Baroness Casey calls for immediate action to improve safeguarding: CBF response

On 3rd March 2026, Baroness Casey (who is currently chairing the independent commission on adult social care) wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, calling on him to take immediate action to improve adult safeguarding.  

In her letter, Baroness Casey stated that

“Among all the issues I have considered in the past year, one of the most concerning has been the abdication of responsibility, by successive governments, to protect people who are vulnerable and at risk of abuse. Instead of a robust national safeguarding system, serious safeguarding failures are addressed as isolated local problems, meaning the same concerns are identified repeatedly without national scrutiny, action, or consequences.” 

The CBF strongly supports this conclusion – the lack of a coordinated, national approach to safeguarding means that people with learning disabilities and their families continue to be harmed. 

Baroness Casey made two urgent recommendations:

1. Set up, immediately, a new National Safeguarding Board, chaired by the Chief Social Worker and reporting to the Minister for Social Care, which would have statutory responsibility for adult safeguarding: reviewing Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SAR), identifying national risks, and commissioning thematic reviews. 
2. Lead an urgent review of existing adult safeguarding statutory duties and powers, to test whether the current framework provides sufficient clarity and leverage in high-risk situations. 

In his response, the Health and Social Care Secretary announced that he would accept and take forward both of these recommendations.  

At the CBF, we fully support Baroness Casey’s call to improve adult safeguarding. On far too many occasions, adults with severe learning disabilities whose behaviour challenges across the country have been failed by ineffective adult safeguarding procedures, but – as Baroness Casey’s letter emphasises – these safeguarding failures have not led to national change. 

As this joint statement by the authors of safeguarding reviews into Winterbourne View, Cawston Park, Whorlton Hall and the Hesley Group highlights, safeguarding investigations continue to make the same recommendations. Currently, local safeguarding reviews identify issues and take action, but there is no mechanism for sharing this learning across areas.  This lack of co-ordination means that people with learning disabilities and their families continue to be harmed.  

The National Safeguarding Board is an opportunity to ensure that learning is not only taken on board locally, but is escalated and shared across the country so that these issues are addressed. As well as bringing together future safeguarding reviews, the Board should examine previously-commissioned reviews – the learning from these is still far too relevant, and this is an opportunity to ensure lessons are learnt and recommendations actioned. 

These failures in adult safeguarding are not isolated to abuse scandals. Safeguarding processes are not fit for purpose, as set out in our statement on the widespread use of contact orders. Reviewing the safeguarding duties and powers that can be used in high-risk situations is a positive start, but there should also be consideration of the wider framework and its effectiveness in upholding human rights. 

Support from the CBF 

Resources on our website 

The CBF has information available for anyone who has concerns about poor support or abuse which can be found here: 

When things go wrong 

Supporting organisations 

Family Support Service 

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this report, you can call the Family Support Service on 0300 666 0126  or email us at support@thecbf.org.uk 

We are open at the following times:  Monday – Thursday: 9am – 5pm | Friday: 9am – 3pm 

We offer information about challenging behaviour to anyone who provides support to a child, young person or adult with a severe learning disability. We can also signpost you to other specialist organisations and sources of information. 

Please note we are a small support service so you may not be able to get support straight away. We will support families with urgent concerns as a priority. Professionals are also welcome to contact the CBF.