Serious Case Reviews

Protecting children and young people is an inter-agency and inter-disciplinary responsibility. While it is social work services who usually lead on the discharge of legal responsibilities in respect of the protection of children, any agency (including voluntary sector organisations) or profession may refer to the Islands Safeguarding Children Partnership for consideration of commencement of the Serious Case Review process.

The prime purpose of a Serious Case Review (SCR) is for organisations and individuals to learn lessons to improve the way in which they work both individually and collectively to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.

To enable clarity and consistency Guidance for Conducting a Serious Case Review has been produced. The guidance is the framework on which decisions are made, and includes:

when to call for a review;
what type of review to hold;
the management of the process;
the skills and expertise required to undertake the review;
the reporting requirements of the review; and
the implementation of the review's findings.

The guidance also sets out:

how reviews should be conducted
how review teams should be constituted
who these teams will report to

Serious Case Reviews

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