Missed Child Safeguarding Referrals
Safeguarding referrals for children sometimes missed, despite mandates and training, putting children at risk.
61 items
1 source
5 inquiries
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Inquiry recommendation
78match
LAMI-98 - Social services must inform police immediately of child criminal offence referrals.
The guideline set out at paragraph 5.8 of Working Together must be strictly adhered to: whenever social services receive a referral which may constitute a criminal offence against a child, they must inform the police at the earliest opportunity.
Matched on
terms: child, referral
Inquiry recommendation
78match
LAMI-63 - Hospital social workers must promptly respond to suspected child harm referrals
Hospital social workers must always respond promptly to any referral of suspected deliberate harm to a child. They must see and talk to the child, to the child’s carer and to those responsible for the care of the child in hospital, while avoiding the risk of appearing to coach the child.
Matched on
terms: child, referral
Inquiry recommendation
73match
WATE-(22) - Conduct inter-agency review of child abuse investigation procedures to issue guidance
In the light of the recent experience gained in both England and Wales in major investigations of alleged wide ranging abuse of children in care/looked after children, an inter-agency review of the procedures followed and personnel employed in those investigations should now be arranged with a view to issuing practical procedural guidance for the future. In any event...
Matched on
terms: child, safeguarding
Inquiry recommendation
69match
LAMI-93 - Require manager involvement from both agencies in joint child harm investigations.
Whenever a joint investigation by police and social services is required into possible injury or harm to a child, a manager from each agency should always be involved at the referral stage, and in any further strategy discussion.
Matched on
terms: child, referral
Inquiry recommendation
69match
SP58 - KCSIE 2026 safeguarding information transfer
The Department for Education, in finalising the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance 2026, and in any necessary amendments to other policy and guidance, should ensure that: 1. In cases where a child leaves a school because of permanent exclusion, there is absolute clarity concerning the relative responsibilities of the excluding school and the local authority over the...
Matched on
terms: child, safeguarding
Inquiry recommendation
65match
LAMI-90 - Ensure child protection training for liaison staff and audit policy compliance.
Liaison between hospitals and community health services plays an important part in protecting children from deliberate harm. The Department of Health must ensure that those working in such liaison roles receive child protection training. Compliance with child protection policies and procedures must be subject to regular audit by primary care trusts.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
65match
LAMI-87 - Ensure GPs receive regular training in deliberate harm recognition and child protection investigations.
The Department of Health should seek to ensure that all GPs receive training in the recognition of deliberate harm to children, and in the multi-disciplinary aspects of a child protection investigation, as part of their initial vocational training in general practice, and at regular intervals of no less than three years thereafter.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
65match
SP5 - Taxi company and school safeguarding arrangements
The Department for Transport should ensure that local authorities establish effective arrangements between licensed taxi companies and schools. These should enable school safeguarding teams to access taxi booking information where relevant to a legitimate safeguarding or risk concern relating to a child who should be at school.
Matched on
terms: child, safeguarding
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-97 - Ensure child crime investigation is equal to other serious crime investigations.
Chief constables must ensure that the investigation of crime against children is as important as the investigation of any other form of serious crime. Any suggestion that child protection policing is of a lower status than other forms of policing must be eradicated.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-96 - Review police protection systems for Children Act compliance and designated inspector officer.
Police forces must review their systems for taking children into police protection and ensure they comply with the Children Act 1989 and Home Office guidelines. In particular, they must ensure that an independent officer of at least inspector rank acts as the designated officer in all cases.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-94 - Require supervisory officers to actively ensure proper investigation of serious child crimes.
In cases of serious crime against children, supervisory officers must, from the beginning, take an active role in ensuring that a proper investigation is carried out.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-85 - Develop continuing education models for deliberate harm diagnosis and multi-disciplinary child protection investigations.
The Department of Health should invite the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to develop models of continuing education in the diagnosis and treatment of the deliberate harm of children, and in the multi-disciplinary aspects of a child protection investigation, to support the revalidation of doctors described in the preceding recommendation.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-83 - Systematically and rigorously investigate and manage cases of deliberate harm to children.
The investigation and management of a case of possible deliberate harm to a child must be approached in the same systematic and rigorous manner as would be appropriate to the investigation and management of any other potentially fatal disease.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-82 - Examine feasibility of clinical governance for children at risk of deliberate harm.
The Department of Health should examine the feasibility of bringing the care of children about whom there are concerns about deliberate harm within the framework of clinical governance.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-72 - Ensure identified GP for children with deliberate harm concerns discharged from hospital.
No child about whom there are concerns about deliberate harm should be discharged from hospital back into the community without an identified GP. Responsibility for ensuring this happens rests with the hospital consultant under whose care the child has been admitted.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-71 - Require documented future care plan for discharging children with protection concerns.
Hospital trust chief executives must introduce systems to ensure that no child about whom there are child protection concerns is discharged from hospital without a documented plan for the future care of the child. The plan must include follow-up arrangements. Hospital chief executives must introduce systems to monitor compliance with this recommendation.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
61match
LAMI-70 - Require consultant or paediatrician permission for discharging children with protection concerns.
