Serious Childcare Incident Notification
Scope of this chapter
This chapter outlines the steps that must be taken in the event of the:
- Death of a child (including suspected suicide) where abuse or neglect is known or suspected;
- Serious harm to a child where abuse or neglect is known or suspected;
- Death of a looked after child;
- Death of a child in a regulated setting or service;
- Significant concerns about the safety and well-being of a child that is likely to lead to a police appeal or media attention.
Serious harm in the context of this chapter includes but is not limited to, cases where the child has sustained, as a result of abuse or neglect, any or all of the following:
- A potentially life-threatening injury;
- Serious and/or likely long-term impairment of physical or mental health or physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development.
This chapter does not include procedures and responsibilities of Manchester Safeguarding Children Partnership in relation to Child Deaths, Serious Case Reviews and notifying Ofsted, the Department for Education and the National Panel of Independent Experts of Serious Case Reviews.
See also Notifications of Significant Events (External Notifications) Procedure, which sets out the procedure for external notifications.
Manchester Safeguarding Children Partnership adopts the Greater Manchester Safeguarding Partnerships Procedures. A link to these procedures can also be found on Manchester Safeguarding Children Partnership website; the procedures provide a framework within which all agencies and professionals can work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people across Greater Manchester.
This chapter uses the term ‘Designated Manager’ in Manchester this is the Head of Quality Assurance for Safeguarding or persons acting in their absence.
Related guidance
- Notifications of Significant Events (External Notifications)
- Report the Death or Serious Harm of a Child or Care Leaver
- Serious Incident Notification – a guide for local authorities
- Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Guidance
- Working Together to Safeguard Children
Amendment
This chapter was refreshed in January 2026. The Government guidance ‘Report the death or serious harm of a child or care leaver’ was 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 was also 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.
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 should also be made of the death of a care leaver up to and including the age of 24.
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 the Death or Serious Harm of a Child or Care Leaver.
More specific information about the data needed to prepare your report can be found in the Serious Incident Notification Guide.
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.
- Information coming to notice that a child in Manchester has died or has been seriously harmed (including suspected suicide) and abuse or neglect is known or suspected;
- The death of a looked after child or the death of a child in a regulated setting or service;
- There being significant concerns about the safety and well-being of a child that is likely to lead to a police appeal or media attention.
The child's allocated worker or the duty worker receiving the information must:
- Immediately inform their line manager;
- Obtain as much information as possible on the circumstances surrounding the cause of death or serious harm or the significant concerns about the safety and well-being of a child that is likely to lead to a police appeal or media attention and pass this to the line manager.
It is the responsibility of the first manager who receives this information to ascertain the full details from the police and any other source and immediately inform the Designated Manager by telephone and to provide a follow up information in writing via the internal Serious Childcare Incident Notification Reporting Form (see Appendix 1: Serious Childcare Incident Notification Reporting Form) prior to the end of the same working day copying in the Strategic Lead for Children’s Social Care. If the Serious Childcare Incident relates to a child or young person who is open to Children’s Services, the responsible manager will be required to complete the Serious Childcare Incident Notification Reporting Form unless they can not complete it before the end of the same working day because the incident happened at the weekend or bank holiday. If the child or young person is not open to Children’s Services, the Serious Childcare Incident Notification Reporting Form must be completed by the Advice and Guidance Service (AGS) or EDS out of hours.
The Serious Childcare Incident Notification form includes the following information:
- Child's name;
- Child’s date of birth;
- Details’ of where was the child living;
- Child's ethnicity, nationality, religion, language, disability;
- Child’s legal status;
- Dates if any when child was subject to a Child Protection Plan;
- Date of serious incident death or serious harm;
- Location where the serious incident of death took place;
- Parents' details (names, date of birth and address);
- Siblings details (names, date of birth and address);
- Any risk’s to other young people;
- Any immediate policy and practice issues that need consideration;
- Any other information relevant to the case.
The Designated Manager will:
- Inform the Director of Children's Services via telephone and followed up via email, copying in the Press Officer as appropriate. If the Director of Children’s Service is not contactable the Designated Manager will alert their Personal Assistant who will alert them. The Director of Children’s Services will be responsible for notifying the Chief Executive/Deputy Chief Executive and members as necessary. If the Director of Children’s Services are not available, then the Designated Manager will assume responsibility for wider notification as appropriate;
- Determine whether records held in relation to the child and family need to be secured and whether access to electronic records needs to be restricted;
- Ensure that the responsible manager has informed other involved professionals and agencies about the death, serious harm or significant concerns about the safety and well-being of the child. The decision about whether records held by other professionals or agencies in relation to the child and family need to be secured or restricted sits with the designated safeguarding lead for the agency concerned;
- Arrange to consider the circumstances of the death/serious harm, in accordance with the Safeguarding Procedures, including the need to hold a Rapid Review and, where the child has died, a referral to the Child Death Overview Panel, using the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification System to notify the Panel. The Panel will share all notifications with Ofsted and the DfE. The report is submitted online and the contents entered must be reviewed by the Designated Manager before it is submitted. The form requires a range of information and is set out clearly in sections. Before you start you will need:
- Your sign in;
- Your phone number and e-mail address;
- Name of each child you are notifying;
- Details of the incident.
In urgent situations, particularly if there is or is likely to be significant media interest, Ofsted should be contacted by telephone on 0300 123 1231 and then the Online Notification form should be completed.
Email: mailbox.nationalreviewpanel@education.gov.uk if you have any queries.
Appendix 2: GMP and Manchester Children’s Services Serious Incident Notification Processes contains internal contact details.
Where information comes to notice of the death of or serious harm to a child looked after by Manchester City Council in the following action must be taken in addition to the procedure outlined in Section 1, Death of or Serious Harm to a Child in the Community where there are Suspicions of Abuse or Neglect.
The child's allocated social worker in consultation with the responsible manager must:
- Immediately agree how the child’s parents and/or carers will be notified. The child’s parents and/or carers must be notified immediately and in person. If the incident occurs out of hours the manager on duty must take responsibility for this;
- In the event of a serious harm to the child, arrange with the parent(s) to visit the child in hospital if consistent with their care plan. If the incident occurs out of hours the manager on duty must take responsibility for this;
- 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);
- Where the child was in a long-term foster placement, consideration must be given to the foster carers’ support needs and any possible conflict between the carers and the parents regarding arrangements for the child's funeral;
- Discuss with their line manager the parents support needs including any necessary financial support i.e. travel expenses to assist the family in attending the funeral or visiting the child in hospital where it appears there is financial hardship.
The line manager will:
- Advise Legal Services initially by telephone, then confirm details in writing. Legal services will advise on notification to the Council Insurance Section.
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.
The impact of the death or serious harm of a child on those involved in the case must not be underestimated and it is important that managers at all levels give due consideration to the support needs of those employees and carers involved in the case.
Last Updated: January 9, 2026
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