Rise in number of serious case reviews

Figures published today by Ofsted show that between April 2014 and March 2015 there were 166 serious case reviews carried out, a 16.1 per cent increase on the 2013/14 tally of 143.

It is the third year in a row that the number of SCRs initiated by local authorities has risen following a sharp drop in 2011 when the coalition government ordered that all serious case reviews be published.

In 2009/10 a total of 136 SCRs were initiated – but by 2011/12 this had fallen to just 55.

Although there have been increases in recent years, in 2014 the National Panel of Independent Experts on SCRs said some local safeguarding boards were still not carrying out an SCR when it was appropriate.

As a result of this, revisions were made to guidance on SCRs to make it clearer which types of cases of serious harm should lead to a SCR.

The statistics published by Ofsted also show that in 2014/15, Ofsted received 385 serious incident notifications from local authorities, a 29 per cent increase in the number of notifications from the previous year when there were 298.

Councils are required to notify Ofsted of serious incidents involving children that are serious enough that they may lead to an SCR, involve concerns about professional practice, or could attract media attention.

Slightly fewer than half of the notifications received in 2014/15 related to child deaths (190), which represents an increase of 17 per cent from the previous year (163).

The remaining 195 related to incidents of serious harm, an increase of 44 per cent on the previous year (135).