Recording Policy and Guidelines
Scope of this chapter
'Good case recording is important to demonstrate the accountability of staff…it helps to focus the work of staff working in children's services to support those who use those services. It ensures there is a documented account of the responsible authority's involvement with individual service users, families and carers and assists with continuity when workers are unavailable or change'.
Related guidance
Amendment
This chapter was refreshed in July 2025.
The child's record is an important source of information for them as well as a tool for planning support and interventions. The child’s record should provide information about the sequence of events which brought about Children's Social Care's involvement into their life and provides an explanation for the reasons why important decisions were made in the child's and/or family's life. The child’s record can be key to helping a child understand their life journey – their present, past and any planning for their future. This can be particularly relevant where a child has been unable to live with their family whilst growing up or when a child has experienced changes to their care.
Recording on a child’s file should include observations and reflect their experiences, lives, interests, achievements and include their voice, views, wishes and feelings. Recordings should detail any work that is carried out with them and their family and clearly relate to the plans for their future. Where possible, records should be written to the child in a style that is easy to understand, in a clear way that will help children and others understand more about their histories, background and experiences.
Recording in respect of the child and their family will usually be developed from notes taken in the course of daily work e.g. telephone conversations, visits, meetings, direct work with the child, interviews etc. These notes may be used directly, or as a result of such information being in a report or court statement. The Family Court, in the case of RE M and N (Children) (Local authority gathering, preserving and disclosing evidence) advised that social workers/practitioners must make contemporaneous notes which form a coherent, contemporaneous record. The notes should be legible, signed and dated and record persons present during the meeting/conversation in question. The notes should be detailed and accurately attribute descriptions, actions and views etc. In some instances, sketches/diagrams may be helpful in establishing the veracity of explanations given, e.g. with regard to how injuries were sustained, etc.
Note: These original notes might need to be disclosed in a court.
Each child must have their own electronic record from the point of referral to closure; audio, video and digital recordings may also be kept.
Where paper files are also kept, information held in electronic records must accurately reflect the corresponding information recorded within paper files.
Records held on paper may extend to more than one volume. Where more than one volume exists, the dates covered by each volume must be clearly recorded on the front cover.
All records, irrespective of whether they are physical or electronic, should be securely kept and electronic messaging (e.g. emails) should also be sent in a secure and safe way so as to preserve their confidential and professional nature (see Section 13, Records Should be Kept Securely). The email may be summarised, but the email should not be copied and pasted to notes in their entirety.
Records and forms must be designed to fit their purpose and used consistently across the organisation. The design should be flexible and promote ready distinction between historical and current information and not rigidly seek to reflect a presumed social work 'workflow'.
A manager must approve the design of all records and forms before coming into use.
In Sefton, recording templates have been created and approved by senior managers with oversight of different service areas to promote consistency of practice and provide helpful direction to practitioners.
Children and their families should be told what types of information/data is contained in their records.
In particular, they should be helped to understand what data is collected about them, how it is used, who it might be shared with and how long it will be kept for. The most common way to provide information to Data Subjects on what data is collected and how it is used is through a Privacy Notice. Privacy Notices must be easily accessible to children, young people and their families, and should be part of the induction pack given to any new staff members.
See Confidentiality Policy and Access to Records / Subject Access Requests Procedure.
Where children have been adopted, see also: Access to Birth Records and Adoption Case Records Procedure.
Information must be provided in a form that children and their families will understand - in their preferred language or method of communication. An interpreter will be provided if needed.
The practitioner primarily involved, that is the person who directly observes or witnesses the event that is being recorded or who has participated in the meeting/conversation, must complete records.
Where this is not possible and records are completed or updated by other people, it must be clear from the record which person provided the information being recorded. Preferably the originator should read the record to ensure its accuracy.
Records of decisions must show who made any decision as well as the basis on which it was made.
See also: Section 10, Records Must be Written Clearly using Plain Language and Avoid Prejudice and Section 11, Records Must be Accurate and Adequate.
Every child's record must hold details of the child's full name, date of birth and any identification number. Care should be undertaken to ensure the spelling of names and other details are accurate.
Other professionals and partner agencies providing information/reports should be made aware that information provided by them may well be included on the child's file and that this could be accessed by them.
