Incident follow-up in children's homes: what happens next

Writing the incident report is the easy part. The harder work starts once it is saved: someone has to read it, decide whether anyone outside the home needs telling, talk to the child, look after the staff involved, change whatever needs changing and make sure the actions do not quietly lapse. A report that is written and then forgotten protects nobody.

This article is for registered managers, deputies and senior support workers in children's homes in England. It covers the life of an incident after it has been recorded: manager review, notifications, debrief, updating plans and closing actions. How to write the report itself is covered in our article on recording, and shift-to-shift communication is covered in children's home handovers.

The short version

• An incident is finished when its follow-up is finished, not when the report is saved.
• The manager should review every incident, and review serious ones the same day or the next working day.
• Decide early whether the incident triggers a notification under Regulation 40, and record the decision either way.
• Where restraint was used, the regulations set clear deadlines: a record within 24 hours, the manager speaking to the staff member within 48 hours, and a conversation with the child within 5 days.
• Hold a debrief with the child and with the staff, separately, and write down what changed as a result.
• Every action needs an owner, a date and a recorded outcome. Open actions are the first thing to check at your weekly review.

What should happen after an incident is recorded?

The first hour after an incident is about safety and getting the report written. The days after are about review and learning, and they follow a sequence you can write into your home's procedure.

1. Immediate safety: the child is safe, anyone injured has been seen, and the person in charge has made any urgent calls.
2. Report: written by those involved, signed and dated by the author.
3. Manager review: a named manager reads the report and decides what follows.
4. Notifications: decide whether anyone must be told, and tell them.
5. Debrief: with the child, and separately with the staff.
6. Plan changes: update the risk assessment, behaviour support or placement plan if the incident shows they no longer fit.
7. Close: confirm every action is done and record why the incident is closed.

You can compress this for a minor incident. You should not skip it for a serious one.

Manager review: what to look at

The manager review is the point at which someone with authority reads the report critically and decides what must happen next. The leadership and management standard asks the registered person to understand the impact of the quality of care on each child and to use monitoring and review systems to improve it,^[1] and incident review is one of the places where that is visible in practice.

When you read an incident, ask:

• Is the account clear about what the child did, what staff did and what happened next, with times?
• Was the response consistent with the child's plan and risk assessment? If not, why?
• Was anything done earlier that could have prevented it, and was that tried?
• Are there injuries, and have they been seen and recorded?
• Does this involve a safeguarding concern, an allegation about a member of staff, police involvement or a missing episode that triggers a separate process?
• Is this a one-off, or the third similar incident this fortnight? The pattern question is the subject of spotting patterns in children's home records.

Write a short review note: what you read, what you decided, and what actions follow. A tick with no note is hard to defend later.

Decide whether it is a Regulation 40 notification

Some incidents must be notified, without delay, to Ofsted and others. Regulation 40 requires the registered person to notify, among other things, an incident requiring police involvement in relation to a child that the registered person considers to be serious, and sexual exploitation or suspected sexual exploitation. The notification must say what the matter was, who else has been told and what actions you have taken, and it must be made or confirmed in writing.^[2]

For the follow-up process, what matters is that the decision is made at review and recorded. Write "Reg 40 considered: not notifiable, because..." if that is your view. If the answer is yes, the follow-up record should show the date and time you notified and who you told. The full list of events, recipients and timing is in our Regulation 40 guide.

Restraint: the deadlines that apply

When a measure of control, discipline or restraint is used, the regulations set three deadlines. A record must be made within 24 hours, covering the child's behaviour leading to it, the date, time and place, a description of the measure and its duration, the steps taken to avoid it, who used it and who was present, its effect, and any injury and treatment. Within 48 hours the registered person, or someone they authorise, must speak to the person who used the measure and sign the record to confirm it is accurate. Within 5 days, they must add confirmation that they have spoken to the child about it.^[3]

Put these three dates on the incident as separate actions on the day it happens. They are the easiest to miss, because they fall on different days and sometimes across a weekend. The exemption is restraint planned or provided for as a matter of routine in the child's EHC plan or statement of special educational needs.^[3]

Debrief: with the child and with the staff

A debrief is a calm conversation, some time after the incident, in which the child and then the staff say what happened, what it felt like and what could go differently. Do the child's and the staff's separately, because the child needs to be heard without staff present who were involved.

