Best Practice

Safeguarding record-keeping: A crucial role in protecting young people

Safeguarding
Again and again we see safeguarding cases where poor record-keeping prevents prompt action from being taken to keep students safe. Elizabeth Rose looks at common problems and offers her advice
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I have written in SecEd before about the cornerstones of effective safeguarding practice – essentially the key things that should be in place to build the foundations of a culture of safeguarding. Along with safer recruitment, training and good multi-agency working, strong record-keeping is essential when working to keep children safe.

Time and time again we see that poor record-keeping contributes to poorer outcomes for children and cases where prompt action isn’t taken by professionals to keep children safe. We see this reported in serious case reviews and safeguarding practice reviews – records are not detailed enough, or information is not shared from these records in a timely manner.

Many schools now use an electronic system for recording safeguarding and child protection concerns. There are many benefits to this – automated notifications, the ability to allow all staff to share concerns directly and easy ways to draw-down data to look at trends and patterns.

However, the key tenets of effective record-keeping must still be in place to ensure that a clear picture of each child’s experience is available when looking at the record as a whole and information needs to be communicated about that record as necessary. In this article, we will explore some of the key aspects that make records effective, and some suggestions for further strengthening your record-keeping processes.

 

Organising files

Whether your records are electronic or in paper format, they should be organised chronologically and should be stored securely. This means that they should only be accessed by the appropriate people – not kept with a full school file, for example. If records are paper, it is advisable to use a “front sheet” to keep a record of concerns, actions and reasons for decisions, as well as any documents or hand-written accounts. This allows clearer oversight over what is happening to a child over a period of time. Electronic systems do this automatically but this isn’t foolproof – it is important to go back and check that all information has been added to records and that nothing has been missed.

Things to consider 

  • Does each child have a separate file (rather than a “family file”)? It is important to have separate files to have clear oversight over every individual.
  • Where else do you hold information about children that isn’t on their individual file? Think about emails, meeting minutes and supervision logs, for example. Is everything recorded on the child’s file that should be?
  • If you use an electronic system for staff to share concerns, can all staff access this? Is there a robust system in place for staff who do not have access to the system? 

 

What to record

The Keeping children safe in education statutory guidance (DfE, 2023) makes it clear that, “all concerns, discussions and decisions made, and the reasons for those decisions, should be recorded in writing”. This should include:

  • A clear and comprehensive summary of the concern.
  • Details of how the concern was followed up and resolved.
  • A note of any action taken, decisions reached and the outcome.

It is easy to miss “and the reasons for those decisions” within this paragraph. As well as documenting what has happened and what action has been taken, we should also look to explain the rationale for decisions.

Rationale should be added for all decisions made and actions taken, including ones where it is decided that nothing further needs to happen; it isn’t sufficient to add “no further action” to a child protection record without explaining why.

As well as ensuring a record is complete, this is also a helpful process to assist in reflecting on our own decision-making and serves as a reminder to ascertain the rationale of other agencies if they feel that no further action is necessary. 

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel annual report 2020 (DfE, 2021) found that: “Poor quality recording, inaccurate and out-of-date information result in partial understanding of the needs of the child. Considerations of risk are based on circumstances that may no longer apply.”

It is essential that records are regularly updated and referred to when making decisions about a child. Information-sharing – and sharing the right information – within school and with other agencies is crucial.

Things to consider

  • Have you trained or retrained staff recently on how to effectively record concerns? Could you revisit this as part of your training schedule?
  • Is the language used in records descriptive? Does it convey what the person is trying to record in understandable terms? Could the information and the context be understood by someone else later?
  • It is also important to think about the child’s voice within the records. Does each record include the child’s thoughts and feelings? Does it paint a picture of the child’s lived experience? Think about what may be missing and determine if it is missing from the record or if it is unknown information that needs to be looked at in more detail. 
  • What is your audit process for records? Do you look at individual files and consider if they tell the whole story? How do you do this and who is responsible for it?

 

Effective categorisation

Using data from safeguarding and child protection records can be powerful in determining trends, areas of concern and in deciding what kind of holistic support and education needs to be put in place in school. Again, however, this is only as good as the data that you put in, so it is important to consider your categories carefully (if you use an electronic system) or put a system in place to assist with this if you have paper files. 

Things to consider

  • Can you draw-down information from your system, including numbers of concerns, referrals and incidents?
  • Are your categories or tags suitable? Do they accurately describe the issue being recorded? Is there a shared understanding of what each category/tag means? Are there enough categories to cover the different issues you are facing? 
  • Do you use your systems to look at specific issues such as sexual harassment or radicalisation to identify trends and patterns?

 

Case handover

Effective information-sharing over time helps to improve outcomes for children. It is also important to consider how cases are “handed over” when children move settings or begin to work with different staff.

The recently published final analysis of serious case reviews (DfE, 2022) found that there is a “distinction to be made between information-sharing and effective communication”.

Essentially it isn’t enough to just transfer a written record and not have a conversation to hand over information verbally. Although within the report this pertains to local authorities, it is also a valuable learning point for other agencies, including schools. 

Things to consider

  • What are your systems for transferring files? Are you confident that this happens within five days of a child starting at a new setting? Do you obtain and keep a receipt?
  • How do you know you have all of the information about children from their previous schools?
  • How do you transition children where there are concerns? Do you have a conversation as well as transferring files?
  • Are you able to have conversations with new social workers as soon as they become involved with a child?

 

Final thoughts

Complexity and challenge: A triennial analysis of SCRs 2014-2017 (Brandon et al, 2020) summarises the importance of record-keeping succinctly: “Good quality record-keeping and communication of relevant issues and incidents with other agencies will provide a clearer picture of all the significant aspects in a child’s life and help identify patterns of events, concerns, strengths and unmet needs. 

“When this does not occur, identifying the link between past and current concerns can be missed and result in practitioners failing to understand the ... impact ... on children’s lives.” 

This point was made specifically about neglect and I have paraphrased it here but it underlines the point that effective record-keeping – hand-in-hand with good communication – is crucial in ensuring that children receive the right support at the right time and schools are pivotal in drawing together rich information about children so that they can be supported and protected.  

Elizabeth Rose is an independent safeguarding consultant and director of So Safeguarding. She is a former designated safeguarding lead. Visit www.sosafeguarding.co.uk and follow her on X (Twitter) @sosafeguarding. Read her previous articles for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/elizabeth-rose 

 

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