Hospital trust chief executives must introduce systems to ensure that no child about whom there are child protection concerns is discharged from hospital without the permission of either the consultant in charge of the child’s care or of a paediatrician above the grade of senior house officer. Hospital chief executives must introduce systems to monitor compliance with this...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
60match
SP57 - Agencies to respect school insight on risk
The Home Office (for police forces nationwide) Counter Terrorism Police Headquarters (for Prevent), Department of Health and Social Care (for all healthcare providers) and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (for all local authorities regarding their social care functions) should issue a nationwide reminder to all agencies considering the risk that children pose to others of the...
Matched on
terms: child, referral
Inquiry recommendation
57match
WATE-(20) - Expedite disciplinary proceedings for child abuse, independent of police investigations
Any disciplinary proceedings that are necessary following a complaint of abuse to a child should be conducted with the greatest possible expedition and should not automatically await the outcome of parallel investigations by the police or the report on any other investigation. In this context it should be emphasised to personnel departments and other persons responsible for the...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-99 - Amend Working Together for police to exclusively conduct child criminal investigations.
The Working Together arrangements must be amended to ensure the police carry out completely, and exclusively, any criminal investigation elements in a case of suspected injury or harm to a child, including the evidential interview with a child victim. This will remove any confusion about which agency takes the ‘lead’ or is responsible for certain actions.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-95 - ACPO must produce and implement standards-based child protection service.
The Association of Chief Police Officers must produce and implement the standards-based service, as recommended by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in the 1999 thematic inspection report, Child Protection.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-92 - Ensure prompt, efficient investigation of child victim crimes to adult standards.
Chief constables must ensure that crimes involving a child victim are dealt with promptly and efficiently, and to the same standard as equivalent crimes against adults.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-91 - Require child assessment before police protection, except in exceptional circumstances.
Save in exceptional circumstances, no child is to be taken into police protection until he or she has been seen and an assessment of his or her circumstances has been undertaken.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-89 - GPs must ensure staff know local child protection agency contact procedures.
All GPs must devise and maintain procedures to ensure that they, and all members of their practice staff, are aware of whom to contact in the local health agencies, social services and the police in the event of child protection concerns in relation to any of their patients.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-86 - Explore extending child patient registration to include social and developmental welfare information.
The Department of Health should invite the Royal College of General Practitioners to explore the feasibility of extending the process of new child patient registration to include gathering information on wider social and developmental issues likely to affect the welfare of the child, for example their living conditions and their school attendance.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-84 - Revalidate doctors and paediatricians in deliberate harm diagnosis and multi-disciplinary child protection investigations.
All designated and named doctors in child protection and all consultant paediatricians must be revalidated in the diagnosis and treatment of deliberate harm and in the multi-disciplinary aspects of a child protection investigation.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-78 - Implement single set of records for each child across health professionals.
Within a given location, health professionals should work from a single set of records for each child.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-76 - Clearly identify responsible consultant for child protection aspects in deliberate harm cases.
When a child is admitted to hospital with concerns about deliberate harm, a clear decision must be taken as to which consultant is to be responsible for the child protection aspects of the child’s care. The identity of that consultant must be clearly marked in the child’s notes so that all those involved in the child’s care are...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-69 - Record all discussions, including phone calls, in child deliberate harm case notes.
When concerns about the deliberate harm of a child have been raised, a record must be kept in the case notes of all discussions about the child, including telephone conversations. When doctors and nurses are working in circumstances in which case notes are not available to them, a record of all discussions must be entered in the case...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-68 - Doctors must make comprehensive, contemporaneous notes for suspected child deliberate harm.
When concerns about the deliberate harm of a child have been raised, doctors must ensure that comprehensive and contemporaneous notes are made of these concerns. If doctors are unable to make their own notes, they must be clear about what it is they wish to have recorded on their behalf.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
LAMI-65 - Doctors must take child's history directly for suspected harm, recording consent reasons.
When the deliberate harm of a child is identified as a possibility, the examining doctor should consider whether taking a history directly from the child is in that child’s best interests. When that is so, the history should be taken even when the consent of the carer has not been obtained, with the reason for dispensing with consent...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
SP66 - Guidance for parents of children found with weapons
The Youth Justice Board should ensure that a form of clear practical written guidance is drafted which relevant professionals (social care, healthcare, police, education) can provide to parents of children who have been found with a knife or offensive weapon, explaining the importance of informing agencies if they become aware that the child has purchased or obtained a...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
57match
SP62 - Guidance on LEA and police visits to absent children
The Department for Education and the Home Office should review whether further guidance and/or minimum guidance is required in relation to local education authority and police visits to children not attending their place of education.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
56match
LAMI-88 - Examine feasibility of deliberate harm training for all primary healthcare staff.
The Department of Health should examine the feasibility of introducing training in the recognition of deliberate harm to children as part of the professional education of all general practice staff and for all those working in primary healthcare services for whom contact with children is a regular feature of their work.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
53match
SP59 - Audit of safeguarding information transfer between schools
The Department for Education should carry out an audit to ensure that safeguarding information is reliably being passed between schools and should consider what further role Ofsted may play to strengthen protection in this area.
