Bradford Safeguarding Children Board > Serious Case Reviews

Updates January 2010
Acting on recommendations contained within Lord Laming's 2009 report: "Protection of Children in England, a progress report", the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit and the Department for Children, Schools and Families are revising the statutory guidance "Working Together to Safeguard Children".

Lord Laming recommended that the highest priority be given to revising Chapter 8 of Working Together, which sets out statutory arrangements for undertaking Serious Case Reviews. The revised Chapter 8 was published in December 2009, and has immediate effect. It can be downloaded here:

Working Together to Safeguard Children, Chapter 8: Serious Case Reviews (2009)

To enable practitioners and policy makers to learn the key lessons from all serious case reviews undertaken in England, the Department for Children Schools and Families publishes biennial studies. The most recent of these, covering the period 2005-07 was published in 2009. The full versions of the three most recent biennial studies can be downloaded below. 

Shorter briefings drawing out the key lessons from each of these three documents have also been prepared by Bradford Safeguarding Children Board, and they can be downloaded too:

Below are serious case review templates which can be used for information and training purposes. 

When must BSCB consider conducting a serious case review?
Local Safeguarding Children Boards are required to consider holding a serious case review when a child dies and abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a factor in the death. In addition, Local Safeguarding Children Boards should always consider whether a serious case review should be conducted where:

• a child sustains a potentially life-threatening injury or serious and permanent impairment of health and development through abuse or neglect; or

• a child has been subjected to particularly serious sexual abuse; or

• a parent has been murdered and a homicide review is being initiated; or

• a child has been killed by a parent with a mental illness; or

• the case gives rise to concerns about inter-agency working to protect children from harm.

What is the purpose of a serious case review?
The purpose of a serious case review is to:

• establish whether there are lessons to be learnt from the case about the way in which local professionals and organisations work together to safeguarding and promote the welfare of children;

• identify clearly what those lessons are, how they will be acted upon and what is expected to change as a result; and

• as a consequence, improve inter-agency working and better safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Serious case reviews are not inquiries into how a child died, or who is culpable. that is a matter for Coroners and criminal courts, to determine as appropriate.

Where can I find guidance about serious case reviews?
Chapter 8 of Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2006 contains detailed guidance regarding serious case reviews and the processes involved.

The Bradford Safeguarding Children Board Procedures for serious case reviews can be accessed here.

BSCB has a serious case review monitoring sub-group which ensures that procedures and arrangements for undertaking serious case reviews are in place and complied with, and also monitors the progress of agency action plans which are intended to ensure that the recommendations for serious case reviews are implemented.

How can agencies and individual staff learn the lessons of serious case reviews?
Bradford Safeguarding Children Board will normally publish an anonymised executive summary of each serious case review, unless to do so is prejudicial to civil or criminal processes. These executive summaries will appear on this website, below.

The government collates information from all serious case reviews undertaken within England and Wales, and produces a report every two years which draws out the main themes and lessons from the reviews.

Improving safeguarding practice - Study of serious case reviews 2001-2003

Analysing child deaths and serious injury through abuse and neglect: what can we learn?
A biennial analysis of serious case reviews 2003-2005

Bradford Safeguarding Children Board runs a one-day multi-agency training course: "Serious Case Reviews and lessons to be learned". This draws on national studies and serious case reviews completed within the Bradford District and elsewhere. To find out when this course is running, please see the BSCB training schedule

BRADFORD SERIOUS CASE REVIEW EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES

Each serious case review executive summary published by Bradford Safeguarding Children Board since 2008 is available for download below.

HD
This report provides a summary of the findings of the serious case review undertaken on behalf of Bradford Safeguarding Children Board following the death of HD, aged 2 years, on 16th July 2006. It reproduces in full the recommendations of the review for Bradford Safeguarding Children Board and its member agencies - download Word version here.