Strengthening Children’s Wellbeing through Strategic Compliance and Technology

Children Act 1989 (England): This Act established the legislative foundation for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in England. It requires local authorities and relevant partners to cooperate in making arrangements to improve children's wellbeing, covering physical and mental health, protection from harm, education and training, social and economic wellbeing, and contribution to society. The Act is built on four core principles: 

• That the child's welfare is paramount;
• Children should be safe and protected from harm;
• Intervention should support families to care for their children, and
• Children's wishes and feelings must be taken into account. 

The Act established Local Safeguarding Children Boards (later replaced by safeguarding partnerships) and introduced the duty to make arrangements to promote cooperation between agencies. 

Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014: Scotland's framework focuses on children's rights and wellbeing through the SHANARRI indicators (Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, Included). The Act introduced the Named Person service, requiring local authorities and health boards to ensure every child has a named person responsible for promoting their wellbeing. It also established the Child's Plan as a tool for planning and coordinating support when a child needs targeted intervention. 

Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014: This Act established a modern social care framework in Wales, prioritising individual wellbeing and early intervention. It introduced a National Outcomes Framework to support consistent expectations and improved decision-making in children's services. Local authorities are legally required to work collaboratively with agencies such as health boards and policing to enhance children's physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. 

Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (England) – In Progress: Building on multiple children's legislations, the UK Government is advancing the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to strengthen protections for children and improve educational outcomes. Expected provisions include enhanced safeguarding duties, reforms to support children with SEND, and measures to improve mental health support in schools. This legislative development signals a continued commitment to placing children's wellbeing at the heart of policy and service delivery, reinforcing the need for integrated, digitally-enabled approaches that can respond to evolving statutory requirements. 

Technology plays a pivotal role in ensuring legislative requirements are fully integrated into daily practice.

1. Embedding Legislative Requirements into Workflows 
   Mosaic can standardise care pathways to reflect statutory duties, from safeguarding checks to sufficiency planning, ensuring that legislation underpins every action across the UK. Similarly, Synergy embeds education workflows, supporting schools and local authorities to meet requirements around mental health support, attendance monitoring, and SEND provision. Together, these solutions ensure that compliance is built into everyday practice rather than treated as a separate administrative task.
   
   
2. Facilitating Multi-Agency Collaboration 
   Facilitating Multi-Agency Collaboration With statutory duties for collaboration under Welsh, Scottish, and English legislation, Mosaic's integrated data-sharing capabilities enable secure, timely coordination among education, health, policing, and social care professionals. Core+ extends this collaborative approach across the entire local authority, connecting departments and services to support joined-up working on complex cases. Designed to meet Youth Justice Board requirements, Core+ ensures compliance with AssetPlus assessment frameworks while facilitating secure information sharing across youth justice partnerships. Synergy further strengthens multi-agency partnerships by facilitating information sharing between schools, SEND teams, and health professionals, ensuring that every child receives coordinated support across education, health, and care settings. Together, these solutions create a connected ecosystem where professionals can work seamlessly across organisational boundaries while maintaining data security and compliance.
   
   
3. Planning for Sufficiency and Not-for-Profit Transition 
   Mosaic’s case and provider management features help councils and organisations track care capacity ensuring continuity and sufficiency in care provision.
   
   
4. Enabling Reporting and Auditability 
   Robust digital records provide real-time visibility on outcomes and compliance, enabling data-driven decision-making and transparency in line with safeguarding, sufficiency, and children’s rights requirements.

By embedding legislative requirements into daily workflows, our technology solutions deliver stronger regulatory assurance, ensuring councils meet inspection and audit expectations confidently across all service areas. 

Mosaic maintains a focus on delivering supportive, rights-based care across children's social care, directly improving wellbeing outcomes for children and young people. The platform streamlines processes and reduces administrative burdens, allowing social workers to dedicate more time to direct care rather than paperwork, while providing strategic insight through robust data and reporting capabilities. 

Synergy enhances educational outcomes by ensuring timely identification and support for SEND learners, supporting statutory compliance with Education, Health and Care Plans, and facilitating early intervention that improves long-term prospects for children with additional needs. 

Core+ empowers youth services teams to deliver targeted support aligned with the Child First approach, enabling effective tracking of outcomes, engagement monitoring, and evidence-based intervention planning. The system supports proactive planning and transparent management  to local authority-led youth justice and support services.

At The Access Group, we empower councils and organisations to adapt with confidence to evolving legal and ethical standards. Our solutions enable compliance with both the letter and spirit of UK legislation, ensuring that children's wellbeing remains central to social care delivery. 

We understand that legislative compliance is not just about meeting statutory requirements – it's about creating the conditions for better outcomes. That's why our platforms are built in partnership with practitioners, designed to support frontline professionals in doing their best work while maintaining the rigorous standards that children and families deserve. From initial assessment through to case closure, our technology enables the joined-up, outcome-focused approach that modern legislation demands. 

As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve, we remain committed to ensuring our solutions keep you ahead of the curve. We work closely with local authorities, health services, and youth support teams across England, Scotland, and Wales to ensure our platforms reflect the unique legislative contexts of each nation while supporting seamless collaboration across borders.