Care and Risk Management (CARM)

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)..

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. This is the second year of data collection on CARM. Five 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 thoe 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 2024-25, the number of initial and review CARM meetings held was 329 (Table 1.7).

Table 1.7 Number of children referred to have CARM meetings and the number of each meeting type held by local authority, 2024-25.

[Note 1] 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.

Of the 153 children referred to have CARM meetings in 2024-25, 19 were female (12%) and 134 were male (88%) as shown in Table 1.8. Just under a quarter of all CARM referrals were for those age 17 (24%), followed by those age 15 (23%) and age 16 (21%).

Table 1.8 Number of CARM referrals by age and sex, 2024-25

In the 329 initial and review meetings, the concerns recorded most often were violence (61% of meetings), substance use (39% of meetings), non-violent offences (36% of meetings), unauthorised absences (29% of meetings) and victimisation (26% of meetings) (Table 1.9).

Table 1.9 Number of concerns identified at CARM meetings, 2024-25 [Note 1]

[Note 1] Not all local authorities were able to provide data. Data in some local authorities may refer to an equivalent risk management protocol, but if the significant risk threshold for Care and Risk Management was not met, data relevant to a different risk management protocol may be absent from this table.