Death or Serious Injury to a Child in Care, Child in Need or Care Leaver Up to and including the Age of 24

Local authorities in England must notify the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (the Panel) within 5 working days of becoming aware of a serious incident.

Serious incidents which should be reported are those where the local authority knows or suspects that a child has been abused or neglected and:

• The child dies (including suspected suicide) or is seriously harmed in the local authority's area;
• While normally resident in the local authority's area, the child dies or is seriously harmed outside England;
• The local authority, on behalf of the safeguarding partners, has a duty to notify the Panel about all serious incidents that meet the above criteria;
• A child is anyone under the age of 18 and can include unborn children.

The process for reporting a serious incident to the Panel via the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification System is set out in the following: Report A Serious Child Safeguarding Incident (GOV.UK). The Panel will share all notifications with Ofsted and the DfE.

Notifications must always be made if abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a cause of, or a contributory factor to, the death or serious harm of a child. The exception to this is that the local authority must notify the Secretary of State and Ofsted whenever a looked after child dies, regardless of whether abuse or neglect is known or suspected.

Whether the abuse was known or suspected, in essence means that there was sufficient reason to suspect that abuse or neglect was present and, at least in some way, caused or contributed to the death or serious harm of a child. The Safeguarding Partners do not need to wait until abuse or neglect is proven to make a notification and it is for local areas to determine which cases should be submitted to the Panel based on local and contextual understanding.

Working Together to Safeguard Children states that Serious Harm includes (but is not limited to) serious and/or long-term impairment of a child's mental health or intellectual, emotional, social, or behavioural development as a result of neglect or abuse. This is not an exhaustive list. When making decisions, judgement should be exercised in cases where impairment is likely to be long-term, even if this is not immediately certain. Even if a child recovers, including from a one-off incident, serious harm may still have occurred. 

Local authorities and safeguarding partners should refer to the Panel's guidance for further clarity on issues relating to the criteria for serious child safeguarding cases - Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel - GOV.UK.

Information needed to complete a report

The link to the Child Safeguarding Online Notification form and the process for local authorities to notify incidents to the panel is available on the Report a Serious Child Safeguarding Incident.

More specific information about the data needed to prepare your report can be found in the Serious Incident Notification Guide for local authorities at the end of the section on Information needed to complete a report.

Next steps

Once your incident is submitted you can view your answers and download them as a PDF document. The Department for Education (DfE) will only get in contact with you if the data submitted is inaccurate.

The panel, DfE and Ofsted have joint access to the information submitted to the child safeguarding incident notification system.

The panel only have access to the information submitted in respect of notifications of children who have died or been seriously harmed, and abuse or neglect is known or suspected.

The panel will not have access to information submitted in reports relating to:

• Looked after children who died where abuse or neglect was not known or suspected
• Care leaver death notifications.

No further action will be taken with these notifications.

The following tasks are also required.

The child's social worker or if not previously known to Children's Social Care, the duty social worker receiving the information will:

1. Immediately inform his or her line manager;
2. Notify the parent(s) immediately and in person, if possible;
3. Discuss with the parent(s) and reach agreement regarding the arrangements for the funeral (in the event of sudden, unexplained deaths arrangements for the funeral may need to be delayed);
4. Obtain as much information as possible on the circumstances surrounding the cause of death and pass this to their line manager; and
5. Discuss with the manager any necessary expenditure including reasonable travel expenses to assist the family in attending the funeral where it appears there is financial hardship;
6. Following discussion with their Team Manager, contact the Police.

The social worker's line manager will:

1. Immediately inform the Service Manager and contact the Head of Service by telephone and provide follow up information in writing as soon as possible afterwards;
2. Advise Legal Services initially by telephone, then confirm details in writing; and
3. Contact the Insurance Section of the Finance Department, initially by telephone and then in writing.

