Amendments

This chapter was amended in March 2026, to include links to Private Fostering Resources and to Liquidlogic guidance.

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 9, Personal Advisers to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. This section should be read in full.

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 5, Supervision Procedure to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. This section should be read in full.

In February 2026, Section 5, Initial Disposal of Referrals was amended to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards.

This chapter was refreshed in February 2026. The Government guidance Report the death or serious harm of a child or care leaver was updated to provide what information is needed when reporting incidents involving children who have died or been seriously harmed and abuse or neglect is known or suspected, looked after children and care leavers. The Serious Incident Notification Guide for local authorities was added to this chapter.

In February 2026, this chapter was updated.

In February 2026, in Section 2.1, Additional Considerations Where a Child Has Multiple Needs information was added about how to access pre-application advice on caring for children with complex needs (Ofsted) if you are thinking about opening a children's social care service for children with complex needs.

This chapter was refreshed in February 2026.

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 1, The Purpose of Children in Care Reviews, Section 8, The Role of the Social Worker, Section 10, Independent Reviewing Officer's Responsibilities and Section 14, Recording of Children in Care Reviews to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. These sections should be read in full. 

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 4, Actions Required after a Decision to Look After is Made to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. This section should be read in full. 

This chapter was updated in February 2026, to include information for the Restraint and restrictive practices: positive environments for children - Ofsted: social care.

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 4, Placement Planning, Section 5, Notification of Placement and Section 6, Support and Monitoring of Placements to ensure consistency with Northamptonshire Children Trust's Practice Standards. 

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 5, All Relevant Information about Children and their Families must be Recorded to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. This section should be read in full.

This chapter was added to the manual in February 2026.

This chapter was refreshed in February 2026, to include information from the Criminal Injuries Compensation: A Guide.

In February 2026, this chapter was updated with information from the Youth Justice Charter - know your rights in the youth justice system. The Youth Justice Charter sets out what children can expect at each stage of the youth justice system - helping them understand who does what, what their rights are, and what to do if the standards are not met. 

In February 2026, this chapter was reviewed.

In February 2026, information was added from How Local Authorities Can Help Young Carers (Ofsted Blog) and additional resources were added to Further Information.

In February 2026, this chapter was updated to reflect local guidance.

This chapter was updated in February 2026. 

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 1, Initiating Section 47 Enquiries and Section 3, Conducting Section 47 Enquiries to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. These sections should be read in full. 

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 6, Planning, Section 8, Contribution of the Child and Family and Section 11, Timescales to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. These sections should be read in full. 

This new chapter was added to the manual in February 2026.

In February 2026, Section 2, Principles and Section 3, Health Care Assessments were amended to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards.

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 2, Placements Process and Section 3, Support, Monitoring and Ending of Placements to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. These sections should be read in full

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 1, Normal Frequency and Section 5, Recording to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. These sections should be read in full.

This chapter was updated in February 2026.

This chapter was added in February 2026.

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 4, The Placement to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. These sections should be read in full 

In February 2026, Section 7, Where the Advice from the Guardian and the Local Authority assessment are fundamentally different in relation to the safety and best interests of a child was added to the chapter in line with practice guidance issued jointly by Cafcass and the ADCS.

This chapter was updated in February 2026.

In February 2026, amendments were made to Section 3, Timescales for Completion and Section 4, Approval and Review Frequency of the Care Plan to ensure consistency with local Practice Standards. These sections should be read in full. 

In February 2026, links were added to Youth Remand Concordat - Guidance and principles to follow a joint approach throughout the youth remand process for local and national partners and Delivering the best for girls in custody - an independent review into placements and care for girls in the Children and Young People Secure Estate.

This chapter was added in February 2026.

In February 2026, this chapter was updated with information from the Youth Justice Charter - know your rights in the youth justice system. The Youth Justice Charter sets out what children can expect at each stage of the youth justice system - helping them understand who does what, what their rights are, and what to do if the standards are not met. It was also reviewed and updated with guidance from the Youth Remand Concordat which gives guidance and principles for Local Authorities and key agencies in working with children through the remand process.

This chapter was updated in February 2026.

In February 2026, this chapter was updated.

In February 2026, this chapter was updated.

In February 2026, this chapter was reviewed and updated to reflect local protocol.

In February 2026, information was added in Section 6.3,Placement before a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) is Granted to highlight that the DfE has extended the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund initially until March 2027, with a new fair access limit of £3000.

In February 2026, information was added in Section 3, Examples of Adoption Support to highlight that the DfE has extended the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund initially until March 2027, with a new fair access limit of £3000.

In February 2026, Section 3, Security, Retention and Sharing of Records was updated in the light of the Records of Adopted and Care-experienced People - Good Practice Guidance for Record-keepers and Care Professionals (England and Wales) Guidance - published February 2024 which recommends that Adoption records where an Adoption Order is made should now have for "good practice" minimum retention of 125 years (date of birth + 125 years this was previously 100 years) or for "exemplary practice" for 150 years, or best practice would be permanent preservation/retention. 

This chapter was added to the manual in August 2025.

In August 2025 Section 15.1, Registering an appeal with the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disability) was updated in line with case law.

This chapter was added to the manual in August 2025

In August 2025 information was added into Section 9, Accommodation, Bedroom Space and Sharing in relation to bunk beds.

This chapter was updated in August 2025.

In August 2025 links were added to additional sources of guidance.

This chapter was updated in August 2025 to include information from the MoJ Youth Remand Concordat.

This chapter was updated in August 2025.

In August 2025, The NRPF Journey Flowchart was added to the ‘Note’ Section (see above).

In August 2025 this chapter was revised in line with updated government guidance.

This chapter was updated in August 2025 to reflect Granting Leaves of Absence in Working Together to Improve School Attendance statutory guidance, which states that generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance for leave of absence.

This chapter was added to the manual in August 2025.

This chapter was refreshed in August 2025.

This chapter was reviewed and amended in August 2025 to include a link to the ‘Get Involved’ site in the ‘Local Information’ section.

In August 2025, the following sections were updated to reflect changes in timescales:

• Section 3, Requesting a Legal Planning Meeting, and the Relevant Timings
• Section 7, Recording of Legal Planning Meetings
• Appendix 1: Pre-Proceedings;
• Appendix 3: Issue s31 Proceedings.
  
  

All updated sections and appendices should be re-read.

This chapter was updated in August 2025 to reflect Granting Leaves of Absence in Working Together to Improve School Attendance statutory guidance, which states that generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance for leave of absence.