The child’s record must include a summary (to be updated at least every 3 months) which includes the following:
- Names and details of everyone who lives in the family home with the child, identifying any persons who have Parental Responsibility;
- Pen picture of the child;
- Outline of the child’s plan;
- Where the child does not live at their home, the details of where they live and who cares for them. Also, the legal status of the child;
- Names and contact details of anyone particularly close to the child with whom they spend time with or consider to be a good support. This may include family or other professionals;
- Information about the child and /or family's need to include any reasonable adjustments required to support them;
- A record of managers' decisions and reasons for making them, to include any relevant dates or timescales;
- Details of arrangements for family time;
- Details of any relevant safety plan and review;
- Detail of any relevant risk assessment;
- Details of who to contact in an emergency - clear contingency plan;
- A detailed chronology which is regularly updated and follows the child’s journey showcasing events, decisions, achievements etc;
- 3 generational genogram which provides a full understanding of the child’s family and friend network;
- Details of any relevant Court Orders and, where appropriate, copies of any Court Orders made in respect of the child should be uploaded to the child’s records under documents;
- Copies of reports provided during court proceedings, including specialist assessments, statements, the Children's Guardian report, etc should be uploaded to documents;
- Additional information about the child’s educational needs or progress e.g. their Personal Education Plan (PEP) should be uploaded to documents;
- Where a child has Special Educational Needs, a physical or Learning Disability, copies of any relevant information, e.g. speech and language assessment, Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) should be uploaded to documents;
- Appropriate information about the child's health, and where the child is cared for, a copy of the Health Plan and Assessment should be uploaded to documents;
- Details of any arrangements for the responsible authority's functions to be undertaken by a private provider, e.g. an independent fostering agency or provider of social work services;
- Copies of all documents used to seek information, provide information or record views given to the authority in the course of planning and reviewing the child's case and review reports;
- Record of visits and contacts by all practitioners as well as the allocated practitioner should be recorded within the section.
Each visit should be recorded to include:
- The venue of the visit and the time spent at the home;
- Who was present, to include whether an interpreter was used or advocate present etc;
- The purpose of the visit and how this links directly to the child’s plan;
- Whether the child was seen/whether they were spoken to alone (and if not, why this was the case);
- A succinct summary of information discussed and shared; Any views the child expressed, or observations of younger children or those who have communication needs or difficulties;
- Blue font should be used to highlight the voice of the child, so this pops from the record;
- Details of any direct work tools used to support communication should be recorded and uploaded to the child’s record under direct work tab. If the child would like to keep their work their consent to take a photograph of their work should be obtained with an explanation as to why you want to capture their views and where this information will be stored;
- The quality of the relationship between the social worker and the child, or for example the Personal Advisor and the young adult;
- Any views of the Parent/Carer expressed, reference to any direct work tools used to support communication;
- Identify whether there has been any significant change of circumstances for the child/or family, particularly membership of the household;
- An analysis of information shared and any observations during the visit commenting upon the progress of the plan and any outstanding work to be completed; any dilemmas or areas to review etc;
- Unsuccessful visits should also be recorded with details as to any prior planning, whether visit was unannounced, whether management advice or direction is required and follow up plan;
- Next Actions should be recorded detailing what, by whom and by when (specific date to be recorded – not within 7 days).
The child’s record must also include a transfer/closing summary (where appropriate).
All other relevant contacts with children, their families, colleagues, professionals or other significant people must be recorded in the same way, i.e. who was present or seen, the relevant discussions, actions or decisions taken and by whom, and the reasons for decisions. This includes conversations, phone calls, visits, letters, emails, decisions made by Agency Decision Makers/Panels, assessments and reports. The options that have been considered and the child and the family's preferred choices and the reasons why an option has been chosen if agreement could not be reached. (Note: care should be undertaken to ensure a breach of the UIK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 does not occur through the inclusion of information about others via reports and emails, etc which cannot be justified). Email trails should not be copied and pasted into notes.
The child's record should also include relevant and appropriate copies of material from other, separate records/files that are kept, whilst ensuring that such records remain separate and that neither confidentiality nor Data Protection Legislation are breached.
It is recognised that a certain amount of cross-referencing with siblings is inevitable and desirable, but again, care should be taken in respect of sibling information that becomes available on the record.
