Reporting urgent concerns

Staff should be alert to signs that a child may be experiencing significant harm.

When you recognise that a child’s safety is compromised and they are likely to experience significant harm, you have a responsibility to follow your own agency’s or local procedures for notifying concerns.

Where this is the case, social work and police have a duty to investigate and take any necessary action to protect the child.

Where you have concerns about harm to a child, it is vital that you notify social work and/or police so that they can determine whether the child has experienced harm or may be at risk of significant harm.

Where a child is felt to be in immediate danger, practitioners should report their concerns directly to the police. Where a child is thought to need medical attention, this would be sought by police or social work.  


Here is the key Child Protection contact information for South Lanarkshire.