iKnow Safeguarding vs On the Button - A practical comparison for early years

iKnow currently describes its core offer as managing concerns, case recording and Checks/DBS information, with features including document uploads, access controls, audit history, risk assessments and multiple locations.

Built for one sector or several?

iKnow Safeguarding is designed to work across different types of organisation.

On the Button was built specifically around early years practice.

That affects the language, workflows and the types of information the system is designed to bring together.

In early years, a concern may begin with something very small: a change in behaviour, an injury, an absence, a comment from a parent or something a practitioner notices during the day.

On the Button is built around making sure those pieces can be recorded, seen and followed through.

Concern recording and historic information

Both systems allow safeguarding concerns to be recorded securely.

iKnow also allows supporting documents to be uploaded and historic concerns to be entered using their original dates.

On the Button can currently import a child’s name, date of birth and gender, but does not currently import historic safeguarding records.

Instead, settings are encouraged to retain their previous records securely and add a summary of relevant previous history where needed.

We are also developing the On the Button Vault for historic documents and current external files.

For a provider moving from another system, that is a genuine difference worth considering.

Safeguarding and wellbeing

On the Button separates safeguarding from:

• child wellbeing

• family wellbeing

• staff wellbeing

This is deliberate because not every concern begins at safeguarding threshold.

iKnow’s public information clearly covers safeguarding concerns, but the material reviewed does not clearly describe equivalent separate wellbeing routes.

That does not mean they are unavailable. It is something to ask about in a demonstration.

Complaints and whistleblowing

On the Button also includes complaints and anonymous whistleblowing within the wider safeguarding system.

The public iKnow information reviewed does not clearly describe equivalent complaint-management or anonymous whistleblowing functions.

Again, that is not the same as saying iKnow does not provide them. It simply means you should ask to see how those situations are managed.

DBS, checks and recruitment information

This is an area where iKnow has a particularly strong proposition.

Its Checks section includes check information, renewal dates, historic checks, spreadsheet import, custom fields, DBS Update Service reminders and associated risk assessments.

On the Button includes a Safer Recruitment tracker and Training Matrix as part of the wider early years safeguarding system.

If extensive DBS/check administration is a major reason for buying software, iKnow deserves serious consideration.

Multiple settings

Both systems support organisations operating across more than one location.

iKnow states that it can separate concerns and checks by location while allowing appropriate organisation-wide access.

On the Button supports both individual settings and groups, with the group layer designed around early years organisations.

Pricing

The pricing models are very different.

iKnow prices by the number of users with login access. Its current standard annual prices include VAT and range from £300 for 3 users to £12,000 for 250 users, with separate discounted pricing for charities and non-profits.

On the Button prices by the number of registered places rather than by the number of staff who use the system. It is £8 per place annually, or 73p per place per month.

That means neither is automatically cheaper.

A fair comparison needs to use the actual number of staff who would need access to iKnow and the registered places used to calculate On the Button pricing.

iKnow Safeguarding may suit you if...

You may prefer iKnow if you want a safeguarding system that can be used across several different types of organisation, particularly if extensive DBS/check management, historic concern entry and external concern forms are priorities.

On the Button may suit you if...

You may prefer On the Button if you want a system built specifically around early years safeguarding, with safeguarding sitting alongside child, family and staff wellbeing, complaints and anonymous whistleblowing.

Questions to ask before deciding

Whichever system you consider, ask:

1. What happens from the moment a practitioner records a concern?

2. Who is alerted, and what happens if the usual safeguarding lead is absent?

3. How are actions and outcomes recorded?

4. How easy is it to see previous concerns and patterns?

5. How are lower-level wellbeing concerns handled?

6. How are complaints and staff concerns connected to the safeguarding picture?

7. What can senior leaders see across several settings?

8. How are historic records handled when changing systems?

9. What can be exported if you later need to share or move the record?

10. What will the system actually cost for your organisation?

The final question

Both are genuine safeguarding systems.

The choice is really between a broader safeguarding platform designed to work across different sectors and a system built specifically around the realities of early years safeguarding practice.

The best comparison is not the longest feature list.

Ask both providers to show you the same safeguarding scenario from the moment somebody notices something through to the action, outcome and chronology.