The record should be structured and maintained in a way that ensures:
- The decision-making process is clear;
- management oversight should be recorded in red font and any oversight from the IRO service should be recorded in green font;
- That the views of the child should be recorded in blue font so their voice is easily identified;
- The views of family/carers and/or those with Parental Responsibility should be clearly recorded and easily found and relate to the decision-making that has been made together with the responsible authority's actions;
- That any material temporarily placed in the record that belongs to the child should be noted as such so that it can be returned to the child when required/ appropriate;
- Recording should be made of the Review meeting's recommendations/ outcomes that are trying to be achieved with a child and their family, key tasks, by whom and timescales;
- The recording of interventions and actions should link directly back to the child’s plan and seek to identify which 'Recommendation' or Outcome they relate to;
- Language used within recordings should be factual but sensitive and compassionate;
- Recordings should identify strengths and areas to change or improve within a child or family's life;
- The structure of the recording should readily distinguish between current and historical events.
Children and young adults
At least every 3 months the allocated practitioner should review the child/young adults (if care experienced) summary to ensure that it reflects current circumstances and includes information relevant to safety planning etc.
The summary should also highlight any new issues that have emerged, recognising strengths as well as any concerns, and reflect how these have been dealt with as well as acknowledging the impact (or otherwise) of any new issues on the child, young adult and family.
The summary, should bring the child/young adult alive; 'putting them at the centre.’ Anyone reading the summary should gain a sense of what it is like to be that child, to include some understanding of any relevant adverse childhood experiences and the impact of such.
The summary should make clear what the plan is for the child; setting out how stability and permanence is being achieved for them. This summary should reflect how the family and partnership are all working to improve the child’s circumstances and outcomes.
Children and their families must be routinely involved in the process of gathering and recording information about them. They should feel they are part of the recording process and planning for the children.
The family should be asked to provide information, express their own views and wishes, and contribute to assessments, reports and to the formulation of their plan. These views should be clearly recorded within relevant documents and records, noting for children who have communication needs what support was available and/or how their views were obtained.
The quality of the relationship between the child and the practitioner should also be noted.
All children should have the opportunity to express their views with appropriate support to help them do so if needed, through an advocate and /or through specialist help, e.g. a BSL signer, interpreter.
It is recommended that any contribution the child may wish to make, any written material, certificates etc. should be included on the record as copies, so that the child retains the original items so that they have their own record of their wishes, progress etc.
Generally, children and their parents must be asked to give their agreement to the sharing of information about them with others but there are exceptions to this which are identified in the next section.
Information should be shared with the consent of the child and family if appropriate and where possible the wishes of those who do not wish confidential information to be shared should be respected.
Information can still be shared without consent if it is in the public interest to do so. Information sharing decisions should be based on consideration or the safety and well-being of the person and others who may be affected by the sharing.
In such circumstances ensure that the information shared is necessary for the purpose for which it is being shared and shared only with those who need to have it.
Information contained about Child, Young Adults and Families in their record should usually be shared with them unless:
- Sharing the information would be likely to result in serious harm to the child or another person; or
- The information was given in the expectation that it would not be disclosed; or
- The information relates to a third party who expressly indicated the information should not be disclosed.
Where information is obtained and recorded which should not be shared with the child concerned for one of the above reasons, it should be placed in the 'Restricted from user' section of the child's record and the reasons should be recorded after taking advice from a manager.
See also: Access to Records / Subject Access Requests Procedure.
Where children have been adopted, see also: Access to Birth Records and Adoption Case Records Procedure.
When sharing a record, it is important to record who it was shared with and when. The sharing of all decision-making documents such as assessments, care plans, reviews, reports and agreements makes it easier for everyone to know what is expected and to work together better.
Managers must monitor confidential information held on the 'Restricted from user' section of records, ensuring that the reason for it being considered confidential is valid; if not, it should be available to be shared with the child.
However, before sharing any such information, the manager must take all reasonable steps to consult the originator and take account of their views and wishes. See also: Access to Records / Subject Access Requests Procedure.
Records should be updated from detailed notes made contemporaneously following a visit or interview; as various information becomes available, or as decisions or actions are taken as soon as practicable or, at the latest, within 2 working days or 24 hours of a significant event in the child’s life (see also Section 1, Records Must be Kept on all Children).
Where records are made or updated late or after a significant event, this should be noted on the child’s record.
Records must be written clearly and concisely, using plain English language, and in a way that recognises the rights of the child or their parent/carer. Where possible Sefton Children’s Services practice is to write directly to the child/young adult recognising that they may choose to access their record later in life.
