Lead-level safeguarding for the people concerns come to — registered managers, designated leads, nominated individuals and head-office leads handling allegations and recruitment, in any setting: care homes, domiciliary care, supported living, children's services and the head office itself. Adults and children in one course: the Care Act 2014 and the Section 42 enquiry, the Children Act and Working Together 2026, thresholds and referral quality, receiving disclosures as the lead, allegations against staff through the LADO and PiPoT routes, the legal DBS referral duty, safer recruitment, whistleblowing, information sharing, multi-agency conferences and plans, Safeguarding Adults Reviews and child safeguarding practice reviews, and the devolved frameworks in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
What this course covers
- Describe what lead responsibility adds at Level 3: deciding, referring, recording and accounting for safeguarding responses across adults' and children's frameworks
- Apply the Care Act 2014 three-part test and explain how a Section 42 enquiry runs, including the provider's part when the local authority causes an enquiry to be made
- Navigate the children's framework — the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and Working Together 2026 — and choose the right route between Family Help, section 17 and section 47
- Receive a disclosure as the lead: immediate safety, evidence preservation, recording that stands up, and a referral the local authority can act on
- Manage an allegation against a member of staff through the LADO (children) and PiPoT (adults) routes, including suspension decisions and the legal DBS referral duty
- Run safer recruitment and a speak-up culture from the office: checks, references, low-level concerns, whistleblowing and escalation beyond the organisation
- Contribute effectively to multi-agency work — strategy discussions, conferences, protection plans — and to Safeguarding Adults Reviews and child safeguarding practice reviews
- State how the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland frameworks differ and where they take precedence
What's in each section
Level 3 Safeguarding: Designated Lead (Adults & Children) runs across 18 sections, each ending in a quick knowledge check:
- Level 3: When the Concern Comes to You
- The Adult Framework: the Care Act and the Three-Part Test
- Section 42 in Practice: Who Does What in an Enquiry
- The Children's Framework: the Children Act to Working Together 2026
- Thresholds: Choosing the Right Route for a Child
- Receiving a Disclosure as the Lead
- Referral Quality: Writing What the Local Authority Can Act On
- Capacity, Consent and Sharing Information
- Allegations Against Staff: Children — the LADO Route
- Allegations Against Staff: Adults — People in Positions of Trust
- The DBS Referral: a Legal Duty, Not a Judgement Call
- Safer Recruitment: Safeguarding From the Office
- Whistleblowing and Escalation Beyond the Organisation
- Multi-Agency Working: Meetings, Conferences and Plans
- Harms a Lead Must Read: From Domestic Abuse to Exploitation
- When It Goes Wrong: SARs and Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews
- Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: Where the Law Differs
- Leading It Well: Your First Thirty Days
How much does Level 3 Safeguarding: Designated Lead (Adults & Children) training cost?
£7.98 per person (2 credits) on Care2Learn, with no minimum order and no subscription. If your team needs a full training matrix rather than one course, a subscription from £1.99 per learner per month — one flat team rate, set by your team’s size — covers every course in the catalogue. See the 2026 price comparison.
Who needs it
Anyone who holds lead safeguarding responsibility — the person concerns come to: registered managers, designated safeguarding leads, deputies, nominated individuals, and office-based leads such as HR and recruitment managers who handle allegations against staff, DBS referrals and safer recruitment. It serves every setting — care homes, domiciliary care, supported living, children's services and the head office itself — and covers adults and children together, because real organisations answer for both. In UK safeguarding training convention, built on the intercollegiate competency frameworks, Level 3 is for people with lead responsibility; staff who only need to recognise and report are served by our Level 2 Safeguarding Adults and Safeguarding Children courses, and this course expects that knowledge. It contributes to the suggested eight hours of Level 3 learning over a three-year cycle; no single e‑learning course completes that cycle on its own. Completion is recorded with the date taken and the date it is next due, so it appears correctly on your training matrix.
What the learner receives
A certificate in their own name carrying our CPD Member badge (The CPD Certification Service), showing the completion date and the renewal date, downloadable at any time. The record belongs to the learner, not just the employer — it travels with them rather than sitting in one provider's system.
Related courses
The Level 2 courses are the foundation this course assumes; the adults-only leads course goes deeper on Section 42 casework.
- Safeguarding Adults — 60 min online, £3.99 per person
- Safeguarding Children — 45 min online, £3.99 per person
- Safeguarding Adults for Managers and Leads — 60 min online, £3.99 per person
- Contextual Safeguarding — 40 min online, £3.99 per person
You can also browse the full catalogue of 83 courses, or read about the Care Certificate for staff new to care.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Level 3 Safeguarding: Designated Lead (Adults & Children) training take?
About 90 min of e‑learning, across 18 sections with 13 assessment questions. Learners can stop and resume at any point, and it works on a phone.
Is Level 3 Safeguarding: Designated Lead (Adults & Children) CPD Aligned, and how is it assessed?
Yes — it is CPD Aligned, and the certificate carries our CPD Member badge. The assessment is multiple choice with a pass mark of 70%; attempts are recorded and learners can retake it. Renewal defaults to 12 months from the completion date — your organisation can set 24 or 36 months per course — so it reappears on your training matrix when it is due.
Who is Level 3 actually for — and is it right for office staff?
Level 3 is for people who hold lead responsibility: the ones concerns are reported to, who decide the route, manage allegations and account for the response. That includes office-based leads — registered managers working from head office, HR managers handling allegations and DBS referrals, nominated individuals. General office staff such as receptionists and administrators sit at Level 1 in the competency frameworks: they need awareness training, not this course. If in doubt, ask who the concern would be brought to — that person is your Level 3 audience.
Does it cover both adults and children?
Yes, deliberately — it is our first course to teach both frameworks at lead level: the Care Act 2014 and Section 42 enquiries on the adults side, and the Children Act, Working Together 2026 and KCSIE 2026 on the children's side, with thresholds, referral quality, allegations routes (LADO and PiPoT), the DBS referral duty, safer recruitment, whistleblowing, multi-agency conferences and learning reviews across both.
Is it up to date with Working Together 2026?
Yes. The course teaches Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 — published March 2026, replacing the 2023 edition — including Family Help, the strengthened expectations on identifying and challenging racism and discrimination, and the sharper focus on babies, domestic abuse and cumulative harm. It also reflects KCSIE 2026, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and the 2024 second edition of the adult safeguarding competency framework.
Does one 90-minute course make someone 'Level 3 trained'?
We are straight about this where some providers are not: the adults competency framework suggests around eight hours of Level 3 learning over a three-year cycle, and no single e‑learning course completes it. This course is a strong, evidenced contribution to that cycle — supervision, multi-agency training and learning from published reviews make up the rest, and the course's final section gives leads a thirty-day plan that starts exactly there.
What does it cover for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?
The course teaches the English framework in detail and carries a dedicated devolved-frameworks section: the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 — whose section 128 and 130 reporting duties bind the local authority's public-body partners — and the Wales Safeguarding Procedures providers report under; Scotland's Adult Support and Protection Act 2007, GIRFEC and the National Guidance for Child Protection; Northern Ireland's SBNI procedures; and the PVG and AccessNI vetting schemes. Learners in Wales and Scotland also see a nation notice on the course itself.
Start Level 3 Safeguarding: Designated Lead (Adults & Children) today
£7.98 per person pay-as-you-go — buy it for yourself, or put your whole team on a subscription from £1.99 per learner a month.
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