3.8 Strategy Discussions

1. Introduction

Whenever there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm, there should be a strategy discussion involving local authority children’s social care (including the residential or fostering service, if the child is looked after), the police, health, and other bodies such as the referring agency, education, early help, or other practitioners involved in supporting the child. This might take the form of a multi-agency meeting and more than one discussion may be necessary. A strategy discussion can take place following a referral or at any other time, including during the assessment process and when new information is received on an already open case.

2. Purpose

The purpose of a strategy discussion is to determine the child’s welfare and plan rapid future action if there is reasonable cause to suspect the child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm.

3. Attendees

A local authority social worker, health practitioners and a police representative should, as a minimum, be involved in the strategy discussion. Other relevant practitioners will depend on the nature of the individual case but may include those who have concerns about the child and / or those involved in the child’s life, for example:

• the practitioner or agency which made the referral;
• the child’s school or nursery;
• any health or care services the child or family members are receiving;
• youth justice practitioner and/or youth worker;
• adult mental health, substance misuse and / or domestic abuse specialist;
• British Transport Police representative.

All attendees should be sufficiently senior to make decisions on behalf of their organisation and agencies. They should be sufficiently skilled and experienced to prepare for and engage with the strategy discussion and be able to critically assess and challenge their own and others’ input.

4. Tasks

The discussion should be used to:

• share, seek and analyse available information;
• agree the conduct and timing of any criminal investigation;
• consider whether enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 should be undertaken.

It is for the local authority to decide whether to make enquiries and the strategy discussion should inform this decision.

Where there are grounds to initiate an enquiry under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, decisions should be made as to:

• what further information is needed if an assessment is already underway and how it will be obtained and recorded;
• what immediate and short-term action is required to support the child, and who will do what by when;
• whether legal action is required.

The timescale for the assessment to reach a decision on next steps should be based upon the needs of the individual child, consistent with the local protocol and no longer than 45 working days from the point of referral into local authority children’s social care.

The assessment framework should be followed for assessments undertaken under section 47 of the Children Act 1989. The lead practitioner for section 47 enquiries should be a social worker.

4.1 Lead practitioners

Lead practitioners should convene the strategy discussion and make sure they:

• consider the child’s welfare and safety, including through speaking to the child, and identifying whether the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm;
• decide what information should be shared with the child and family (on the basis that information is not shared if this may jeopardise a police investigation or place the child at risk of harm);
• agree what further action is required, and who will do what by when, where an EPO is in place, or the child is the subject of police powers of protection;
• record agreed decisions in accordance with local recording procedures;
• follow up actions to make sure what was agreed gets done.

4.2 Health practitioners

Health practitioners should:

• advise about the appropriateness or otherwise of medical assessments, and explain the benefits that arise from assessing previously unmanaged health matters that may be further evidence of neglect or maltreatment;
• provide and co-ordinate any specific information from relevant practitioners regarding family health, maternity health, school health mental health, domestic abuse and violence, and substance misuse to assist strategy and decision making;
• secure additional expert advice and support from named and/or designated professionals for more complex cases following preliminary strategy discussions;
• undertake appropriate examinations or observations, and further investigations or tests, to determine how the child’s health or development may be impaired.

4.3 Police

The police should:

• discuss the basis for any criminal investigation, including both reactive (where there is evidence to suggest a crime has been committed) and proactive (where further activity is required to establish if a crime has occurred), and any relevant processes that other organisations and agencies might need to know about, including the timing and methods of evidence-gathering;
• lead the criminal investigation where joint enquiries take place with the local authority children’s social care leading for the section 47 enquires and assessment of the child’s welfare.