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Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews

The overall purpose of a Local CSPR is for agencies and individuals to learn lessons, to improve the way which they work, both individually and collectively and to explore how practice can be improved more generally through changes to the system, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.

Safeguarding partners are required, by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review and Relevant Agency (England) Regulations 2018, to consider certain criteria and guidance when determining whether to carry out a LCSPR.  They must consider whether the case highlights, or may highlight:

  • Improvements needed to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, including where those improvements have been previously identified.
  • Recurrent themes in the safeguarding and promotion of the welfare of children.
  • Concerns regarding two or more organisations or agencies working together effectively to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

They must also consider cases that the National Panel have considered for national review but have then concluded that a local review may be more appropriate.

They should also have regard to the following circumstances:

  • Where the safeguarding partners have cause for concern about the actions of a single agency.
  • Where there has been no agency involvement this gives the safeguarding partners cause for concern
  • Where more than one local authority, police area or integrated care board is involved, including in cases where families have moved around.
  • Where the case may raise issues relating to safeguarding or promoting the welfare of children in institutional settings.  This includes children’s homes, secure children’s homes, and other settings with residential provision for children.  It also includes custodial settings where a child is held, including police custody, young offender institutions and secure training centres, and all settings where detention of a child takes place, including under the Mental Health Act 1983 or the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Meeting the criteria does not mean a LCSPR must automatically be undertaken.  The process outlined in the document below will be followed to determine whether a review is appropriate (i.e. where there is potential to identify improvements).

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Framework   This Framework is currently under review

LCSPR’s may also be undertaken for cases which do not meet the definition of a serious child safeguarding case if they raise issues of importance that could generate learning.  Working Together 2018 suggests they might take place where there has been good practice, poor practice or where there have been ‘near miss’ events.

Alternative learning reviews will always be considered if the decision is not to proceed with a formal LCSPR; this will usually be via a Local Reflective Review.

Link to Improving Child Protection and Safeguarding Practice CSPRs https://www.proceduresonline.com/resources/sgp/p_child_sg_review.html

Any organisation with statutory or official duties in relation to children must inform HSCP of any incident which they think should be considered for a review as soon as they become aware of the incident.

To support early identification of relevant cases, consideration of a referral for a Child Safeguarding Practice Review should be an agenda item in all multi-agency strategy meetings convened following serious harm to, or death of a child.

The referral form allows a partner to outline the case and propose the process they feel is required either:

  1. A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review or
  2. An alternative learning review– potentially leading to a multi or single agency learning process.

The completed referral form is submitted to the Halton Safeguarding Children Business Unit CYPSafeguardingPartnership@halton.gov.uk who will notify the Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance.  It should be noted that when referrals are completed by agencies, that full information requested in the form is required to support decision making.  Incomplete forms will be returned to the referrer.

The report builds on some of the practice themes to make a difference, which were identified in previous annual reports, giving specific consideration this year to the role of leaders in creating the conditions for the best safeguarding practice. The analysis also highlights some important features of the lives of children considered in reviews, as well as the impact of context on multi-agency safeguarding practice.

The lessons learned through the CSPR process in other areas of the country can be relevant to our practice in Halton. A CSPR Triage Group meets quarterly in Halton to review the key recommendations from recent national CSPRs and to conduct a ‘True for Us’ exercise.

A number of CSPRs published nationally on Children’s Safeguarding Partnership websites across the country are available on the NSPCC website along with at-a-glance thematic briefings: NSPCC Portal