Death or Serious Injury to a Child Looked After, Child in Need or Care Leaver Up to and Including the Age of 24
Scope of this chapter
This procedure outlines the immediate steps to be taken in the event of the death of or serious injury to a child where it is known or there are suspicions of abuse or neglect and the death of or serious injury to any Looked After Child whether or not the abuse or neglect is known or suspected.
These steps are in addition to any Rapid Review or Child Safeguarding Practice Review which may be commissioned and the work of the child death overview panel.
This procedure uses the term Designated Manager (Death or Serious Injury to a Child). This Designated Manager must also be notified in circumstances where there is a serious injury to a child.
Related guidance
- Notification of a Serious Child Safeguarding Incident
- Serious Incident Notification – a guide for local authorities
Amendment
This chapter was refreshed in September 2025.
The Government guidance ‘Report the death or serious harm of a child or care leaver’ has been updated to provide what information is needed when reporting incidents involving children who have died or been seriously harmed and abuse or neglect is known or suspected, looked after children and care leavers. The Serious Incident Notification Guide for local authorities has been added to this chapter.
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. 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.
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 worker receiving the information will:
- Immediately inform their line manager;
- Obtain as much information as possible on the circumstances surrounding the cause of death/serious injury and pass this to the line manager.
The line manager will immediately inform the Designated Manager (Death or Serious Injury to a Child) by telephone and provide follow up information in writing as soon as possible afterwards.
The Designated Manager (Death or Serious Injury to a Child) will:
- Inform the Director of Children's Services, who will notify local authority members as necessary;
- Ascertain as full details as possible from the Police and any other source;
- Request their administrative staff to check Children's Services records on the child and family and print out any information held;
- Collect any files held on the child and family and secure them in the correct office location;
- Arrange to inform relevant agencies about the death/serious injury and remind them to secure their files;
- 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.
Where a Child Safeguarding Practice Review is to be held, this must be conducted in accordance with Chapter 5 in Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Safeguarding Partnership Procedures.
Where information comes to notice of the death of or serious injury to a child in care, the following tasks are required:
The child's social worker will:
- Immediately inform their line manager;
- Notify the parent(s) immediately and in person, if possible;
- In the event of a child's death, 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);
- In the event of a serious injury to the child, arrange with the parent(s) to visit the child in hospital;
- Obtain as much information as possible on the circumstances surrounding the cause of death/serious injury and pass this to their line manager; and
- Discuss with the line manager any necessary expenditure including reasonable travel expenses to assist the family in attending the funeral or visiting the child in hospital where it appears there is financial hardship;
- Where the child was in a long term foster placement, discuss with the line manager any possible conflict between the carers and the parents regarding arrangements for the child's funeral.
The line manager will:
- Immediately inform the Designated Manager (Death of a Child) by telephone and provide follow up information in writing as soon as possible afterwards;
- Advise Legal Services initially by telephone, then confirm details in writing; and
- Contact the Insurance Section of the Finance Department, initially by telephone and then in writing.
The Designated Manager (Death or Serious Injury to a Child) will:
- Inform the Director of Children's Services, who will come to a decision about whether to notify the local authority Members;
- 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;
- Arrange, in consultation with the Safeguarding Manager, appropriate meetings under the Safeguarding Partnership Procedures, including the need to hold a Rapid Review;
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Whenever a Looked After Child dies the local authority must notify the Secretary of State for Education and Ofsted. To do so, submit online notifications using the DfE’s Child Safeguarding Incident Notification System child safeguarding incident report. This must be done whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected.
While all such cases, including deaths by suicide, accidents and medical causes must be notified, unless abuse or neglect was known or suspected to have contributed directly to the death, these cases do not need a rapid review.
In the event of a Child Safeguarding Practice Review being required, the steps outlined in Section 4, Needs of Social Workers / Team / Manager / Carers should be followed.
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.
During the implementation of this procedure, consideration must be given to the needs of those staff and carers involved in the case.
The impact of a child death on social workers/team/manager/carer(s) needs to be addressed in terms of:
- The need for counselling for those involved;
- The manner in which such support is offered;
- The provision of access to legal and professional advice about the ongoing conduct of the case;
- The provision of a clear explanation of the process of a Child Safeguarding Practice Review;
- Support for staff in the event of Police investigation/interviews;
- The need to inform and keep informed any relevant Trades Unions;
- The need for team debriefing whilst observing confidentiality. This must be discussed with the Service Manager;
- The need to acknowledge that a child death can impact on the productivity of any team and its ability to function; and the need to agree strategies to manage workloads.
Last Updated: September 4, 2025
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