Over the past year, the Safeguarding in Higher Education (HE) Network has continued to provide an important space for colleagues across the sector to share practice, explore emerging challenges and reflect on the realities of safeguarding within increasingly complex university environments.
The Ann Craft Trust facilitates the network along with colleagues from the Universities of Nottingham and Westminster. The Network brings together safeguarding leads, practitioners, and partners from universities, colleges, student sport bodies, and apprenticeship providers.
Network meetings in October 2025, December 2025, and March 2026 highlighted a number of consistent themes shaping safeguarding practice across HE.
Responding to E6: Harassment and Sexual Misconduct
A key focus across Network meetings has been the ongoing implementation of the Office for Students’ Condition E6, particularly in relation to harassment and sexual misconduct. Members shared examples of progress alongside persistent challenges in delivering robust and practical approaches.
Institutions reflected on how complex it is to deliver safeguarding and consent training at scale. This is particularly challenging for large and diverse student and staff populations.
Members discussed approaches including:
- Hybrid delivery models
- Co‑delivery with students’ unions
- Targeting low‑completion cohorts
- Careful use of content warnings and opt‑out mechanisms
There was strong consensus that training must be meaningful and contextualised, rather than solely compliance‑driven.
Alongside training, members discussed:
- Practical issues around precautionary measures
- Mediation capacity
- Legal considerations
- Single points of contact
A recurring theme was the pressure on safeguarding teams to balance regulatory expectations with limited capacity and growing demand.
Safeguarding Governance, Capacity, and Role Creep
Safeguarding governance and capacity pressures featured strongly throughout the year. Network members described a wide range of institutional models. These included single Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) with deputies, and distributed safeguarding networks embedded within faculties or colleges.
Many institutions noted that safeguarding roles are expanding well beyond student‑focused work. They may also encompass staff safeguarding concerns, research activities, events involving children. A safeguarding lead may also have to deal with radicalisation and modern slavery, meaning they may have to liaise with security or external agencies. While this reflects increased organisational awareness, members also highlighted risks associated with role clarity, sustainability, and practitioner wellbeing.
Members identified effective governance arrangements as critical. Many institutions operate safeguarding steering groups reporting directly into senior leadership or risk committees. Members also consistently highlighted external supervision and “critical friend” support as valuable mechanisms for managing complexity, reflection, and emotional impact.
Safeguarding Under‑18s on Campus
Safeguarding under‑18s remained a significant area of discussion across Network meetings. Universities shared evolving approaches to admissions, accommodation guarantees, guardianship requirements, DBS‑checked roles, and enhanced support and monitoring arrangements.
Members discussed practical challenges including late admissions, lead times for DBS checks, verifying guardianship arrangements, and managing off‑campus risk. All recognise the benefits of clear policies, early communication with students and families, and sharing practice across institutions to promote consistency and reduce duplication of effort.
The Network also discussed sport and pre‑season activities involving under‑18s. Institutions noted differences in policy and capacity during pre‑term periods, when the support infrastructure may be limited.
Student Sport and Sector Collaboration
Safeguarding in student sport continued to be a prominent theme, with a focus on harms such as initiations and hazing. Updates from British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) highlighted developments including new reporting tools and case management systems. There was also clarification on the safeguarding responsibilities between BUCS and member institutions.
Network discussions explored safeguarding boundaries between universities, students’ unions, and sports bodies, as well as the importance of joined‑up working where concerns arise. The announcement of a forthcoming sector‑wide summit on hazing and harmful behaviours demonstrated the value of collaboration across HE, sport, and national governing bodies.
Apprenticeship Safeguarding and Shared Responsibilities
Members identified safeguarding apprenticeship students as an ongoing challenge due to overlapping responsibilities between employers, universities, and training providers. Employers and institutions shared examples of good practice, including named safeguarding contacts, employer briefings, and joint decision‑making frameworks.
Clear agreements setting out leadership, escalation, and information‑sharing responsibilities were widely seen as essential, particularly where inconsistent approaches across providers can increase risk for learners and staff.
Training, Benchmarking and Workforce Development
Throughout the year, there was strong interest in improving consistency and quality in safeguarding training and workforce development across HE. Institutions shared different mandatory and role‑specific training models and reflected on engagement, refresh cycles, and cultural buy‑in.
Members expressed support for the Ann Craft Trust’s continued development of HE‑specific safeguarding training pathways, including Designated Safeguarding Lead provision and longer‑term work towards a Level 4 safeguarding framework. The potential value of sector‑wide benchmarking was also discussed as a way of supporting reflection on governance, training, reporting, and resourcing.
A Space for Shared Learning
Across all meetings, the Safeguarding in HE Network has continued to provide a trusted and non‑judgemental space where colleagues can share challenges as well as successes. The breadth of issues discussed reflects both the maturity of safeguarding practice in higher education and the significant pressures facing those leading this work.
By sharing learning, testing assumptions, and supporting one another, the Network plays an important role in strengthening safeguarding culture across the sector.
Join the Network
The Safeguarding in Higher Education Network next meets on 2 July 2026.
If you would like to join or find out more, please email anncrafttrust@nottingham.ac.uk.