Amanda Read MBE is an internationally recognised safeguarding, vulnerability and exploitation specialist with over 40 years' experience across safeguarding, law enforcement and UK border operations. She advises organisations on safeguarding, risk and assurance, drawing on a career leading national safeguarding capability and policy.
Safeguarding, Vulnerability and Exploitation Strategy, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, Child Protection and Harmful Practices, Risk, Assurance and Inspection, and International Safeguarding Capability Building.
Experience:
Amanda Read MBE is an internationally recognised safeguarding, vulnerability and exploitation specialist with over 40 years' experience across safeguarding, law enforcement and border operations. Following a public inquiry in 2000, she established and led safeguarding capability across UK ports, airports and juxtaposed controls, shaping national policy and frontline practice. She developed a national safeguarding model involving over 900 trained officers and led award-winning operations addressing modern slavery and exploitation. Amanda has extensive experience in inspection, assurance and scrutiny, working with inspectorates and oversight bodies to strengthen governance and stakeholder confidence. She has delivered safeguarding capability-building programmes internationally, and supported safeguarding responses during the Afghanistan evacuation and Ukraine crisis. Awarded an MBE for services to child safeguarding, her honours include a World Class Policing Award and OSCE recognition.
Amanda has dedicated her career to protecting vulnerable people, preventing exploitation, and strengthening safeguarding practice. She is recognised for translating complex safeguarding challenges into practical solutions that improve outcomes for vulnerable people.
Her experience spans policy development, operational delivery, organisational assurance, workforce development, partnership working, and international capability building. She is also an experienced facilitator, trainer, and international speaker, regularly representing UK safeguarding practice in media, at conferences, government forums, and law enforcement events.
Amanda believes safeguarding should be practical, intelligence-led and embedded within everyday operational activity. She advocates early identification of vulnerability, effective information sharing and strong partnership working to prevent harm and disrupt exploitation.
She is committed to ensuring safeguarding systems work in practice, giving frontline staff the confidence and capability to protect vulnerable people while enabling law enforcement to pursue perpetrators effectively. Her approach is collaborative, evidence-based, and outcomes-focused, with a strong emphasis on organisational resilience, sustainable capability, and lasting improvements in safeguarding practice.
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