The Head of Service will:

1. Inform the Corporate Director for Children and Learning;
2. Consider the appropriate manager to conduct a Management Review;
3. Consider whether a Child Safeguarding Practice Review is required under the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Procedures, Serious Case Reviews Procedure; and
4. Inform the Department for Education and the Regulatory Authority;
5. Collect any files held on the child and family and secure them in the correct office location;
6. Arrange to consider the circumstances of the death/serious injury, in accordance with the Safeguarding Partnership Procedures, including the need to hold a Rapid Review and, where the child has died, a referral to the Child Death Overview Panel.

For guidance in relation to Management Reviews, see Incidents Guidance.

Foster Carers/Residential Staff must take the following action:

• Take immediate action and contact the emergency service;
• Take First Aid action;
• Ensure the other children in the home are safe and reassure them;
• If necessary arrange for someone else to look after the other children in the home;
• If carers are sure the child is dead they should not move the child's body and should contact the child's GP;
• The foster carer/residential staff must ensure that they inform the child's social worker, duty officer or social worker's line manager;
• If the death occurs outside of office hours, the Emergency Duty Team should be informed;
• Inform the social worker if there are any suspicious circumstances.

The GP or hospital doctor will write out a medical certificate showing the cause of death. This is in a sealed envelope addressed to the Registrar.

Another notice informing how to register the death will also be given.

The GP will make arrangements to have the child's body collected.

The social worker should discuss with the foster carer or residential worker whether they wish to be involved with informing the child's parents.

Care must be taken not talk about the situation until the parent has been informed.

Working Together to Safeguard Children provides that the local authority should also notify the Secretary of State for Education and Ofsted of the death of a care leaver up to and including the age of 24. This should be notified via the Child Safeguarding Online Notification System. The death of a care leaver does not require a rapid review or local child safeguarding practice review. However, safeguarding partners must consider whether the criteria for a serious incident have been met and respond accordingly, in the event the deceased care leaver was under the age of 18. If local partners think that learning can be gained from the death of a looked after child or care leaver in circumstances where those criteria do not apply, they may wish to undertake a local child safeguarding practice review.

Where information comes to notice of serious injury to a Child in Care, the following tasks are required.

The child's social worker will:

1. Immediately inform his or her line manager;
2. Notify the parent(s) immediately and in person, if possible;
3. Arrange with the parent(s) to visit the child in hospital;
4. Obtain as much information as possible on the circumstances surrounding the injury and pass this to their line manager; and
5. Discuss with the manager any necessary expenditure including reasonable travel expenses to assist the family in visiting the child where it appears there is financial hardship;
6. Following discussion with their manager, contact the Police.

The social worker's line manager will:

1. Immediately inform the Head of Service by telephone and provide follow up information in writing as soon as possible afterwards;
2. Advise Legal Services initially by telephone, then confirm details in writing;
3. Contact the Insurance Section of the Finance Department, initially by telephone and then in writing; and
4. Where the child was placed in foster care or residential care, advise the Regulatory Authority, initially by telephone followed with written information. Ofsted Notification form is located on Ofsted Online - Notification of serious childcare incident.

The Head of Service will:

1. Inform the Corporate Director for Children and Learning;
2. Ensure that the parents' wishes concerning the funeral are discussed (by the social worker or the team manager), that any possible conflict with the wishes of the carers are also ascertained and addressed, and that any appropriate associated costs are met;
3. Arrange, in consultation with the Safeguarding Manager, appropriate meetings under the Safeguarding Partnerships Procedures, including the need to hold a Rapid Review;
4. Consider the appropriate manager to conduct a Management Review;
5. Consider whether a Child Safeguarding Practice Review is required under the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Procedures, Serious Case Reviews Procedure;
6. Additionally, whenever a Child in Care dies, the local authority must inform the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel within 5 days using the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification System. The Panel, will share all notifications with Ofsted and the Dfe, the local authority must also notify the Secretary of State and Ofsted where a looked after child has died, whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected.

For Guidance in relation to Management Reviews, see Incidents Guidance.