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Glossary › Section 47 enquiry

What is a strategy meeting in child protection, and what is the school's part in section 47 enquiries?

Section 47 enquiry. The enquiries a local authority must make under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 when it has reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm.

A strategy meeting, which Working Together 2026 calls a strategy discussion, is a multi-agency meeting held whenever there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, to share information, plan the child's immediate safety, agree the timing of any police investigation and inform the local authority's decision on section 47 child protection enquiries. Children's social care, the police and health must be involved, and the child's school is often invited. Working Together lists practitioners, not parents, as attendees and sets no national deadline for holding it, so timing and who chairs are set by local procedures.

Updated . Checked against the official guidance. Sources

What a strategy discussion is

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 says that whenever there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, there should be a strategy discussion. It should be a multi-agency meeting, and more than one may be needed. It can happen after a referral, during an assessment, or when new information comes in on a case that is already open.

Its purpose is “to determine the child’s welfare and plan rapid future action”. Many local procedures call it a strategy meeting. It is the same thing. Where emergency action is needed, an immediate strategy discussion is held, or, if one agency has had to act straight away, as soon as possible afterwards.

Local procedures vary

Working Together 2026 sets the national framework: the threshold, who must be involved, what the discussion decides and the timescales that follow. It does not set a deadline for holding the strategy discussion itself. Nor does it say who chairs it. Local safeguarding partnership procedures add the detail, such as who chairs, how quickly a meeting is convened, whether it happens by phone, video or in person, and the forms used. Check your local procedures.

Who attends

As a minimum, a local authority social worker, health practitioners and a police representative should be involved, each with child protection expertise. Other attendees depend on the case. Working Together lists examples including:

  • the practitioner or agency that made the referral
  • the child’s educational setting or childcare provider
  • the elective home education team, if the child is or may be home educated
  • probation, youth justice and youth workers
  • adult mental health, substance misuse and domestic abuse specialists
  • housing and welfare support

Everyone attending should be senior enough to make decisions for their organisation, and skilled enough to prepare and to challenge their own and others’ input.

Working Together lists only practitioners. It doesn’t list parents or the child as attendees. Instead, the lead practitioner decides what to share with the child and family, and doesn’t share information that might jeopardise a police investigation or put the child at risk of harm. KCSIE 2026 lists “taking part in strategy discussions and inter-agency meetings” as part of the DSL’s role (Annex B).

What the discussion decides

The strategy discussion should:

  • share, seek and analyse the information available
  • agree the conduct and timing of any criminal investigation
  • consider whether section 47 enquiries should be started

Working Together is clear that it is for the local authority to decide whether to make enquiries; the strategy discussion informs that decision. If enquiries are started, the meeting should decide what further information is needed, what immediate action is required and who will do what by when, and whether legal action is needed. All decisions, including a decision to take no further action and the reasons, should be recorded.

Section 47 enquiries

Under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, where a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that a child in its area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, it must make the enquiries it considers necessary to decide whether to act. Working Together calls significant harm “the threshold for child protection enquiries” (paragraph 242).

A section 47 enquiry is carried out through an assessment led by a social worker with child protection expertise. The social worker should see the child alone, explain the purpose and process to parents and answer their questions openly unless that would affect the child’s safety, and gather the family’s history. The assessment should reach a decision on next steps within 45 working days of the referral.

Working Together says educational settings, along with the police, health and others, “should help the local authority in undertaking its enquiries”. KCSIE 2026 says schools should give children’s social care access to conduct, or consider conducting, a section 47 assessment (paragraph 139), and that staff should do everything they can to support it (paragraph 72).

Working Together also says practitioners should consider whether a joint enquiry or investigation team may need to speak to a child victim without the knowledge of the parent or carers. That can mean seeing the child at school. If social care or the police arrange this, agree with them what, if anything, the school tells parents.

