LADO Education Safeguarding Advisory Service (LESAS)
The County LADO service and Education Safeguarding Service merged in September 2024 following an evaluation of the two services. This decision aligns both services with the national ‘Working Together to Safeguarding Children’ agenda and will result in increased capacity to provide LADO and education safeguarding support to Kent education settings and the wider children’s workforce.
The LADO Education Safeguarding Advisory Service (LESAS) consists of qualified Social Work England registered social workers and education professionals, all of whom have extensive knowledge of safeguarding children - both in children’s social care and in a variety of education or other services.
Staying true to our core social work values, the ethos of those in the service means we will not compromise on children’s safety - placing the welfare of the child centrally in all of our thinking.
What we do
Our role is to continue and build upon the statutory LADO function for the whole of the children’s workforce and support education settings (early years settings, childminders, schools, and colleges) in Kent who work with children aged 0 to 18 to meet their safeguarding responsibilities and respond to safeguarding concerns.
Our team is made up of experienced social work and education professionals who have a thorough understanding of key local and national legislation and statutory guidance related to safeguarding and education safeguarding practice.
What we provide
We provide a variety of different types of support to education settings in Kent, this includes:
- Undertaking the LADO statutory function; primarily this involves managing the process when an allegation is made against a member of the children’s workforce, not just education specific, in Kent.
- Advice for education settings on how they can meet their safeguarding responsibilities, including online safety specific advice, through an enquiries service. This does not include queries relating to individual children; in these cases, a request for support should be submitted to the Front Door Service.
- Up-to-date exemplar Child Protection policy and Acceptable Use Policy for education providers to adapt.
- Support for education settings in times of crisis and unexpected critical incidents, for example following the unexpected death of a child who attends the setting.
- A termly newsletter for Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) in education settings.
- Termly Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) ‘catch up’ meetings to share local information and guidance.
- Targeted outreach work and subsidised support for education settings following critical safeguarding needs.
The service can also be commissioned to provide a range of high-quality training and other safeguarding support products for DSLs and staff within the children’s workforce, including safeguarding reviews which promote best practice and empower education settings to ensure their learners are as safe as they can be. To see a comprehensive list of the training and other services we can be commissioned to provide, please see our training and other services menu
Contacting LESAS
If your concern relates to the welfare of a child: Please contact the Front Door Service through the Kent Integrated Children's Services Portal
If you need to make a referral to the LADO regarding an allegation against a member of staff: Please complete a LADO referral through the Kent Integrated Children's Services Portal
If you need clarification on whether to make a LADO referral, need general education safeguarding or online safety advice, or would like to enquiry about our training or other safeguarding products, please use the LESAS enquiry form
Please view the LESAS access to support flowchart (PDF, 122.9 KB).