Professionals
Freedom Charity · Professional training
Professional safeguarding
The first response matters.
Specialist training and practical safeguarding information for people responding to forced marriage, FGM, Dishonour Abuse, virginity testing, hymenoplasty and related harmful practices.
Core practice
Recognise, respond, protect
- see the person alone where it is safe to do so;
- establish immediate danger and whether the person can speak safely;
- use open, non-leading questions;
- explain confidentiality and its limits;
- record the person’s own words accurately;
- consider multiple perpetrators, siblings and other people at risk;
- use an independent accredited interpreter where needed;
- follow statutory and organisational safeguarding procedures;
- share information lawfully and proportionately where needed to protect someone;
- do not promise an outcome that your role cannot deliver.
By profession
What the issues mean for you
Police
Consider the whole pattern, not just the latest incident. Preserve digital/travel evidence, identify connected suspects, use specialist HBA/FGM/FM expertise, consider FMPOs/FGMPOs and build evidence-led cases where victims are frightened or reluctant.
Social workers
Map family-network risk, use child/adult safeguarding powers, consider siblings and adults at risk, coordinate strategy discussions and avoid mediation with alleged perpetrators.
Teachers & DSLs
Understand forced-marriage travel risk, FGM mandatory reporting, safe handling of disclosures and when parental contact is unsafe.
Doctors, nurses & midwives
Recognise FGM, sexual and reproductive coercion, virginity-testing pressure, capacity and mental-health impact; fulfil mandatory-reporting and wider safeguarding duties.
Universities
Adult students may face forced marriage, family surveillance, financial control and overseas abandonment. Student-support and safeguarding teams need clear referral routes.
Lawyers & courts
Know the civil protection routes, criminal offences, legal-aid possibilities, confidentiality issues, special measures and cross-border dimensions.
Employers
Recognise unexplained absence, workplace surveillance, control of earnings and family attendance at work as possible safeguarding indicators.
Community & faith bodies
Reject coercion, do not mediate active safeguarding cases and know when to refer to statutory agencies.
Policy teams
Use precise definitions, distinguish police-recorded crime from prevalence, and test whether policy changes improve identification, protection and prosecution.
Law and orders
The essentials professionals should know
Forced marriage is criminalised across the UK. In England and Wales, FMPOs can be obtained urgently and breach carries up to five years’ imprisonment.
FGM is illegal and FGMPOs provide civil protection; core FGM offences can carry up to 14 years. The England and Wales FGM mandatory-reporting duty applies to defined known cases involving girls under 18 encountered by specified professionals.
Virginity testing and hymenoplasty are illegal across the UK. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 contains provisions for statutory guidance and a definition of “honour-based abuse” (sections 143–144). Legislation.gov.uk currently marks these sections prospective; check commencement before relying on them as operative duties. They do not create a standalone honour-based abuse offence.
Official sources
Check the law behind the training.
Professionals should use the law and guidance that apply to their role and nation. These official sources distinguish criminal offences, civil protection orders, mandatory reporting and safeguarding decisions.
Forced marriage protection
HMCTS guidance on FMPOs covers applications, emergency orders and breach in England and Wales. See Freedom’s forced marriage guide for warning signs, overseas risks and safeguarding context.
FGM reporting
Home Office procedural guidance explains the specific mandatory-reporting duty in England and Wales. Suspected risk and defined known cases must not be confused. Freedom’s FGM guide explains risk, law, protection and routes to help.
Virginity testing and hymenoplasty
Government multi-agency guidance explains the UK-wide offences and safer professional responses.
Dishonour Abuse and statutory terminology
Freedom uses Dishonour Abuse. The Crime and Policing Act 2026, sections 143–144, uses the term “honour-based abuse” for statutory guidance and its accompanying definition. The provisions do not establish a standalone HBA offence.
Cases
What prosecution history teaches
FGM prosecutions in 2019, 2023 and 2024 show the importance of medical evidence, international evidence, digital communications and early intervention. Forced-marriage and FMPO-breach cases show why protection orders need enforcement and why cases sometimes require evidence beyond the victim’s oral testimony.
Case examples should be used to improve practice, not to imply that prosecution numbers measure prevalence.
Plan professional learning
Training built around real decisions.
Freedom can discuss tailored sessions for teams who may encounter forced marriage, FGM, Dishonour Abuse and related coercion. Agree the audience and safeguarding aims first so the session can focus on decisions people may need to take in their actual roles.
Before a session
Share the roles attending, the issues your organisation encounters and the local referral pathway. Confirm any accessibility or interpreter needs and what internal guidance staff must use alongside the training.
During a session
Work through warning signs, barriers to disclosure, family-network risks, information sharing and the consequences of unsafe responses. Case scenarios should be discussed without exposing identifiable details about people your team supports.
After a session
Turn learning into local practice: know your safeguarding lead, specialist contacts, escalation procedure, records policy and route for urgent action. Any evaluation or follow-up should measure what changed, rather than just attendance.
Training
Freedom’s professional work
Freedom delivers tailored sessions for education, local authorities, health and social care, police and justice, charities, public bodies and other frontline services. Training can cover warning signs, barriers to disclosure, safer enquiry, information sharing, overseas risk, professional duties and actions that may increase danger.
Training complements — and does not replace — statutory duties, local procedures or current government guidance. Freedom will not imply CPD or other accreditation unless it has been specifically confirmed for the session.
Before you enquire
Common training questions.
Can sessions be tailored to our team?
Explain who is attending and what decisions they need to make. Police officers, teachers, social workers, clinicians and employers have different duties, so one generic response is not enough.
Does a course replace our local procedure?
No. Training must sit alongside current law, professional obligations, local safeguarding procedures and your organisation’s escalation arrangements.
What about accreditation?
Ask Freedom what, if any, certification is available for the proposed session. Do not assume CPD or another accreditation applies unless it has been specifically confirmed.
How do we arrange training?
Contact Freedom with your organisation, location, intended audience, topics and approximate group size. The team can discuss the appropriate format and confirm current availability and arrangements.
Freedom Charity
Built to be checked.
Freedom Charity was co-founded in 2009 by Aneeta Prem MBE and Lord Toby Harris. The charity’s public record connects safeguarding, education, books, technology, campaigns, professional training, policy and routes to help. Where Freedom reports its own reach, it labels it as Freedom data; where an external source verifies a milestone, the source is linked.