Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR)
When to refer a case for consideration for a Serious Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR)
Section 16C (1) of the Children Act 2004 (as amended by the Children and Social Work Act 2017) requires that the local authority notify any event which meets the following criteria to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel within five working days of becoming aware that an incident has occurred. The local authority should also report the event to safeguarding partners in their area (and in other areas if appropriate) within five working days. The criteria are:
- a child has died (including cases of suspected suicide), and abuse or neglect is known or suspected
- a child has been seriously harmed and abuse or neglect is known or suspected
- a looked after child has died (including cases where abuse or neglect is not known or suspected) or
- a child in a regulated setting or service has died (including cases where abuse or neglect is not known or suspected).
The local authority should also report the event to the Statutory Safeguarding Safeguarding Partners in their area (and in other areas if appropriate) within five working days.
How to refer a case to the Statutory Safeguarding Partners:
Where any individual or agency believes or suspects there may have been circumstances where the threshold for holding a Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) has been met as per the criteria outlined in this section they may refer a case to the Statutory Safeguarding Partners via the Partnership Business Manager to establish if there are important lessons for multi-agency work to be learned from a case. This includes any professional body, members of the public, councillor, MP and the Coroner.
A referral is made by completing the referral form detailing why you (as the referrer) believe the case meets the criteria for a CSPR. Referrals should be made as soon as it is apparent that the criteria may be met. An unreasonable delay in raising an issue can impact both on the process and the key purpose.
In order to ensure the optimum effectiveness and learning from the resources employed, DSP will not normally review cases that are more than twelve months old, unless significant information emerges, or there were good reasons why the CSPR was not deemed appropriate at an earlier stage.
Prior to making a referral, professionals working with children, should consider the relevant guidance, and seek assurance from their line manager, Designated Safeguarding Lead or DSP representative.
By virtue of the criteria, in cases where a CSPR may be indicated, a safeguarding concern and/or enquiry may already have been made. In this case a discussion with the relevant children’s services team manager should normally take place prior to making a referral for a CSPR. Consideration of whether a CSPR is required should never delay the raising of a safeguarding concern and the adherence to multi-agency safeguarding policy and procedures which considers any immediate protection required.
However, there may be circumstances where safeguarding concerns are not obvious or evident, for example, where the child/ren may have died as a result of suicide (where abuse or neglect are known or suspected) and there are concerns that partner agencies could have worked more effectively to protect the child.
All agencies have their own internal or statutory procedures to investigate serious incidents and to promote reflective practice or learning, and this protocol is not intended to duplicate or replace these. However consideration of this protocol must be considered when agencies undertake internal reviews or when investigating serious incidents.
The duty of the Statutory Safeguarding Partners to notify the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel
The duty to notify events to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel rests with the Statutory Safeguarding Partners. Others who have functions relating to children should inform the Statutory Safeguarding Partners of any incident which they think should be considered for a Child Safeguarding Practice Review.
Where a child looked after has died the local authority must also notify the Secretary of State and Ofsted regardless of whether abuse or neglect is known or suspected to have occurred.
The Statutory Safeguarding Partners must make arrangements to identify and review serious child safeguarding cases which raise issues of importance within the local authority area and must commission and oversee the review of such cases where it is considered appropriate for a review to be undertaken.
For further details of the criteria for a Serious Child Child Safeguarding Incident see Child Safeguarding Practice Review and Serious Incident Notification procedures July 2023 [PDF document]