City of London Corporation
Serious Incident Notification Procedure
In accordance with Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015), the City of London is required to report any incident that meets the criteria of a ‘notifiable incident’ to Ofsted and the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Board (CHSCB) within five working days of becoming aware that the incident has occurred.
Definition of Notifiable Incidents
A notifiable incident is an incident involving the care of a child which meets any of the following criteria:
- A child has died (including cases of suspected suicide) , and abuse or neglect is known or suspected;
- A child has been seriously harmed and abuse or neglect is known or suspected;
- A looked after child has died (including cases where abuse or neglect is not known or suspected); or
- A child in a regulated setting or service has died (including cases where abuse or neglect is not known or suspected).
Responsibilities of an organisation in the City of London where a notifiable incident occurs
- Where a serious childcare incident occurs that meets the definition of a ‘notifiable incident’, the first step for the organisation is to ensure it takes appropriate action to ensure the immediate safety of a child or minimise the impact of any serious harm.
- In all circumstances which might meet the criteria set out above, staff should inform their Safeguarding Lead or Senior Manager, who should contact the local authority todetermine whether the criteria for notification has been met.
- Where a child has suffered significant harm or if there are risks to other children, it should follow the London Child Protection Procedures and refer the case to the Children and Families Team;
- Where the child has died, the organisation should notify the CHSCB Child Death Overview Panel of the death using the Child Death Notification Form after clarifying whether or not it has already been completed by the hospital.
Responsibilities for the City of London when a notifiable incident occurs
Within five working days of becoming aware that a notifiable incident has occurred, the Assistant Director for People’s Services in the City of London will notify the Independent Chair and the Board Manager of the CHSCB and notify Ofsted:
Notification Procedure for the CHSCB (within five working days)
The allocated social worker will discussthe incident with the Early Help and Children’s Social Care Service Manager, the Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Service Manager and the Assistant Director for People’s Service.
The Assistant Director for People’s Services (Chris Pelham) will make a recommendation to the Director of Children’s Services (Ade Adetosoye) as to whether a notifiable incident has occurred. The Assistant Director will then notify the Independent Chair of the CHSCB(Jim Gamble) and the Board Manager (Angela Bent and Rory McCallum) by telephone or email and keep a record of the date/time of the notification.
Notification Procedure for Ofsted (within five working days)
The Assistant Director for People’s Services will be responsible for completing the online Notification of Serious Childcare Incident Form and for liaising on any further discussions with Ofsted:
Determining whether a Notifiable Incident meets the criteria for a Serious Case Review (SCR)
As per the guidance from the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Board on serious incident notification, an incident that meets the criteria for a notifiable incident will also meet the criteria for a SCR, although not all notifiable incidents will proceed through to SCR.
For any serious incident notifications to the CHSCB and where the incident could meet the criteria for a SCR outlined in Working Together to Safeguard Children(2015), the City of Londonwill also consider completing a CHSCB Case for Consideration Formfor the case to be reviewed by the CHSCB Serious Case Review Sub-Committee: (
Further information:
CHSCB Guidance for a Serious Childcare Incident Notification and Referral for Serious Case Review:
Contact details:
Office hours: City of London Corporation Children and Families team
Telephone 020 7332 3621/ 1620 / 3394
E-mail: DCCSDutyF&
Emergencies Out of Hours: Emergency Duty Team
E-mail:
Tel: 0208 356 2346 or 0208 356 2710