With the child

• Wait until they are settled. Offer a choice of who talks to them, and where.
• Ask for their account before giving yours. Write down what they said in their words.
• Ask what would have helped, and what they want staff to do next time.
• Check for injury or distress, and for anything they are worried about, including whether they feel safe.
• Tell them what will happen next, and then do it.

With the staff

• Check how they are. Restraint and aggression leave people shaken, and staff who feel unsupported start avoiding the child.
• Go through the sequence: what happened before, what was tried, what worked and what did not.
• Look for what to change in approach, not who to blame. If practice fell short, deal with it separately and promptly.
• Agree what the whole team needs to know and pass it on through the handover.

Updating plans and risk assessments

The protection of children standard requires staff to assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking account of the child's relevant plans, and to make arrangements to reduce the risk where needed.^[4] After an incident, that means asking whether the risk assessment still describes the child, and changing it if not.

Look at four documents:

• The risk assessment for the behaviour concerned.
• The behaviour support or crisis plan, particularly the early warning signs and what de-escalation worked.
• The placement plan, if the incident challenges whether the home can meet the child's needs.
• Individual routines, such as supervision levels, room checks or one-to-one time.

If you change the risk assessment, tell the team through the handover and note the change date on the incident. Tell the child's social worker where the placing authority needs to know.

Closing actions

An incident can be closed when every action has an outcome, and the outcome is written down. Do not close it because enough time has passed.

Before closing, check:

1. The report is complete, signed and dated.
2. The manager review note exists.
3. Any notification decision is recorded, and sent if needed.
4. Restraint deadlines were met, if relevant.
5. The child's debrief took place, or the reason it did not is recorded.
6. Staff debrief took place and any support offered is noted.
7. Plan and risk assessment changes are made or the decision not to change them is recorded.
8. Outside parties, such as the social worker, parents or police, have been informed where appropriate.

At your weekly review, scan for incidents that are still open after a week. They are usually either genuinely waiting on someone else, which needs chasing, or forgotten.

A worked example

A 14-year-old, anonymised here as Callum, becomes distressed after a cancelled contact visit and throws a chair. Two staff use a physical intervention for about a minute. No one is hurt.

The next morning the manager reads the report and finds the times and the early warning signs clearly recorded. She notes that no police were involved and that this was not a notifiable event, and says why. She gives the restraint record to the staff member who used it, speaks to them at 11am the same day and signs it. That evening she asks the keyworker to talk to Callum, who says the cancellation was announced in front of other children and that he wanted to be told privately. The keyworker writes it down in Callum's words, and the manager records the date she spoke to him two days later.

The team agree to tell Callum about changes to contact in a private room. The manager updates the risk assessment and the crisis plan, tells the social worker, and adds a line to the handover. She also notes that this is Callum's second incident after a cancelled contact, which goes into her pattern review. The incident is closed after four days with every action marked done.

Where ARC fits

In ARC, incidents have a manager review step that only managers can complete, and a company can set compliance rules for the incident lifecycle and for manager review. A Regulation 40 notification is raised against the incident by a manager. The same follow-up works on paper if you keep a simple tracker of open actions.

Common questions

Who should review an incident report in a children's home? The registered manager, or a deputy or senior manager your home's procedure names for the task. For serious incidents, the registered manager should be told the same day, even when off site.

How soon after an incident should the manager review it? The regulations set no general deadline for review. A sensible standard is the same day or next working day for serious incidents, and within the week for minor ones. Restraint has fixed deadlines of 24 hours, 48 hours and 5 days.

Do we have to debrief every incident? Not every one needs a formal debrief, but every incident involving restraint, injury, a safeguarding concern or serious distress should have one with the child and with the staff.

When can an incident be closed? When every action has an outcome recorded, including any notification decision, debrief and plan changes.

Should we change the risk assessment after every incident? No. Change it when the incident shows the assessment no longer describes the child or the risk. Where you decide it does not need changing, record that decision.

Does the child have to be told what happened afterwards? Yes, they should be told what is happening and why, in language they understand. For restraint, the regulations require that someone speaks to the child about it within 5 days.

Sources

1. The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015, regulation 13, the leadership and management standard. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/541/regulation/13 Checked 22 October 2026.
2. The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015, regulation 40, notification of a serious event. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/541/regulation/40 Checked 22 October 2026.
3. The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015, regulation 35, behaviour management policies and records. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/541/regulation/35 Checked 22 October 2026.
4. The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015, regulation 12, the protection of children standard. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/541/regulation/12 Checked 22 October 2026.