Child Safeguarding
Practice Review Panel: 2021 annual report
A new report by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel
reveals almost 400 children were seriously abused or neglected in
England in 2021.
The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has today (15
December 2022) published its third annual report. The independent
panel of experts reviews serious child safeguarding incidents -
when a child dies or suffers serious harm, and abuse or neglect
is known or suspected. The new report shows the panel received
379 serious incident notifications in 2021, which includes over
150 children who tragically died.
Although the new figures demonstrate that there has been a 21%
reduction in notifications compared to 2020, today’s publication
is the third annual report from the panel, in addition to 5
national reviews, all highlighting the need to protect vulnerable
children.
Therefore, the panel is calling for the government to urgently
release its plans to reform children’s social care and to
strengthen the child protection system.
Chair of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, Annie
Hudson said:
Our annual report shows that while many professionals work hard
to protect children, there are fault lines in the system that
inhibit good information-sharing, risk assessment and critical
analysis and challenge.
Sadly, these issues are not new. Since the panel was set up in
2018, we have seen again and again how similar issues and
problems recur in both local and national reviews. Many of these
issues were highlighted in the national review into the tragic
deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson.
It is now time to make changes in how agencies work together to
protect and safeguard children, building on what is working and
creating the right conditions to support the very best
multi-agency practice. Children cannot afford to wait.
Professionals working to protect children have to deal with the
most complex challenges and some perpetrators of abuse will evade
even the most robust safeguards. However, the analysis of the
statistics demonstrated that in too many instances, practitioners
are relying on parents reporting a situation rather than engaging
directly with children.
To support practitioners, the panel has highlighted 6
cross-cutting practice themes to make a difference in reducing
serious harm and preventing child deaths caused by abuse or
neglect:
- supporting critical thinking and professional challenge
through effective leadership and culture
- the importance of a whole family approach to risk assessment
and support
- giving central consideration to racial, ethnic and cultural
identity, and impact on the lived experience of children and
families
- recognising and responding to the vulnerability of babies
- domestic abuse and harm to children - working across services
- keeping a focus on risks outside the family
Notes to editors
The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel is an independent
body that was set up in July 2018 to identify, commission and
oversee reviews of serious child safeguarding cases. It brings
together experts from social care, policing, education, health
and the third sector to provide a multi-agency view on cases
which they believe raise issues that are complex, or of national
importance.
The panel received 379 serious incident notifications between 1
January and 31 December 2021, relating to 398 children. Of those
379 notifications, 156 were in relation to child deaths and 242
related to serious harm.
Also published today are supplementary reports, which underpin
the data and analysis highlighted in the panel’s Annual Report
2021. These include:
- an analysis of safeguarding partnerships’ yearly reports,
published on the What Works for Children’s Social Care website
- a commissioned analysis of rapid reviews and local child
safeguarding practice reviews completed by the University of East
Anglia and University of Birmingham
