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FGM Training: What Professionals in Health, Education and Social Care Need to Know, From the Reporting Duty to Choosing a Course

FGM training matters because a small number of professionals carry a personal legal duty most of their colleagues do not: if a girl under 18 discloses female genital mutilation, or a teacher, nurse, doctor or social worker sees signs of it, they must report it to the police themselves. Female genital mutilation is illegal in the UK and is child abuse. This page sets out the law, who the mandatory reporting duty covers and how it works, what a good FGM course should include, where to find free training, and how organisations should build it into safeguarding.

The law in brief

FGM covers all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs, for non-medical reasons. The World Health Organization classifies it into four types. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is an offence under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, and in Scotland under the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005.

The Serious Crime Act 2015 strengthened the 2003 Act. It added:

• an offence of failing to protect a girl from FGM, which applies to people with parental responsibility;
• FGM protection orders, which courts can make to protect a girl at risk, for example by surrendering passports;
• lifelong anonymity for victims;
• wider reach, so that taking a UK national or resident abroad for FGM is an offence;
• the mandatory reporting duty, in force since 31 October 2015.

The maximum sentence for carrying out FGM, or helping or arranging it, is 14 years in prison; for failing to protect a girl it is seven years.

The mandatory reporting duty

The duty applies in England and Wales to regulated health and social care professionals and to teachers. It is triggered by a known case: either the girl tells you she has had FGM, or you observe physical signs that appear to show it. It does not apply when a parent or someone else tells you about a girl, or to women aged 18 and over, or where you only suspect a girl is at risk. Those situations are handled through normal safeguarding procedures.

The report is made to the police by calling 101 and saying that you are making a report under the FGM mandatory reporting duty. The Home Office procedural information treats one month from when you first learn of the case as the outer limit, but expects reports to be made by the end of the next working day in most cases, and sooner where a girl is at immediate risk.

Key points training should make clear:

• The duty is personal. You cannot pass it to the designated safeguarding lead, although you should tell them and follow internal procedures.
• Teachers must not examine. For teachers the duty covers disclosure or something seen in the normal course of work; they should never carry out or ask for an examination.
• Failure to report is a professional matter. It is not a criminal offence, but it is dealt with through employers' disciplinary processes and the professional regulators.
• Reporting is not the end. The girl still needs a safeguarding response and, where needed, health care and emotional support.

Who needs FGM training

• Teachers and school staff, through safeguarding training under Keeping Children Safe in Education, with the designated safeguarding lead trained in more depth.
• GPs, practice nurses, midwives, health visitors, school nurses and sexual health staff, who are most likely to see signs and must also record FGM for the NHS FGM dataset.
• Social workers and early help staff, who may work with families from affected communities.
• Police, youth workers, early years staff and voluntary sector workers, who are not covered by the reporting duty but are often the people a girl confides in.

What a good FGM course covers

1. What FGM is, the four WHO types, and the immediate and long-term health consequences.
2. The law: the 2003 Act as amended, protection orders and the failing-to-protect offence.
3. The mandatory reporting duty: who, what, how and when, with worked scenarios.
4. Risk indicators, such as a family talking about a long trip abroad or a special ceremony, and signs a girl may already have had FGM, such as difficulty walking or sitting, frequent toilet visits or long absences.
5. How to talk to a girl or family sensitively, with interpreters where needed and never using family members to interpret.
6. Local referral routes: the police, children's social care and specialist FGM services and clinics.
7. Recording: what to write, where, and how health records and the NHS FGM Information Sharing system work.

Training should be honest about the cultural context without letting it become a reason to hold back. The statutory guidance is clear that FGM is child abuse whatever the motive.

Free and paid training options

The Home Office funds a free introductory e-learning course, Recognising and Preventing FGM, built with Virtual College. It takes about an hour, finishes with an assessment and gives a printable certificate. Health staff can also find FGM learning on the NHS Learning Hub, and many local safeguarding partnerships run free face-to-face or online sessions for staff working in their area.

Paid providers mostly bundle FGM into wider safeguarding or harmful practices courses, alongside forced marriage and so-called honour-based abuse. Check that the course is up to date with the multi-agency statutory guidance, includes scenario practice on the reporting duty, and tells staff about local referral routes, which a national course cannot do. Organisations often combine a free e-learning module with a short in-house session on their own procedures.

How often to refresh

There is no fixed national refresher period for FGM specifically. Most organisations follow the cycle for their safeguarding training, which in schools means regular updates at least annually under Keeping Children Safe in Education, and in the NHS follows the intercollegiate safeguarding competency framework. Refresh sooner when guidance changes or after an incident or near miss.

Making it work in an organisation

• Name FGM explicitly in the safeguarding policy, with the 101 reporting step written out.
• Keep a training record showing who is covered by the duty and when they last trained.
• Run a short case discussion each year so the duty is practised, not just read.
• Make sure staff know they will be supported, not blamed, for making a report in good faith.

For related policy work, see our guides to writing a sexual harassment policy, ethical dilemmas in the workplace and infection control training. More guides are on the e-Business Ethics homepage.

Sources: Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, as amended by the Serious Crime Act 2015; Home Office, mandatory reporting of FGM: procedural information; HM Government, multi-agency statutory guidance on FGM.