E-mail communication to colleagues and other professionals (that will be referenced in the record) should always be completed with the same care and attention. Records should not contain email trails and must not contain any expressions that might cause offence to any individual or group of people on the basis of race, culture, religion, age, disability, or sexual orientation. Remember - Individuals have the right to request access to all of the records held about them (subject access) and there are only a few permissible exemptions to subject access.
Use of technical or professional terms, acronyms and abbreviations must be kept to a minimum; and explained.
See Access to Records / Subject Access Requests Procedure and Case Records and Retention Procedure.
Care must be taken to ensure that information contained in records is relevant and accurate and is sufficient to meet legislative responsibilities and the requirements of these procedures.
Every effort must be made to ensure records are factually correct. If a child / young person feels that information in their record is not accurate, they have a right to request that it is rectified. Local authorities have 1 month to respond to any such requests and, if any such request is received, the authority should take reasonable steps to establish if the data is accurate and rectify the record if necessary.
Records must distinguish clearly between assessments, judgements and decisions. Records must also distinguish between first-hand information and information obtained from third parties. Records must reflect the distinction between fact and opinion. Although it is admissible to record opinion, it must be recorded as such and not presented as factual.
Note: whilst 'cutting and pasting' techniques are generally not recommended, on those occasions where it is used, great care should be given to ensure that other parties' details are not included and that the context of the recording is appropriate and proportionate, (e.g. events that occurred some time ago do not reflect a current tense or disproportionate sense of relevance).
The overall responsibility for ensuring all records are maintained appropriately rests with line managers, although the responsibility can be delegated to other staff as appropriate.
The line manager should routinely check samples of records to ensure they are up to date and maintained as required and, if not, that deficiencies are rectified as soon as practicable.
All records held on children must be kept securely.
Children's paper files should normally be stored in a locked cabinet, or a similar manner, usually in an office which only staff have access to.
These records should not be left unattended when not in their normal location.
All electronic records must be kept securely and comply with the requirements of the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. This will include arrangements such as:
- Password protection;
- Automatic log out of screens;
- Logging off computers;
- Changing passwords on a regular basis.
Where staff are working in an 'agile' / 'mobile' / 'hot-desking' context, care must be exercised to ensure that records or computers are not left on or overlooked by others.
All staff are expected to complete Information compliance training on an annual basis to ensure understanding and compliance.
Records should not normally be taken from the location where they are usually kept.
If it is necessary to remove a record from its normal location, a manager should approve this and should stipulate or agree how long it is necessary to remove the record. The manager must also be satisfied that adequate measures are in place to ensure the security of the record(s) whilst they are removed. For example, records must never be left in unattended vehicles. It is not recommended that copies of paper records are taken on visits to the homes of service users. If it is absolutely necessary and there is no alternative (e.g. scanning the particular record and uploading to your laptop) great care must be taken of those paper documents to keep them secure at all times. Ensure you have them with you when leaving the home.
The authorisation for a record to be removed must be recorded and those who may have need to see the records should be informed of their removal. The manager must then ensure the record is returned as required/agreed.
Should the situation ever occur where a file/documents are lost or mislaid, the local authority officer must report this immediately to their manager and every reasonable effort should be made to obtain their recovery. The service user should be advised of such an event. The Data Protection Officer must be notified of the situation at the earliest opportunity.
Where records are necessarily moved to a new location, the date of transfer should be clearly recorded.
See: Case Records and Retention Procedure, Archiving and Retention Configuration Document
The sender should check that the records have arrived at their intended destination.
If records are moving because of a case transfer an audit should be carried out by a manager prior to transfer to ensure all relevant information and documents are available on the child's record.
Staff using computers at home for work purposes must ensure that they are working within the rules of the 'data protection principles' in accordance with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act (2018). Staff are required to familiarise themselves with the local information security policy and undertake mandatory training.
This applies to staff using laptop computers and mobile devices in the course of their duties.
Should the situation ever occur where a laptop is lost or mislaid, the local authority officer must report this immediately to their manager who must inform them the Council's IT provider. Every reasonable effort should be made to obtain their recovery.
Consideration should be given as to whether service users should be advised of such an event.
The allocated Practitioner responsible for the child/young adult when involvement ends is responsible for ensuring that their file is in good order and that any unnecessary items have been removed e.g. duplicate copies.
Last Updated: July 14, 2025
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