The Child Safeguarding
Practice Review Panel published its fourth annual report
today.
The independent panel of experts reviews local safeguarding
incidents when a child dies or suffers serious harm and abuse, or
neglect is known or suspected. The panel can also commission a
national review where necessary.
Work for the report was undertaken by the National Policing
Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP), in
partnership with the panel. The report looks at data gathered
from these reviews across 15 months, January 2022 to March 2023,
to assist learning and improvement in multi-agency safeguarding
practice.
Within its period of focused analysis – April 2022 to March 2023
– the report observes that the panel received 393 serious
incident notifications, of which 146 (37%) were in relation to
child deaths and 227 (58%) were related to serious harm.
One of the most important findings is that over half of reviews
received by the panel featured a child who had experienced
neglect. Another was that a high proportion of school-age
children who died or were seriously harmed were either not in
school (11%) or reported to be regularly absent (29%).
Analysis also shows that, in over three-quarters of cases
reviewed, the family of the child was known to children’s social
care, and a third of children were either on, or had previously
been on, a child protection plan. In addition, nearly a fifth of
children were being ‘looked after’ by the local authority, either
at the time of the incident or prior to it, while 21% of children
were reported to have a mental health condition.
Panel Chair Annie Hudson said:
Our annual report provides important data and analysis about the
English safeguarding system, highlighting patterns in practice,
strengths and areas for improvement.
The children at the heart of this report endured shocking and
almost indescribable violence and maltreatment. We must never
become inured or habituated to the abuse, neglect and trauma they
have suffered. What happened to these children cannot be undone.
but it is vital that we learn from how well safeguarding agencies
responded to their needs, acting at a national and local level
where necessary.
That 53% of our reviews concerned children who had suffered
neglect prior to the incident, for instance, is striking and
warrants attention. Likewise, the fact that 21% of children were
reported to have one or more health conditions underlines the
vital importance of health, local authorities, police, education
and other services working seamlessly together to help keep
children safe.
A range of factors are exerting considerable pressure on
agencies: workforce challenges (for example, in social work and
health-visiting) and the sufficiency of preventative services and
high-quality placements can undermine the ability of agencies to
help and protect children. Notwithstanding these system
pressures, practitioners and leaders are bringing creativity and
resourcefulness to protecting children.
However, as the report makes clear, too often the work of
safeguarding agencies is not as ‘joined up’ as it must be,
undermining their ability to know what is happening to a child
and take decisive action when this may be needed. As we
highlighted in our 2 major national reviews in 2022 and 2023 –
Child protection in
England, commissioned following the respective deaths of
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, and Safeguarding children with
disabilities and complex health needs in residential settings
– such fragmentation must be addressed. We welcome the important
safeguarding reforms that have been initiated, but the momentum
for change must be accelerated to help families and protect
children.
