Notifiable serious incidents are those that involve death or serious harm to a child where abuse or neglect is known or suspected, and any death of a looked after child.
The underlying data files include national, regional and local authority level information for the years 2019 to 2024.
Symbols
The following symbols are used in the underlying data files as follows:
c to protect confidentiality - secondary suppression may also be applied to figures to protect confidentiality
x data not available
Where any number is shown as zero, the original figure submitted was zero.
Rounding
Regional numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. National and local authority numbers are unrounded. As a result of rounding, regional numbers may not sum to national totals.
Data files
All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.
National including breakdowns
Filename
sin_characteristics_2019_2024.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2019 to 2024
Content
Number of serious incident notifications for each reporting year, by:
nature of notification;
whether child was looked after (2024 only);
gender;
age;
ethnicity;
disability;
placement type;
whether child had a protection plan;
whether child was known to any agency;
reporting year quarter.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
breakdown
Breakdown
nature_of_notification
Nature of serious incident notification
number_notifications
Number of serious incident notifications
quarter
Reporting year quarter
Footnotes
The majority of notifications in the other category relate to incidents with child perpetrators who were themselves known or suspected to have been abused or neglected.
For 2019, there may be an undercount in the number of notifications recorded with a disability status of not known (with a corresponding overcount in the number of notifications recorded as involving children with no disability).
For 2019, there may be an overcount in the number of notifications recorded as relating to children on a protection plan.
2024 statistics on notifications relating to children looked after by local authorities (CLA), at national level only and with breakdowns by nature of notification only, are included in this statistics release for the first time following the addition of CLA status to the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification System. A child is looked-after by a local authority if they are: provided with accommodation, for a continuous period of more than 24 hours; subject to a care order; or subject to a placement order.
Children known to GP services have been excluded (where this information was recorded) from 2023 onwards but were included prior to 2023.
In the 2023 release, the figures for 2020 and 2021 were revised slightly from previous publications to reflect improved recording of data.
Number of serious incident notifications for each reporting year, by local authority and region.
PLEASE NOTE: Neither high nor low numbers of serious incident notifications alone should be interpreted as a performance measure of the local authority or its workforce. When interpreting data on serious incident notifications, local authority contextual information is an important consideration. Local authorities with larger populations tend to be more likely to report more serious incident notifications than those with smaller populations. Those with higher levels of deprivation also tend to be more likely to report higher rates of serious incident notifications than those with lower levels of deprivation. In addition, whilst reporting has improved in recent years, the Department is aware that, in some instances, not all incidents that meet the definition for a serious incident are notified. Data relating to population size, the number of children in need and deprivation have been included to provide further contextual information to the data on serious incident notifications.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
cin_31march
Number of children in need at 31 March
idaci_avgscore_2019
IDACI average score in 2019
number_notifications
Number of serious incident notifications
ons_midyear_population
ONS mid-year population estimates
Footnotes
The source of the data on serious incident notifications is the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification System. The statistics show the number of incidents notified in the period, rather than the number of incidents that occurred in the period and are based on one notification per incident, which can relate to more than one child in some instances. The local authority should notify the Child Safeguarding Practice review panel within 5 working days of becoming aware that the incident has occurred. However, in some cases, there can be delays in notifications being submitted. When interpreting data on serious incident notifications, local authority contextual information is an important consideration. Local authorities with larger populations tend to be more likely to report more serious incident notifications than those with smaller populations. Those with higher levels of deprivation also tend to be more likely to report higher rates of serious incident notifications than those with lower levels of deprivation. In addition, whilst reporting has improved in recent years, the Department is aware that, in some instances, not all incidents that meet the definition for a serious incident are notified. For these reasons, neither high nor low numbers of serious incident notifications alone should be interpreted as a performance measure of the local authority or its workforce. 'c' has been used where applicable to protect confidentiality. Regional figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
The source of the data for the children in need at 31 March figures is the Children in Need statistics release. These figures have been added to provide further contextual information to the data on serious incident notifications. 2021 and 2022 data for Hackney are not available, but 2020 data has been included in the 2021 and 2022 national total and regional totals for Inner London and London. As 2024 children in need data were not available at the time of publication, the serious incident notification figures for 2024 show the latest (at the time) 2023 children in need data alongside. National and regional figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
The source of the data for the IDACI average score figures is the English indices of deprivation 2019. These figures have been added to provide further contextual information to the data on serious incident notifications. The Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) measures the proportion of all children aged 0 to 15 living in income deprived families. The average score for a given LA is calculated by taking the (population weighted) average of the combined scores for the LSOAs (Lower Super Output Areas) under that particular LA. The values range from 0.032 to 0.327, with a higher score indicating that the LA is more deprived according to this measure.
Mid-year ONS population estimates are based on children aged 0 to 17 years in England. These figures have been added to provide further contextual information to the data on serious incident notifications. As 2023 mid-year ONS population estimates were not available at the time of publication, the serious incident notification figures for 2024 show the latest (at the time) 2022 mid-year ONS population estimates alongside. National and regional figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
The unitary authority Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole was formed on 1 April 2019 by the merger of the previous unitary authorities Bournemouth and Poole, and the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch. As a result, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole data is provided for 2020 onwards but data for Bournemouth and data for Poole is provided for 2019 only. The non-metropolitan districts of Weymouth and Portland, West Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck and East Dorset combined with Dorset County Council to form Dorset Council on 1 April 2019. As a result, there is one data entry for Dorset for 2019 and another separate entry for Dorset for 2020 onwards. On 1 April 2021, the unitary authorities North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire were formed, replacing Northamptonshire County Council. However, data is provided under the former Northamptonshire basis in 2022 and 2023, in addition to being provided for earlier years, but is provided under the new North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire basis in 2024. On 1 April 2023, the unitary authority Cumberland and the unitary authority Westmorland and Furness were formed, replacing Cumbria County Council. As a result, data for Cumberland and data for Westmorland and Furness is provided from 2024 onwards, with data for Cumbria provided prior to 2024.
Total number of serious incident notifications for each reporting year. Figures on serious incident notifications between 2015 and 2018 are based on Ofsted published data (opens in a new tab) and for 2019 onwards are based on Department for Education data.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
number_notifications
Number of serious incident notifications
Footnotes
Figures between 2015 and 2018 are based on Ofsted published data.