Notifications of Significant Events to Other Agencies
REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS
The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011
SCHEDULE 7 Events and Notifications
Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards
STANDARD 29 - Notification of Significant Events
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
This chapter explains the procedure following a serious event that occurs within or outside of the foster carer home, and involved either a child or young person, carer or member of staff.
AMENDMENT
This chapter was updated in November 2020 to reflect the latest Ofsted guidance for social care providers on the types of incident which they consider to be serious, and which therefore will require notification to the regulatory authority.
Contents
- Table of Notifiable Events
- Foster Carers
- Social Workers
- Notifying Ofsted
- Other Agencies
- Key Practice Matters
1. Table of Notifiable Events
The following events table taken from Schedule 7 - The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 details notifiable events as well as who should be notified:
Column 1 Event |
Column 2 To be notified to: |
|||||
Chief Inspector (Ofsted) |
Responsible authority (LA) |
Secretary of State | Area authority | Police | Primary Care Trust | |
| Death of a child placed with foster parents | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| Information is provided to the Independent Safeguarding Authority under any of sections 35, 36, 39, 41 or 45 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006(1) in respect of an individual working for a fostering service | yes | yes | ||||
| Serious illness or serious accident of a child placed with foster parents | yes | yes | ||||
| Outbreak at the home of a foster parent of any infectious disease which in the opinion of a general practitioner attending the home is sufficiently serious to be so notified | yes | yes | yes | |||
| Allegation that a child placed with foster parents has committed a serious offence | yes | yes | ||||
| Involvement or suspected involvement of a child placed with foster parents in prostitution | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||
| Serious incident relating to a child placed with foster parents necessitating calling the police to the foster parent's home | yes | yes | ||||
| A child placed with foster parents is missing from the placement | yes | |||||
| Any serious complaint about any foster parent approved by Community Foster Care | yes | yes | ||||
| Instigation and outcome of any child protection enquiry involving a child placed with foster parents | yes | yes | yes | |||
Wherever an event listed in the notifications table (above) occurs within one of the agency's foster homes or in relation to a child or children placed in one of the agency's foster homes, the Registered Manager, must be informed immediately. All foster carers and Agency staff must be formally aware of this procedure and its statutory importance to ensure that the Registered Manager is made aware as soon as possible of any significant events.
Timescales for Notifications
The Registered Manager (or delegated persons) will send notifications to inform persons and appropriate authorities within 24 hours of the event occurring or coming to light. This will include, as a minimum, Ofsted (the regulatory authority) and the placing authority.
When a notification is completed, it should be sent to the Placement Officer and the Registered Manager.
2. Foster Carers
When an event takes place which meets the criteria, it should be reported immediately to the supervising social worker, and the Registered Manager or in the case of out of hours, the on call /out of hours manager.
3. Social Workers
The supervising social worker will identify and clarify the circumstances with the foster carers (ensuring any immediately required actions needed to safeguard the child are taken) and inform the placing authority of the notifiable event. Where possible, this should be the child(ren)'s social worker, their team manager or team duty social worker. In the case of it being out of hours, it should be the on call/out of hours service in the placing authority.
Where the placement is located in a different local authority to the placing/responsible authority, and the significant event is a possible safeguarding matter, the area authority should also be notified, as there may be a need to make appropriate enquiries under Section 47 Children Act 1989.
4. Notifying Ofsted
Notifications to Ofsted should be made by using the online notification form. Any member of staff can complete the notification form, but the manager or proprietor is responsible for ensuring notifications are made. You will need your URN (Unique Reference Number), full postal address and details of the incident and those involved when completing the form.
In urgent situations, particularly where there is likely to be media interest in the incident, Ofsted can be contacted by telephone (0300 123 1231).
Notifications must be sent as soon as practicable after the event has occurred. Ofsted request that an initial notification of a significant event is sent within 24 hours of the initial event. This will include, as a minimum, Ofsted (the regulatory authority) and the placing authority. Any member of staff can complete the notification form and can be completed by Supervising Social Workers.
Quality of Notifications
It is important to ensure that they can be easily understood by a reader who has no knowledge of the case. It is also important to detail the steps taken to make the situation safe and what follow up steps will be taken.
Notifications should not just be a chronology of events. The notification should include a brief summary of the event, the actions taken by staff and managers at the time, and further actions planned to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident occurring again.
Registered managers and providers are responsible for the quality of the reports completed by their staff.
As part of the inspection process, Ofsted will discuss incidents to gain a shared understanding of what happened and the actions staff took to address the situation.
This conversation will be wider than the process of notifying (or not notifying) Ofsted, and will focus on your response to any incidents in terms of safeguarding practice and outcomes for children.
Sending Updates to Ofsted
Ofsted do not need to be sent updates in relation to any notifications made, unless there is a significant development. Even though Ofsted are not updated it will be appropriate to share updates with the placing authority and other relevant persons.
Ofsted will discuss incidents as part of the inspection process with aim of understanding the incident and actions taken by staff as a result and further actions planned to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident occurring again.
There may be occasions when an inspector will ask for an update following a serious incident because this would be helpful in understanding what has happened and the action that you have taken. In these situations, the inspector is likely to ask for additional information to be sent directly by email rather than through a series of further notifications.
There is no legal requirement to keep notifying Ofsted as a case progresses.
Learning from Notifications
It is important that managers and providers consider the wider implications of incidents which have led to notifications. The notification should not be seen as the end of the process, rather the circumstances of the incident should be reviewed and any implications for safeguarding or outcomes for children identified. Wherever possible, actions should be planned to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents occurring again. Inspectors will ask for information on learning from notifications during subsequent inspections.
Recording
Once the notification has been completed, save the .pdf to a safe place so it can be uploaded to Charms. It should be uploaded against the category that was selected within the Ofsted Notification process. Should multiple categories have been selected, please upload to the most relevant and record in the notes the other categories. The following Progress items are available:
- Notification - Child Missing from care;
- Notification - Child's Serious Offence;
- Notification - Death of a child;
- Notification - Incident involving police at fostering home;
- Notification - Independent Safeguarding Authority Referral;
- Notification - Instigation of a child protection enquiry;
- Notification - Notifiable Disease;
- Notification - Serious accident / injury;
- Notification - Serious illness;
- Notification - Sexual Exploitation.
Please only record one Notification Progress Item per event. This is important in enabling the Registered Manager to track the frequency and type of event, as is a requirement of their duties. When completing an update notification on a previous event please record it against:
- Ofsted Notification (use for all Update Notifications).
Once the notification has been submitted on the online form a reference number will be provided to the author by e-mail. This must be cut and paste into the notes section of the relevant Progress item.
Please then e-mail to the Registered Manager and the Placement Officer. The Placement's Officer will ensure it is sent to the relevant placing authority.
5. Other Agencies
When notifying other agencies including the LA the .pdf of the Ofsted online Notification is usually appropriate. In the case of the Local Authorities, there is usually a dedicated email mailbox where the notification should be sent. This is in addition to the Child Social Worker. The notification should be sent to the Placements Officer (CFC) by the Social Worker, the Placements Officer will ensure that the notification is forwarded to the correct LA email mailbox.
6. Key Practice Matters
The notes section in the relevant Notification progress item should detail which agencies have been notified and have a copy of the email cut and paste into it.
Staff should be careful not to record multiple 'Notification' progress items in Charms as this will misrepresent the count of notification events.
Good clear recording is critical to promote good working together in all notifications.