Chapter 8 of Working Together to Safeguard Children gives Local Safeguarding Children Boards the duty to undertake a Serious Case Review whenever a child dies or is seriously injured and abuse or neglect are known or suspected to be a factor.

The purpose of a Serious Case Review is to enable agencies to establish whether there are lessons to be learnt from the case about the way in which local professionals and organisations work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

When a Local Safeguarding Children Board undertakes a Serious Case Review it must also produce an Executive Summary. This report is anonymised, and must be published by the Safeguarding Children Board on this website. Once published, an Executive Summary will remain on the website for a three month period. After this, you can obtain a copy by contacting the Safeguarding Children Board.

If you require more information about Serious Case Reviews, please refer to Chapter 8 of Working Together to Safeguard Children, or contact the Wakefield and District Safeguarding Children Board.

If you would like information about the national context of Serious Case Reviews, please visit the Every Child Matters website in 'Related Links'. This page contains the DCSF’s Biennial Analysis of Serious Case Reviews, which includes a great deal of information about the themes emerging from Serious Case Review nationally.