top of page
Adults'
All features
Training
Children's

Serious incident notifications up by a fifth since start of the pandemic

Between April 2020 and April 2021 there were 536 serious incident notifications, 87 more than the previous year.

28/07/21

Serious incident notifications up by a fifth since start of the pandemic

Serious incident notifications were up by a fifth since the start of the pandemic, new Government data has shown.

The largest increase in the total number of serious incident notifications (60) occurred during the first half of the year compared with 27 in the second half of the year.

The rise in 2020-21 follows a fall of 49 notifications between 2018-19 and 2019-20 – from 498 to 448 notifications. The longer-term trend shows that notifications have fluctuated between 2014 and 2021, but overall there has been an increase of 151 notifications between those time-periods.

The number of notifications relating to child deaths also increased by 35 to 223, making up 42% of all notifications. Notifications relating to serious harm increased by 31 to 284 in 2020-21.

The highest proportion of serious incident notifications continues to be for children under one year old. 191 notifications related to children under the age of one in 2020-21, equating to 36% of all notifications.

Most serious incident notifications continued to relate to children living at home. The proportion of notifications relating to children living at home increased from 66% in the first half of 2020-21 to 75% in the second half.

The proportion of incidents reported as relating to children with child protection plans increased slightly but remained lower than in 2018-19. The proportion of incidents relating to children with child protection plans increased in the latter part of 2020-21, rising from 8% in April to September to 13% in October to March. Over four in five notifications were reported as relating to children who were known to other agencies.

Serious incident notifications are triggered if a child dies or is seriously harmed in the local authority’s area, or if a child dies or is seriously harmed outside England while normally resident in the local authority’s area, where the local authority in England knows or suspects that a child has been abused or neglected.

The local authority must also notify the Secretary of State for Education and Ofsted where a looked after child has died and whether abuse or neglect is known or suspected.

The data released shows the number of incidents reported in the period, rather than the number of incidents that occurred in the period.

Paint on Face

Coventry City Council

Newly Qualified Social Worker

Job of the week

Sign up for an informal interview for this role today

£35235 - £35235

SWT_SideAd1.png

Featured event

Featured jobs

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Senior Social Worker

City of Stoke-on-Trent

Senior Social Worker Court Team

SWT_Online_Events_ad.png

Most popular articles today

Calls for government neglect strategy as charity warns of ‘national emergency’

Calls for government neglect strategy as charity warns of ‘national emergency’

Key announcements for adults and children’s social care in Spending Review

Key announcements for adults and children’s social care in Spending Review

Services for CSA survivors not providing long-term support, report finds

Services for CSA survivors not providing long-term support, report finds

UK-based health, aid, and social care workers urged to sign Gaza petition

UK-based health, aid, and social care workers urged to sign Gaza petition

Sponsored Content

What's new today:

Supporting social work students with additional needs during their placement

About Us

Social Work Today is an online platform, developed to give professionals a sector-specific space that creates the networks to provide them with social work information, webinars, jobs and CPD from across the UK and wider global community.

Advertise with us

There are a number of options to promote your organisation on Social Work Today, from banner and advertising spaces, to job postings that are uniquely personalised to effectively showcase your message.

Click here to find out more

  • Instagram
© Social Work Today 2022
bottom of page