What the DSL should bring

Working Together asks every agency to contribute timely information and analysis. For a school, that usually means:

  1. A chronology of relevant concerns, actions and outcomes, with dates.
  2. The child’s own words and how they have presented, including any change.
  3. Attendance, punctuality and any suspensions, with patterns.
  4. What the school has already done and with what effect.
  5. Siblings at the school or elsewhere, and other adults known to be in the child’s life.
  6. Your professional view of the risk, kept separate from the facts.

Afterwards, record the decisions and your actions on the child protection file and keep the headteacher informed. KCSIE Annex B expects the DSL to keep the head informed of section 47 enquiries.

What happens next

  • Concerns not substantiated. The social worker should explain the outcome and reasons to the child, family and practitioners, consider what other support would help, such as Family Help, and record why the concerns weren’t substantiated.
  • Concerns substantiated. The social worker should convene an initial child protection conference within 15 working days of the strategy discussion, or of the one at which section 47 enquiries began if there were several. The referrer should be told the outcome and considered for an invitation. See child protection conferences.

If children’s social care decides not to hold a conference and you have serious concerns that the child is not adequately safeguarded, Working Together says other practitioners have the right to ask for one to be convened.

What’s changing

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 requires safeguarding partners to set up multi-agency child protection teams to support section 47 work. Each team must include a person with experience in education. When we checked on 20 October 2026, legislation.gov.uk showed section 3 in force only for specified purposes, not in full.

Common questions

What is a strategy meeting in child protection?

It is a multi-agency discussion, held whenever there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm. Working Together 2026 calls it a strategy discussion. Its purpose is to work out the child's welfare and plan rapid action: share information, agree the timing of any criminal investigation and consider whether section 47 enquiries should start.

Is a strategy meeting serious?

Yes. A strategy discussion is only held when there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, which is the threshold for child protection enquiries. It doesn't mean anything has been proved or decided. Some strategy discussions end with no further action, and the reasons should be recorded.

What does a strategy meeting involve?

Practitioners share, seek and analyse what they know about the child and family, agree the conduct and timing of any criminal investigation and consider whether section 47 enquiries should start. If they do, the meeting agrees what further information is needed, what immediate action is required, who will do what by when, and whether legal action is needed. It can be held in person, by phone or online, depending on local procedures.

Who should be invited to a strategy meeting?

As a minimum, a local authority social worker, health practitioners and a police representative, each with child protection expertise. Others depend on the case and may include the referrer, the child's school or childcare provider, the home education team, probation, youth justice, adult mental health, substance misuse or domestic abuse specialists and housing. Attendees should be senior enough to make decisions for their organisation.

Do parents attend strategy meetings?

Working Together 2026 lists only practitioners as attendees, not parents. The lead practitioner decides what to share with the child and family afterwards, holding back information that might jeopardise a police investigation or put the child at risk. Parents are involved in the section 47 enquiries themselves.

What happens after a section 47 strategy meeting?

A social worker leads the section 47 assessment, sees the child, speaks to parents and gathers information from other agencies, including the school. If concerns aren't substantiated, the outcome and reasons are explained and other support considered. If they are, an initial child protection conference should be held within 15 working days of the strategy discussion at which enquiries began.

Is a strategy meeting a section 47?

Not exactly. The strategy discussion comes first and informs the local authority's decision on whether to start section 47 enquiries. Working Together 2026 says it is for the local authority to decide whether to make enquiries. Many strategy discussions do lead to section 47 enquiries, and the initial child protection conference timescale runs from the strategy discussion at which they began.

Sources

  1. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, chapter 3, section 4: Strategy discussion, Initiating section 47 enquiries and Outcome of section 47 enquiries, and paragraphs 242 to 256 (DfE, March 2026). Last checked .
  2. Children Act 1989, section 47 (legislation.gov.uk). Last checked .
  3. Keeping children safe in education 2026, Part one, paragraphs 69 to 74, Part two, paragraph 139, and Annex B (DfE, in force from 1 September 2026). Last checked .
  4. Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, section 3 (legislation.gov.uk). Last checked .

This guide explains the official guidance in plain words. It isn’t legal advice. Your local safeguarding partnership’s procedures and your own policies also apply. If anything here is wrong or out of date, email support@pupilprotect.co.uk.

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