Death or Serious Harm to a Child Looked After, Child in Need or Care Leaver Up to and Including the Age of 24
Scope of this chapter
This procedure outlines the immediate steps to be taken in the event of the death of or serious harm to a child living in Merton where it is known or there are suspicions of abuse or neglect and the death of or serious harm to any Child in Care whether or not the abuse or neglect is known or suspected within Merton.
These steps are in addition to any Rapid Review or Child Safeguarding Practice Review which may be commissioned and the work of the Child Death Overview Panel. Note: local authorities in England must notify the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel within 5 working days of becoming aware of a serious incident.
This procedure uses the term Designated Manager (Death of a Child). This Designated Manager must also be notified in circumstances where there is a serious harm to a child. Within Merton the Designated Manager (Death of a Child), is the Director of Children’s Social Care and Youth Inclusion, and the Principal Social Worker, Safeguarding Standards and Training.
Also see: Merton Specific Procedures.
Related guidance
- Notification of a Serious Child Safeguarding Incident
- 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 December 2025.
The Government guidance ‘Report the death or serious harm of a child or care leaver’ has been 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 has been 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.
A child is anyone under the age of 18 and can include unborn children. - The process for reporting a serious incident to the Panel via the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification System is set out in the following: Report the Death or Serious Harm of a Child or Care Leaver. The Panel will share all notifications with Ofsted and the DfE.
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 a Serious Child Safeguarding Incident.
More specific information about the data needed to prepare your report can be found in the Serious Incident Notification Guide for local authorities at the end of the section on Information needed to complete a report.
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.
The following tasks are also required:
The allocated social worker or, if not previously known to Children's Social Care, the duty social worker receiving the information will:
- Immediately inform their supervisory line manager; which is likely to be the Team Manager;
- Obtain as much information as possible on the circumstances surrounding the cause of death/serious harm and pass this to their Team Manager;
- Complete a leadership alert, refer this to their HOS who will share with the Children’s Social Care and Youth Inclusion. See Leadership Alert Policy.
The social worker's supervisory line manager will immediately inform their HOS and Principal Social worker and provide a case analysis in writing as soon as possible afterwards.
The relevant Head of Service will:
- Inform the Director of Children, Lifelong Learning, and Families and the Assistant Director, who will notify the local authority members as necessary;
- Ascertain in full the specific details of the child's death from the Police or other reporting source;
- Request that the Team Manager checks Merton's social care information system records on the child and their family and confirm any information held;
- Collect any hard copy archived and/or current files held on the child and their family and secure them at Civic Centre, London Road, Morden, SM4 5DX;
- Arrange through the Team Manager that the relevant partnership agencies are duly informed of the death/serious harm and remind them to secure their files;
- Consider the circumstances of the death/seriousharm, in accordance with the Local Safeguarding Children Board Procedures and Merton Safeguarding Children's Board Procedures, including the need to hold a Rapid Review and, where a child has died, a referral to the Child Death Overview Panel.
Where a Child Safeguarding Practice Review is to be held, the , Director of Children's Social Care and Youth Inclusion will determine the most appropriate person to carry out the Internal Management Review (IMR) of the case within Children's Services. This review must be written in accordance with the expectations that are set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership Procedures. This will include the preparation of a detailed Chronology of what is contained in the records, the carrying out of interviews with members of staff where necessary, a critical analysis of the social work practice and an action plan based on the report findings and recommendations. Prior to presenting the IMR to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review local Panel, the author should consult with the Director of Children, Lifelong Learning, and Families , who must endorse the report.
The recommendations and action plan of the Internal Management Review report should be reported to the Senior Leadership Team of Children's Services as well as to the Merton Safeguarding Children Partnership, together with a report of any follow-up action. The recommendations and action plan should also be fed back to all relevant staff by the Designated Manager (Death of a Child) or their nominee.
Where information comes to notice of the death of or serious harm to a child in care, the following tasks are required:
The child's social worker will:
- Immediately inform their line manager and Head of Service;
- Notify the parent(s) immediately and in person, if possible;
- 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);
- In the event of a serious injury to the child, arrange with the parent(s) to visit the child in hospital;
- Obtain as much information as possible on the circumstances surrounding the cause of death/serious harm and pass this to their line manager; and
- Discuss with the line manager any necessary expenditure including reasonable travel expenses to assist the family in attending the funeral or visiting the child in hospital where it appears there is financial hardship;
- Where the child was in a long term foster placement, discuss with the line manager any possible conflict between the carers and the parents regarding arrangements for the child's funeral.
The line manager will:
- Immediately inform their Head of Service and provide follow up information in writing as soon as possible afterwards;
- Complete a Leadership Alert (Merton Specific Procedures);
- Advise Merton's Legal Department initially by telephone, then confirm details in writing; and
- Contact the Insurance Section of the Finance Department, initially by telephone and then in writing.
The relevant Head of Service will:
- Inform the Director of Children's Social Care and Youth Inclusion, who will come to a decision about whether to notify the local authority Members;
- Ensure that the parents' wishes concerning the funeral are discussed (by the social worker or the team manager), that any possible conflict with the wishes of the carers are also ascertained and addressed, and that any appropriate associated costs are met;
- Come to a decision about the need for an internal management review of the case and if so, the appropriate person to conduct the review;
- Where a review is to be conducted, collect any files held on the child and family and secure them in the correct office location;
- Arrange through their administrative staff how to inform other relevant agencies about the death/serious harm and remind them to secure their files where a review is likely to be required;
- Arrange, in consultation with the Head of Service and \Principal Social worker, appropriate meetings under the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership Procedures, including the need to hold a Rapid Review;
- When a Looked After Child dies, 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, This must be done whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected.
All deaths of looked after children must be notified, including deaths by suicide, accidents and medical causes. However, unless abuse or neglect was known or suspected to have contributed directly to the death, these cases do not need a rapid review.
In the event of a Child Safeguarding Practice Review and/or internal management review being required, the steps outlined in Section 4, Needs of Social Workers / Team / Manager / Carers should be followed.
Working Together to Safeguard Children provides that the local authority should also notify the Secretary of State for Education and Ofsted of the death of a care leaver up to and including the age of 24. This should be notified via the Child Safeguarding Online Notification System. The death of a care leaver does not require a rapid review or local child safeguarding practice review. However, safeguarding partners must consider whether the criteria for a serious incident have been met and respond accordingly, in the event the deceased care leaver was under the age of 18. If local partners think that learning can be gained from the death of a looked after child or care leaver in circumstances where those criteria do not apply, they may wish to undertake a local child safeguarding practice review.
During the implementation of this procedure, consideration must be given to the needs of those staff and carers involved in the case.
The impact of a child death on social workers/team/manager/carer(s) needs to be addressed in terms of:
- The need for counselling for those involved;
- The manner in which such support is offered;
- The provision of access to legal and professional advice about the ongoing conduct of the case;
- The provision of a clear explanation of the process of a Child Safeguarding Practice Review;
- Support for staff in the event of Police investigation/interviews;
- The need to inform and keep informed any relevant Trades Unions;
- The need for team debriefing whilst observing confidentiality. This must be discussed with the Head of Service;
- The need to acknowledge that a child death can impact on the productivity of any team and its ability to function; and the need to agree strategies to manage workloads.
Last Updated: December 17, 2025
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