How local authorities must report the death or serious harm of a child
Official title: Report the death or serious harm of a child or care leaver
The useful part first
In 20 seconds.
- What changes
- The guide for 2026 to 2027 has been updated to include additional information requirements for reports.
- Who is affected
- Local authority staff responsible for child safeguarding and reporting incidents.
- What you may need to do
- Local authorities must ensure they have registered for the child safeguarding incident notification system and have the necessary access.
- When
- For the 2026 to 2027 reporting period.
- Legal status
- GuidanceAdvice, not a new law
Choose your summary
Key points
The essentials, point by point- 1
Local authorities must report serious child incidents within 5 working days.
- 2
Reports are required when a child has died or been seriously harmed due to abuse or neglect.
- 3
Deaths of looked after children and care leavers up to age 24 must be reported.
- 4
Information is submitted through a secure child safeguarding incident notification system.
- 5
The system requires DfE Sign-in access with specific role permissions.
1 attached file was not read, so details in them are not covered here.
Written automatically by AI from the source text. It can contain mistakes. The impact level is our estimate, not an official rating.
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