Social Services Investigation: What Happens After You Are Reported

By Hannah OvertonPublished 22 June 2025Updated 24 September 202614 mins read14 sections

Part of: Section 47 Report Explained: What Happens During Section 47 Enquiries?

When children’s social care in England receives a referral about a child, a qualified manager should decide what happens next within one working day. That can be no further action, support for the family, an assessment of the child’s needs finished within 45 working days, or, where there is reasonable cause to suspect the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, a strategy discussion (often called a strategy meeting) and child protection enquiries. An investigation does not by itself mean a child will be removed: that needs your agreement, police protection or a court order. This guide explains what a social services investigation involves and what you can do at each stage, based on the government’s statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026. It covers England; Wales has its own safeguarding procedures.

Key takeaways

• One working day: after a referral, children’s social care should acknowledge it and a manager should decide the next step (Working Together 2026, para 167).
• 45 working days: the maximum time for an assessment from the point of referral; if it takes longer, the reasons should be recorded (para 169).
• 15 working days: if there is a child protection conference, it should take place within 15 working days of the strategy discussion.
• Your child cannot be removed just because there is an investigation. Removal needs your agreement, police protection for up to 72 hours, or a court order (Children Act 1989, s.46).
• Get advice early.

When do social services get involved?

Social services get involved when someone, such as a school, a doctor, the police, a neighbour or a family member, contacts children’s social care with a concern about a child’s welfare. The guidance says anyone with a concern should consider making a referral, and should do so immediately if they think the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm (para 164). The local authority must also make enquiries when it is told that a child in its area is in police protection or subject to an emergency protection order, or when it has reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm (Children Act 1989, s.47(1)).

How do people report someone to social services?

People report someone to social services by contacting the children’s social care team at the council where the child lives. If the child is at immediate risk, GOV.UK advises calling 999. Adults who want to talk a concern through first can call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.

Each council should publish clear contact details for referrals (Working Together 2026, para 163). Many councils call this first point of contact their “front door”. Some run it as a multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH). Our guide to school safeguarding referrals explains how a MASH works. Callers can stay anonymous: the council asks for their details, but they can choose not to give them.

A report then follows the steps in the next section. Children’s social care should acknowledge it to the referrer and decide the next step within one working day (para 167). The lead practitioner should check the concerns with the referrer, when known. They should also tell the child and family what action they plan to take (para 175). The exceptions are where telling them could harm a police investigation or put the child at risk of significant harm.

If you are the parent, you can respond to the concern without knowing who raised it. The steps under “Falsely reported to social services: what to do” below help whether or not the report was fair. If you think it was malicious, our section 47 report guide covers that.

What happens after you are reported to social services?

Once a referral is made, what happens next follows a set sequence.

The child protection enquiries themselves are explained in our guide to the section 47 report, and the conference in our guide to the child protection conference.

Can you find out who reported you to social services?

Usually not. You can ask the local authority for a copy of the personal information it holds about you by making a subject access request, and organisations usually have one month to respond (ICO). But the law does not oblige an organisation to disclose information that would identify another person, unless that person consents or it is reasonable to disclose it without their consent (Data Protection Act 2018, Sch. 2, para 16). The person who made the referral is often protected in this way. Children’s social care should give the referrer feedback on the decisions taken (para 165), but that is not the same as telling you who they are.

How long does a social services investigation take?

The next step should be decided within one working day of the referral, and an assessment should not take longer than 45 working days from the point of referral (para 169). Where section 47 enquiries lead to an initial child protection conference, it should be held within 15 working days of the strategy discussion. If your child becomes subject to a child protection plan, the first review should be within three months and later reviews no more than six months apart. How long social services stay involved after that depends on whether the plan’s aims are met; there is no fixed end date. If you have been told a child and family assessment is under way, our guide to the child and family assessment explains that stage.

If your family is offered support rather than protection, the 2026 guidance calls it “family help”: targeted early help and support for a child in need, with a family help plan led by a team of practitioners. A child is “in need” if they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development without services, if their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired without them, or if they are disabled (Children Act 1989, s.17(10)).

What happens at a social services home visit?

A social worker will usually want to see where the child lives, talk to you, and speak to the child, alone where appropriate. The local authority must, so far as practicable and consistent with the child’s welfare, find out the child’s wishes and feelings and give them due consideration (s.47(5A)).

• Can you refuse entry? Nothing in section 47 forces you to let a social worker in. But if during enquiries a social worker is refused access to the child, the local authority must apply for an emergency protection order, a child assessment order, a care order or a supervision order, unless it is satisfied the child’s welfare can be safeguarded without one (s.47(6)).
• Keep your own notes of who came, when, and what was said.
• Ask what happens next and when you will hear, as the guidance expects the lead practitioner to tell you.

