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Serious case reviews (SCRs) are to be scrapped in favour of a new system where cases will be reviewed either by a national panel or the local safeguarding children board (LSCB).

 

In a review, the DfE said it will create a “stronger but more flexible statutory framework” that will require local authorities, the police and the NHS to set up more robust multi-agency child protection arrangements and “promote effective joint working”.

 

Schools and other relevant agencies will also be expected to cooperate with the new arrangements.

 

The majority of SCRs involve children under five years old and although they are designed to help the sector learn lessons, improve intra-agency workings and benefit the child, they are often criticised for being lengthy, inaccessible and overwhelming for practitioners. 

 

The new framework will also remove the requirement for local areas to have LSCBs with set memberships which often leads to large and cumbersome boards.

 

“This is the beginning of a time of considerable change. It is essential that partners continue to work together in LSCBs as we take forward the work to make that change happen,” the DfE said in its review.

 

“We know that there is good practice in the system and the review has shown that there is much openness to change. The new arrangements will enable good practice to continue and improve further, as well as support deeper and longer-term reform.”

 

The review comes in response to a study from Alan Wood – The Wood Report, released in March 2016 – which said that the existing safeguarding procedures were “not sufficiently effective” and called for a “fundamental reform”.