Children’s Social Work Statistics: Child Protection 2023-24

Care and Risk Management (CARM) – Official Statistics in Development – 2023-24

Official Statistics in Development

As a new addition to this year’s publication, this report includes the first statistics collected for the care and risk management process in Scotland.

Where parts of a child’s behaviour may pose an imminent risk of serious harm, or has caused serious harm to themselves or others, consideration as to whether child protection actions are required is critical. Where there is a risk of serious harm, guidance for the management and reduction of the potential risk of harm is set out in the Framework for Risk Assessment Management and Evaluation (FRAME) with children aged 12-17: Standards, Guidance and Operational Requirements for risk practice (Scottish Government, 2021).

The guidance outlines a formal risk management process, with the CARM process proposed as an example of good practice. Where CARM is not being utilised, but a locally devised formal risk management process is in place, this must adhere to the same principles of risk practice. In this first year of data collection, some local authorities were unable to provide data on Care and Risk Management or an equivalent protocol in place locally.

CARM Referrals and Meetings

Reported concerns about risk of serious harm may lead to a referral discussion to clarify the nature of the referrer’s concerns. In those areas where a named role has responsibility for reviewing referrals relating to risk of harm to others, they may decide whether an initial CARM meeting is triggered. The decision will be either to progress under child protection procedures because the child is also at risk of harm; progress under CARM (or equivalent) formal risk management procedures; or that concerns can be managed and reduced through the team around the family or the existing supports in place.

During 2023-24, the number of initial and review CARM meetings held was 237 (Table 1.7). In these meetings, the concerns recorded most often were violence (51% of children) substance use (28% of children), harmful sexual behaviour (27% of children), unauthorized absences (27% of children) and non-violent offences (24% of children). See the accompanying Additional Tables for analysis of other data gathered in CARM meetings.

Table 1.7 Number of children referred to have CARM meetings and the number of each meeting type held by local authority, 2023-24

Data in some local authorities may refer to a different risk management protocol (equivalent to CARM). If the significant risk threshold for CARM was not met, data relevant to that protocol may be absent from this table.