Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026
Enacted on 29 April 2026, this act introduces a wide range of reforms to children’s social care, safeguarding and education. This article focuses on Section 1 of the act which outlines one of the key changes now in force: the new requirement for the Local Authority to offer a Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) meeting before making an application for a care order or supervision order under the Children Act 1989.
What does this mean in practice?
Before issuing care proceedings, the Local Authority must offer a FGDM meeting to the child’s parents or anyone else with parental responsibility. This offer must be referred to in the Letter Before Proceedings (LBP) sent to parents.
If the offer is accepted by at least one person, the meeting must ordinarily be held before proceedings are issued. However, the duty to offer or hold a FGDM does not apply where the Local Authority considers that doing so would not be in the child’s best interests.
What happens at the meeting?
The child’s family network will be brought together to discuss the child’s welfare needs, develop any proposals to address present concerns. Where appropriate, the child may also attend the meeting. The Local Authority must, so far as reasonably practicable and consistent with the child’s welfare, ascertain and have regard to the child’s wishes and feelings.
Perspective
From a public law perspective, this reform places a stronger emphasis on early family involvement before court proceedings are commenced. It will be interesting to see how this reform influences the volume and timing of care proceedings. Whilst these reforms aim to support families earlier on, the legislation recognises that this will not be suitable in every case, preserving the Local Authority ability to proceed without an FGDM whereby doing so would not be in the child’s best interests.
The future
This article has focused on the reforms introduced by Section 1 of the Children’s Wellbeing and School’s Act 2026, which introduced the requirement for Family Group Decision-Making before certain care proceedings, which came into force on 15 July 2026.
However, Section 1 represents only one aspect of a much wider programme of reform. The Act contains a number of additional measures relating to children’s social care, safeguarding, kinship care and support for care leavers. Whilst some provisions have already commenced, others remain prospective and are expected to be brought into force in phases. The Local Authority and practitioners should therefore continue to monitor future developments as implementation of the Act progresses.
As these reforms continue to develop, organisations involved in public law children proceedings will need to ensure that their practices remain aligned with the evolving legislative framework and accompanying statutory guidance.
Need advice about Local Authority involvement with your family?
Our Public Law Children team can provide advice and support if Children’s Services are involved with your family, including during the pre-proceedings process and care proceedings. Get in touch 01642 777 680
