Deputy designated safeguarding lead: duties, cover, training

A deputy designated safeguarding lead (deputy DSL) does the daily work of the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) when the DSL is busy, away or on another campus. They listen to staff who raise a worry, write it down, and help decide the next step.

English guidance, called Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE), says a DSL can hand activities to trained deputies. It also says the DSL or a deputy should always be available to staff during school hours in term time.

KCSIE leaves the choice of having deputies to each school. Outside England the rules differ by country, accreditor and owner, so check all three. For the DSL's own duties, read the DSL role in an international school.

Even where no rule asks for a deputy, one DSL cannot cover every school day. Illness, a family emergency or a school trip can leave staff with nobody to ask.

Choose someone staff already trust and can find. A deputy needs enough standing to be taken seriously by a head of department, a coach or a parent.

Spread deputies across the school. Put one on each campus or in each phase, such as primary and secondary, so no concern waits for someone to travel.

Think about conflicts too. Your policy should say who takes a concern about the DSL or a deputy, and who steps in when a deputy is close to the person involved.

Put the role in the deputy's job description, as KCSIE asks. Then give them real time in the week to do it.

Write the split down. A split that lives in people's heads fails the first week someone is ill.

KCSIE says the DSL can delegate activities but keeps the lead responsibility for child protection. A deputy does the tasks, and the DSL still answers for the result.

A simple split by task works for most schools. Agree it once, put it in both job descriptions and review it each term. For where other staff fit around the two of you, see safeguarding team structure in an international school.

The International Taskforce on Child Protection (ITFCP) shares a child protection and safeguarding plan template you can use to record the split.

• Deputy: takes concerns from staff on their campus and records them the same day
• Deputy: reads the concerns log each morning and chases open actions
• Deputy: joins meetings with outside agencies when the DSL cannot
• DSL: holds the final say on referrals, with a named deputy deciding when the DSL is away
• DSL: reports to the Head and the board and owns the yearly policy review
• Both: use one record system and meet for 20 minutes each week

Each campus needs a trained person staff can reach in minutes. A worry raised on a Tuesday afternoon cannot wait for a DSL in another city.

Publish one list with names, photos, room numbers and phone numbers. KCSIE says staff should learn who the DSL and deputies are at induction, so put the list in the staff handbook and on every staffroom wall.

Use one record system and one set of rules on every site. A child who moves between campuses, or has a sibling on another one, should not end up with two partial files. Recording a concern the same way everywhere also makes handovers easy.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) advises larger schools to build a team of senior staff who can each take on the role.

Set cover by local hours at each site. A DSL in one country may be asleep when a concern lands on a campus in another.

Write a rota that names a first contact and a second contact for every site. Add cover for trips, residentials, boarding houses and every school break, because KCSIE asks schools to arrange adequate cover for out-of-hours and out-of-term activity. Many staff travel home at the same time, so check who can be reached, and where.

Add a confidential shared mailbox that more than one trained person reads. KCSIE 2026 gives this as an example of cover when the DSL is away. Staff phone the person on call for anything urgent.

If a child is in immediate danger, call local emergency services first. Then follow your school's child protection procedure and tell the DSL or a deputy the same day. Reporting duties also differ by country, so check each site with local counsel or the authorities, starting with mandatory reporting laws.

KCSIE says deputies should be trained to the same standard as the DSL. That formal training should be updated at least every two years.

Between courses, KCSIE asks DSLs and deputies to refresh their knowledge at least once a year. Reading bulletins and meeting other DSLs both count.

English courses teach English referral routes, so add the local picture yourself. Ask local contacts who takes a report and how to reach them, then write that into your policy.

The NSPCC, the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) all run safeguarding training. Ask your accreditor which courses it recognises.

A good course covers the areas below.

• Your own policy and reporting route
• Local referral routes, laws and agencies in each country you work in
• Recording concerns, decisions and the reasons for them
• Information sharing and data protection law
• Online safety, including filtering and monitoring
• Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
• Prevent awareness, which KCSIE lists for DSLs and deputies

Tell staff who is covering, in plain words.

Try this: 'From Monday to Friday, our deputy DSL is your first contact for any worry about a child. Their number is on the staff list. If you cannot reach them, tell a senior leader straight away.'

Give the deputy clear words too. For example: 'You decide, and you write down why. I will read your notes when I am back, and you and I will go through them together.'

Then hold a ten-minute handover before the DSL leaves. It should cover the points below.

• Open cases, with the next action and date for each
• Children who need closer watching this week
• Calls or meetings with outside agencies that are due
• Where records are kept and who can open them
• Who covers if the deputy is away too
• How to reach the DSL, and which matters justify it

When the DSL returns, read every note made during the gap. Ask the deputy to explain each decision and the reason for it. Fix any gaps in the record then, while memory is fresh.

Test the list each term. Ask five staff on different campuses who they would go to and how they would reach that person. If two cannot answer, fix the list.

Try a drill too. Send a made-up concern with no real names to the shared mailbox at an odd hour, and tell the team first. Note how long a trained person takes to reply.

Count the school days when neither the DSL nor a deputy could be reached, and report that number to your Head and the board each term. Deputies carry hard cases too, so make sure they have someone outside the school to talk to.