Since 1 April 2008 all local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs) are required to review the deaths of all children in their area, as outlined in Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2010 (Chapter 7).

The overall principle of the child-death review process is to learn lessons and reduce the incidence of preventable child deaths in the future. It is a statutory requirement in the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 that each LSCB must make arrangements for the receipt of notifications from registrars and to publish those arrangements. The Coroners (Amendment) Rules 2008 also place a duty on coroners to inform an LSCB for the area in which the child died that there will be an inquest or post-mortem.

In addition, in order for LSCBs to fulfil their responsibilities for reviewing deaths, every LSCB should be informed of all deaths of children normally resident in its geographical area. (Paragraph 7.17, Working Together To Safeguard Children, 2010).

To assist those responsible for carrying out these tasks, we provide contact details for the Child Death Overview Panels in England (CDOP) in the associated resources to the right of this page. This list provides the email address and telephone number of the designated person to whom the child-death notification, and all other data on each death, should be sent.

 Circumstances in Wales are slightly different. At present there is no legal requirement for LSCBs to review the deaths of all children in their area. However, a pilot project is underway, which is being managed by the National Public Health Service (NPHS) Wales. This project will examine how an all-Wales child-death review process might work. It would be helpful if, in Wales, notifications of child deaths could be sent to the LSCB and the NPHS simultaneously.

To assist those responsible for carrying out these tasks, we provide contact details for the Child Death Overview Panels in England (CDOP) on this page. This list provides the email address and telephone number of the designated person to whom the child-death notification, and all other data on each death, should be sent.

Please contact Sandra Owens if you are no longer the designated contact for your area and to provide a replacement contact (Wales only). 

Contact details

Jannet Fernandez
Safeguarding Group
Telephone: 020 7783 8030
Email: Jannet.Fernandez@education.gsi.gov.uk

Sandra Owens
Email: Sandra.Owens@wales.gsi.gov.uk