Missing Persons: Safety

Any missing person incident, especially when a person is vulnerable or has been missing previously, significantly increases the risk of harm occurring, and the Home Office continues to work with partners on the issue.

The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales. This includes steps to be taken when a person returns from a missing incident and considerations regarding police prevention interviews and return interviews. More importantly, the APP offers advice on how information disclosed in a return interview should be fed into multi-agency safeguarding decisions. The APP for missing persons is publicly available on the College's website.

In addition to the APP, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for Missing Persons has developed the 'Multi-agency response for adults missing from health and care settings' framework, which currently is being rolled out. The framework outlines good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing person incident. The framework aims to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person and sets out how return conversations can improve safeguarding outcomes for vulnerable adults and prevent future incidents.

The Government recognises the need for an effective multi-agency response to missing person investigations. We will continue to work closely across Government Departments to achieve this aim.