Can social services use your past against you?

Your history can be taken into account, but it should be looked at for what it says about the child’s safety now. Working Together 2026 says analysis in an assessment should build on the history of every child, taking account of family history and parental adverse experiences. It also recognises that previous involvement with agencies may affect how parents engage.

What usually matters most is what has changed: support you have used, how long things have been stable, and how you meet your child’s needs today. If a record about you is inaccurate, you have the right to have inaccurate personal data corrected and incomplete data completed (UK GDPR, Article 16). Information can be shared between agencies to safeguard a child without your consent where there is a lawful basis to do so.

When do the police inform social services?

The police tell children’s social care when they are worried about a child’s safety or welfare, for example after a domestic incident at a home where children live. Working Together 2026 says any practitioner with concerns about a child’s welfare or safety should share the information with children’s social care and/or the police (para 32).

• After a domestic abuse incident: if the police have reasonable grounds to believe a child may be a victim of domestic abuse, arrangements must be in place to notify the child’s school or other educational setting (Domestic Abuse Act 2021, s.49A), and Working Together 2026 says the local authority should also be notified where relevant. This is known as Operation Encompass, and it covers children connected to the household even if they were not there at the time. A notification does not replace a safeguarding referral (para 284).
• When a child is taken into police protection: the officer must tell the local authority, as soon as reasonably practicable, what has been done and why (s.46(3)(a)), and the local authority must then make enquiries (s.47(1)).

Parents’ rights against social services: what social workers cannot do

• They cannot remove your child without authority. Removal needs your agreement, police protection (no more than 72 hours, s.46(6)), an emergency protection order made by a court (s.44), or a care order, which a court can only make if the threshold in s.31(2) is met.
• Voluntary accommodation is voluntary. The local authority cannot accommodate your child under section 20 if a person with parental responsibility, who is willing and able to provide or arrange accommodation, objects. A person with parental responsibility can remove the child from that accommodation at any time, subject to limited exceptions (s.20(7)–(9)).
• You should be told what is happening. The guidance expects social workers to explain the purpose and possible outcome of enquiries and to answer your questions openly, unless that would put the child at risk.
• You can get advice. The Family Rights Group also runs an advice service for parents.
• Testing: if you are asked to take a drug or alcohol test, see our guide to positive drug tests in child custody cases.

Falsely reported to social services: what to do

Being reported when you have done nothing wrong is distressing, but the assessment is still the route to closing the case. It usually helps to:

• stay calm and cooperate with the assessment, even if you disagree with why it started;
• ask the social worker to explain the concern, so you can respond to it;
• give evidence that answers it, such as school or GP information, and keep copies;
• keep a written record of every contact;
• get advice before signing any written agreement or safety plan.

If the report is part of a wider dispute with a former partner, our guide to false allegations of domestic violence may also help.

Possible outcomes of a social services investigation

Frequently asked questions

Can social services take my child without a court order?

Only in limited ways. The police can take a child into police protection for up to 72 hours if they have reasonable cause to believe the child would otherwise be likely to suffer significant harm (s.46). otherwise the local authority needs your agreement or a court order. See our guide to the police protection order.

Can a social worker speak to my child without me?

Often, yes. Working Together 2026 says that, where possible, children should be seen alone, and during child protection enquiries the local authority must, so far as practicable and consistent with the child’s welfare, find out the child’s wishes and feelings (s.47(5A)). If a social worker is refused access to the child, the local authority must apply for an order unless it is satisfied the child’s welfare can be safeguarded without one (s.47(6)). If you are worried about how or where your child will be spoken to, raise it with the social worker and get advice first.

What does “no further action” mean?

It means children’s social care has decided not to take the case further at that point. A new referral would start the process again.

If you disagree with how the investigation was handled

If the council’s children’s services are involved with your child, a three-stage statutory procedure applies, with deadlines fixed by regulation, and it is started in writing to the council’s complaints team rather than to the social worker. Our guide to complaining about social services sets out each stage, the deadline that attaches to it and what the council is allowed to refuse.

Does this guide apply in Wales?

No. Working Together to Safeguard Children applies in England. Wales has its own safeguarding procedures, although the Children Act 1989 provisions described here apply in both.

Social services have been in touch? Get advice before the next meeting

The first phone call or home visit often happens before you have had time to think. What you say is recorded, and what you agree to at that stage, such as a safety plan or your child staying with a relative for a while, can shape everything that follows. Book a free initial consultation with our child law specialists before your next meeting.