Government to clarify serious case review criteria

Timpson said the government is planning “further clarification” of guidance on SCRs to help LSCBs make decisions on when to conduct them.

The statutory guidance – Working Together to Safeguard Children – will also be updated to ensure that local authorities always notify LSCBs and Ofsted of “serious incidents” involving children.

The move follows concerns flagged up by the National Panel of Independent Experts on Serious Case Reviews about decisions taken over whether or not to initiate SCRs.

Under current guidance, an SCR must be carried out by a LSCB if abuse or neglect of a child is known or suspected, and either the child has died, or the child has been “seriously harmed” and there is cause for concern as to the way in which the authority, or other relevant agencies, have worked together to safeguard them.

The panel is concerned that many LSCBs are choosing not to conduct an SCR when one would have been appropriate.

Timpson, who was speaking at the LSCB chairs annual conference in London, said: "I’m still concerned about cases where SCRs are not even being commissioned. About times when debates over semantics get in the way of finding out what went wrong.

"This may not happen that often, but it happens often enough for me and the panel to be concerned."

He added that the government will trial the central commissioning of SCRs “in certain areas for some cases”.

“You’ve asked us what a ‘good’ SCR looks like and it’s a fair challenge,” Timpson said.

“So we’ll try to show you.”

Meanwhile, biennial reviews of SCRs, which collate statistics and learning from SCRs nationally into a single document, will be reintroduced.

Timpson said the steps taken by government form part of its response to the national panel’s report, adding that the full government response will be published imminently.

Working Together to Safeguard Children was previously revised last year.