National Guidance and Inquiry

This page provides links to statutory and national guidance from a number of different bodies. Click on the headings below to view the linked documents:

Department of Health and Social Care / HM Government

Home Office

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)

Local Government Association (LGA)

LGA and ADASS

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

Skills for Care and Skills for Health

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)

Think Local, Act Personal

Other Organisations

See also Provider Resources for Care Quality Commission Reports

Department of Health and Social Care / HM Government

Please note the Department of Health changed its name to Department of Health and Social Care in 2018.

• Accessible Information Standard: Making health and social care information accessible, NHS England
• Adult Safeguarding and Domestic Abuse: A Guide to Support Practitioners and Managers, Local Government Association
• A Vision for Adult Social Care – Think Local, Act Personal
• Blue Badge Scheme Local Authority Guidance (England)
• Care and Support Statutory Guidance, Department of Health and Social Care
• Female Genital Mutilation: Resource Pack, HM Government
• Guidance for Developing a Local Suicide Prevention Action Plan: Information for Public Health Staff in Local Authorities, Public Health England, 
• Guidance: Forced Marriage, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Office
• Information sharing: Advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services to children, young people, parents and carers, HM Government
• Improving healthcare access for people with learning disabilities (Public Health England)
• Heatwave Plan for England (PHE, DHSC and NHS)
• Managing Provider Failure chapter: Managing Care Home Closures: A Good Practice Guide for Local Authorities, Clinical Commissioning Groups, NHS England, Care Quality Commission, Providers and Partners (NHS England et al)
• Mental Capacity Code of Practice, Office of the Public Guardian
• Mental Capacity Act 2005: Deprivation of liberty safeguards – Code of Practice to supplement the main Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice, Ministry of Justice
• Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice, Department of Health
• Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat: Improving Outcomes for People Experiencing Mental Health Crisis, HM Government
• Multi-Agency Statutory Guidance on Female Genital Mutilation, Department for Education, Department of Health and Social Care and Home Office
• National Dementia Strategy, Department of Health
• National framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS funded nursing care, Department of Health, and Social Care
• New Horizons – A Shared Vision for Mental Health, HM Government
• No Secrets, Department of Health
• Our Care, Our Health, Our Say: A New Direction for Community Services, Department of Health
• Post-qualifying Standards for Social Work Practice Supervisors in Adult Social Care
• Prioritising Need in the Context of Putting People First, Department of Health
• Putting People First: A Shared Vision and Commitment to the Transformation of Adult Social Care, HM Government
• Safeguarding Adults Protocol: Pressure Ulcers and the interface with a Safeguarding Enquiry (Department of Health and Social Care)
• Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years – Statutory Guidance for Organisations who work with and support Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, Department for Education and Department of Health
• Statutory guidance for Local Authorities and NHS organisations to support implementation of the Adult Autism Strategy
• Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century, Department of Health
• What’s important to me: A Review of Choice in End of Life Care, The Choice in End of Life Care Programme Board
• What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused: Advice for practitioners,  HM Government
• Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, HM Government

Home Office

• Channel Guidance (Home Office)
• Criminal Exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: County Lines guidance

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

• Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities

Other National Guidance

Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)

• Safeguarding Standards: A National Framework of Standards for Good Practice and Outcomes in Adult Protection Work, ADASS 
• Financial Abuse and Scams: Guidance for Councillors, Directors, Managers and Social Work Practitioners, ADASS et al 

Local Government Association (LGA)

• Resources to support Making Safeguarding Personal

LGA and ADASS

• Ordinary Resident Guide

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

Click here to view all NICE Quick Guides on social care topics

• Autism spectrum disorder in adults: diagnosis and management
• Challenging behaviour and learning disabilities: prevention and interventions for people with learning disabilities whose behaviour challenges
• Coexisting severe mental illness and substance misuse: community health and social care services
• Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers
• Dementia: supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care
• Home care: delivering personal care and practical support to older people living in their own home
• Intermediate care including reablement
• Managing medicines in care homes
• Mental health problems in people with learning disabilities: prevention, assessment and management
• Older people with social care needs and multiple long-term conditions
• Oral health for adults in care homes
• People’s experience in adult social care services: improving the experience of care and support for people using adult social care services
• Transition between inpatient hospital settings and community or care home settings for adults with social care needs
• Transition between inpatient mental health and community and care home settings
• Transition from children’s to adults’ services for young people using health or social care services

Skills for Care and Skills for Health

• Care Certificate
• National Minimum Training Standards for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England
• Skills for Health: Standards
• Skills for Care

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)

See also Social Care Online – SCIE’s database of information and research on all aspects of social care and social work

• Adult Safeguarding Sharing Information 
• Assessment: Financial crime against vulnerable adults
• Care Act 2014: Beyond Compliance – Towards Excellence 
• Dignity in Care, 
• Gaining access to an adult suspected to be at risk of neglect or abuse: a guide for social workers and their managers in England
• Person-centred Care for Older People in Care Homes 
• Self-neglect and adult safeguarding: Findings from research

Think Local, Act Personal

Individual Service Funds (ISFs) and Contracting for Flexible Support Practice guidance to support implementation of the Care Act 2014 

Other Organisations

• Better Care Fund, Local Government Association
• Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years on (Institute of Health Equity)
• The Anti-Poverty Practice Guide for Social Work, British Association of Social Workers
• Whistleblowing Guidance for Workers and Employers in Health and Social Care, Whistleblowing Helpline