Statutory Case Reviews

Chapter 5 of the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 places a duty on local safeguarding partnerships to undertake a rapid review for serious child safeguarding cases.

Serious child safeguarding cases are those in which:

• Abuse or neglect of a child is known or suspected;

and

• The child has died or been seriously harmed.

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; or
• Impairment of physical health.

The purpose of a rapid review is to:

• Gather the facts about the case, as far as they can be readily established at the time;
• Discuss whether there is any immediate action needed to ensure children’s safety and share any learning appropriately;
• Consider the potential for identifying improvements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children;
• Decide what steps they should take next, including whether or not to undertake a child safeguarding practice review.

All agencies who have been involved with the subject child or family will be required to contribute to the rapid review. An initial scoping of agencies’ intervention will be completed, and other relevant information will need to be gathered rapidly to comply with the 15 working day statutory timescale as set out in Working Together 2023.

The purpose of the initial scoping and information sharing is to gather the basic facts about the case, including determining the extent of agency involvement with the child and family.

More detailed information will be sought if the rapid review concludes the case has the potential to identify national or local learning and a decision is made to recommend a Child Safeguarding Practice Review.

Although any agency can refer a case all notifications to Ofsted and the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel must come from the Local Authority.

Please also see the Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews Tools and Pathway

A Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) is an independent review into a case where a child has been seriously harmed or has died and abuse or neglect is known or suspected.  These were formerly referred to as ‘Serious Case Reviews’ and are progressed based on the decision of the Rapid Review, referred to above.

The purpose of reviews of serious child safeguarding cases, at both local and national level, is for agencies and individuals to learn lessons that improve the way in which they work, both individually and collectively, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and families.

Reviews should seek to prevent or reduce the risk of recurrence of similar incidents. They are not conducted to hold individuals, organisations or agencies to account, as there are other processes for that purpose.

Safeguarding partners must publish the report to support wider learning, unless there are compelling circumstances, where it may not be considered appropriate to do so.

Local authorities must notify the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel and relevant safeguarding partners within five working days if they know or suspect that a child has been seriously harmed or died because of abuse or neglect.

The Secretary of State and Ofsted must also be notified if a looked after child has died, whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected.

The Department for Education (DfE) has published guidance on how local authorities should notify incidents to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

Local safeguarding partners must then undertake a rapid review within 15 working days. The rapid review should:

• assemble the facts of the case
• establish any immediate action needed to ensure a child's safety
• consider the potential for practice learning
• decide what steps they should take next, including whether a child safeguarding practice review should be commissioned.

As soon as a rapid review is complete, the safeguarding partners should send a copy to the Panel.

If the safeguarding partners determine that the issues raised by a case are of local importance, they may also commission a local child safeguarding review. They must inform the Panel, Ofsted and DfE that they are conducting a review, and share the name of the commissioned reviewer.

Once the Panel receives the rapid review they must determine, based on the complexity or national importance of the case, whether to commission a national child safeguarding practice review. If the decision is made to proceed with a national review, the Panel will agree the scope and methodology with the local safeguarding partners and engage with them and others involved in the case.

The Panel may also decide to commission a thematic national review, bringing together learning around a specific topic from a number of different incidents.

All child safeguarding practice reviews should:

• reflect the child's perspective and the family context
• be proportionate to the circumstances of the case
• focus on potential learning
• establish and explain the reasons why the events occurred as they did
• include a brief overview of the key circumstances, background and context of the case
• provide a summary of why relevant decisions by professionals were taken
• critique how agencies worked together and identify any shortcomings
• consider whether any shortcomings are features of practice in general
• consider what would need to be done differently to prevent harm occurring to a child in similar circumstances
• provide recommendations for what needs to happen to ensure that agencies learn from this case

(Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, 2019).

• Child E Serious Case Review
• Child C Serious Case Review
• The G Children Serious Case Review
• The G Children Serious Case Review Summary (September 2021)

We currently have no published child safeguarding practice reviews. 

• The Unseen Men Learning Briefing
• Multi-Agency Learning Briefing on the impact of COVID-19 (Child K and Child L) 
• The G Children Practitioner Learning Briefing
• Popular illegal substances being used by young people Learning Briefing
• Child H Practitioner Learning Briefing
• Child Exploitation Practitioner Learning Briefing
• Non-accidental injury and Domestic Abuse practitioner Learning Briefing
• Child F non-accidental injury Learning Briefing
• Injuries in a four month old Learning Briefing
• Adverse childhood experiences & injuries Learning Briefing
• 7 point briefing - Young Carers
• Children M and N practitioner Learning Briefing
• SSCP Rapid Review Learning Briefing - Learning on Neglect 
• SSCP Sexually Harmful Behaviour Learning Briefing