Safeguarding Policies and Procedures for Children

Please provide the following documents currently used by Lincolnshire County Council / Grantham Children's Social Care:

1. All safeguarding policies and procedures for children, including:

a) The Lincolnshire County Council Safeguarding Children Policy.

b) The full procedures manual used by practitioners for child protection and safeguarding (including the online procedures resource if accessible in document form).

c) Thresholds for intervention guidance (e.g. 'Right Help, Right Time' or equivalent).

2. Guidance and procedures relating to:

a) Section 47 (Child Protection) enquiries.

b) Strategy discussions and decision-making in child protection cases.

c) Child-in-Need assessments and plans.

d) Child Protection Plans and review processes.

e) Recording and case management standards for social workers and managers.

f) Handling of parental contact arrangements and contact supervision.

g) Managing allegations or concerns about parents, including where there are issues of domestic abuse, coercive control, or parental conflict.

h) Making reasonable adjustments for parents with disabilities (e.g. autism, ADHD, mental health conditions) under the Equality Act 2010.

3. Internal training materials, briefing notes or practice guidance provided to social workers and managers in the last 5 years on:

a) Compliance with the Children Act 1989, Children and Families Act 2014, and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018.

b) The role, duties and responsibilities of allocated social workers and team managers.

c) Escalation and complaints procedures when concerns are raised about a social worker's conduct or practice.

d) Recognising and responding to parental disability, neurodiversity, or communication needs in safeguarding work.

4. Any internal audits, reviews, case file audits, or practice quality reports (last 5 years) relating to:

a) Mismanagement of parental contact or contact arrangements.

b) Complaints of bias, lack of transparency, or unfair practice in family safeguarding cases.

e) Failures to make reasonable adjustments for disabled parents.

f) General safeguarding practice quality in Grantham or the wider Lincolnshire area.

5. Any complaints, investigation reports, or findings (last 5 years) about:

a) Social workers or managers in Grantham/Lincolnshire Children's Social Care relating to safeguarding practice.

b) Systemic issues in handling safeguarding cases involving parents with disabilities or additional needs.

In accordance with Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you are advised that Lincolnshire County Council (the Council) does hold information that falls within the description specified in your request.

Section 12

The Council considers that the information requested is exempt from disclosure under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Under Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information 2000, the Council is not obliged to comply with a request for information if it estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit is currently £450 or 18 hours at a cost of £25 per hour (Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004)

We estimate that it would take significantly more than 18 hours to comply with your request given the extent and breadth of information you are requesting.

We are satisfied that the cost of complying with this request, taking into account the costs we reasonably expect to incur in carrying out the below permitted activities, would exceed the appropriate cost limit.

1.           Determining whether the information is held;

2.           Locating the information, or a document containing it;

3.           Retrieving the information, or a document containing it; and

4.           Extracting the information from a document containing it.

We are, therefore, satisfied that the exemption under section 12(1) is engaged and that the information requested does not have to be provided under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The exemption under section 12 is not subject to consideration of the public interest test.

The First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) in the case of Marco Renna v Information Commissioner (EA/2015/0248) held that section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 did not require a public authority to attempt to comply with a request up to the appropriate limit established by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Section 16

The Council recognises it has a duty to provide advice and assistance to individuals making requests for information under section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, to assist them to narrow their request where the 'appropriate limit' is exceeded.

The Council can provide you with the following information:

All procedures are public facing and can be located using the following links:

Lincolnshire Children's Services Policy and Procedures Manual

https://lincolnshirechildcare.trixonline.co.uk/contents/contents

Lincolnshire SCP Policy and Procedures Manual

https://lincolnshirescp.trixonline.co.uk/contents/contents

Threshold for Intervention guidance

Microsoft PowerPoint - Meeting the Needs Together_FINAL_Dec_2026

Please find attached job descriptions for social workers setting out their roles and responsibilities.

Please find below links to our Escalation and complaints procedures when concerns are raised about a social worker's conduct or practice.

Complaints policy – Introduction - Lincolnshire County Council

Professional Resolution and Escalation Protocol

Should you require the attachments mentioned above please contact customerinformationservice@lincolnshire.gov.uk with the below reference number and this can be provided.