See signs of domestic abuse in children for more.

The Operation Encompass charity runs an advice line for education staff, listed in KCSIE Annex A as open 8am to 1pm, Monday to Friday, on 0204 513 9990.