Matched on
terms: safeguarding
Inquiry recommendation
52match
LAMI-74 - Mandate full, documented physical examination within 24 hours for suspected deliberate harm.
Any child admitted to hospital about whom there are concerns about deliberate harm must receive a full and fully-documented physical examination within 24 hours of their admission, except when doing so would, in the opinion of the examining doctor, compromise the child’s care or the child’s physical and emotional well-being.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
LAMI-81 - Implement systems to record, complete, and check actions for deliberate harm cases.
Hospital chief executives must introduce systems to ensure that actions agreed in relation to the care of a child about whom there are concerns of deliberate harm are recorded, carried through and checked for completion.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
LAMI-80 - Record all discussions, decisions, and actions in hospital notes for deliberate harm.
When a child for whom there are concerns about deliberate harm is admitted to hospital, a record must be made in the hospital notes of all face-to-face discussions (including medical and nursing ‘handover’) and telephone conversations relating to the care of the child, and of all decisions made during such conversations. In addition, a record must be made...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
LAMI-79 - Ensure all available information is reviewed during ward rounds for deliberate harm.
During the course of a ward round, when assessing a child about whom there are concerns about deliberate harm, the doctor conducting the ward round should ensure that all available information is reviewed and taken account of before decisions on the future management of the child’s case are taken.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
LAMI-77 - Doctors must provide written statement of deliberate harm concerns to social services.
All doctors involved in the care of a child about whom there are concerns about possible deliberate harm must provide social services with a written statement of the nature and extent of their concerns. If misunderstandings of medical diagnosis occur, these must be corrected at the earliest opportunity in writing. It is the responsibility of the doctor to...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
LAMI-75 - Require senior doctor to seek carer permission for deliberate harm investigation or treatment.
In a case of possible deliberate harm to a child in hospital, when permission is required from the child’s carer for the investigation of such possible deliberate harm, or for the treatment of a child’s injuries, the permission must be sought by a doctor above the grade of senior house officer.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
LAMI-73 - Require inquiry and review of previous hospital admissions for suspected deliberate harm.
When a child is admitted to hospital and deliberate harm is suspected, the doctor or nurse admitting the child must inquire about previous admissions to hospital. In the event of a positive response, information concerning the previous admissions must be obtained from the other hospitals. The consultant in charge of the case must review this information when making...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
LAMI-67 - Require recorded discussion and further opinion for differing deliberate harm diagnoses.
When differences of medical opinion occur in relation to the diagnosis of possible deliberate harm to a child, a recorded discussion must take place between the persons holding the different views. When the deliberate harm of a child has been raised as an alternative diagnosis to a purely medical one, the diagnosis of deliberate harm must not be...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
LAMI-66 - Ensure all deliberate harm concerns are fully addressed and documented in appraisals.
When a child has been examined by a doctor, and concerns about deliberate harm have been raised, no subsequent appraisal of these concerns should be considered complete until each of the concerns has been fully addressed, accounted for and documented.
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
48match
SP46 - Addressing parental consent manipulation
1. Lancashire County Council should consider how to address repeated lack of consent or manipulation of consent within existing legislation. 2. Phase 2 should consider whether legal reforms are needed to permit agencies, when considering children and young people who pose a risk of violence to others, to override parental consent to share information, access a child or...
Matched on
terms: child
Inquiry recommendation
41match
MAI-60 - Record images of students with weapons
It is recommended to all educational establishments and the Department for Education that images of school pupils or college students handling firearms, explosives or other weapons that come to the attention of staff be recorded as a potential indicator of violent extremism, unless there is a very clear innocent explanation, so that this can be taken into account...
Matched on
classifier match
Inquiry recommendation
41match
MAI-54 - School records on radicalisation vulnerability
It is recommended that the Department for Education consider whether schools should include notes of any significant behavioural problems on the Common Transfer File, or some other suitable new form of record which follows a student if they move school. The focus should be on any behaviour that may be indicative of violent extremism, such as physical aggression...
Matched on
classifier match
Inquiry recommendation
41match
MAI-1 - School-to-college records on radicalisation vulnerability
A clean start should be possible when a student moves from school to college or higher education, such that it would not be appropriate for a general file on significant behavioural problems to follow them at that point. However, there may still be value in passing on a record of any behaviour that is assessed to indicate vulnerability...
Matched on
classifier match
Inquiry recommendation
36match
WATE-(17) - Require reporting of absconsions to social worker and independent follow-up
It should be a rule of practice that any absconsion should be reported as soon as possible to the absconder's field social worker and that the absconder should be seen on his return by that social worker or by another appropriate person who is independent of the home.
Matched on
classifier match
Inquiry recommendation
36match
WATE-(16) - Advise police on absconders from care homes and social worker consultation
Police officers should be reminded periodically that an absconder from a residential care or foster home may have been motivated to abscond by abuse in the home. They should be advised that, when apprehended, an absconder should be encouraged to explain his reasons for absconding and that the absconder should not automatically be returned to the home from...
Matched on
classifier match