Source: Surrey County Council published on this website Monday 13 November 2025 by Jill Powell
Following the conclusion of criminal proceedings in December 2024, a Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR) was progressed in relation to Sara Sharif, with the agreement of the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. This local review was commissioned and overseen by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP) and undertaken by independent authors who brought together partners including the police, health, social care and education to review the practice of all agencies involved with the family and identify any learning.
Terence Herbert, Chief Executive of Surrey County Council said:
“Sara’s death is absolutely devastating, and we share our sincere condolences with all those affected. The criminal proceedings resulted in some justice for Sara, and the people that are responsible for her murder are rightly facing long prison sentences.
“The independent safeguarding review took place to consider the practice of all agencies throughout Sara’s life. We welcome both the national and local recommendations in the report and we take the findings with utmost seriousness.
“We are deeply sorry for the findings in the report related to us as a local authority. We have already taken robust action to address those relating to Surrey County Council, and that work will continue with every recommendation implemented in full. We will also work with partners across the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership to ensure a joint action plan is implemented as quickly as possible.
“In recent years Children’s Services in Surrey have gone from ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Good’, and we are absolutely determined to keep making improvements that can help keep children safe.
“Although the report does not find a single solution to address all the factors that affected Sara, or hold any one organisation accountable, there are important recommendations for many different agencies that can help reduce risk to children and we must collectively take action.”
Tim Oliver, Leader of Surrey County Council said:
“This horrific and incredibly sad situation was the direct result of adults murdering an innocent child they should have looked after and cared for.
“I am certain that everyone involved with this family will have reflected on what more could have been done to protect Sara, and my thoughts and condolences are with anyone affected.
“The independent and detailed review makes a number of recommendations both for national government and local partners and it is now essential that every single person in every organisation involved in child safeguarding reads this report and understands the lessons learnt.
“I am deeply sorry for the findings in the report that relate to us as a local authority. We will now act on those findings and continue to review and strengthen our culture, systems and processes designed to support good practice in working with children and families, as per the recommendations.
“Many of the recommendations have already been implemented locally, and I call on the government to review the findings and, where appropriate, legislate for the changes in the national system that it calls for. Whilst there are no guarantees any single change could have prevented this tragic outcome, there are a number of important recommendations for many different agencies that, if fully implemented, can help improve child protection.
“We are absolutely determined to do everything we can to help protect children and it is vital that people continue to report concerns about children’s safety to the appropriate agency.”
Surrey County Council will be working to implement all local recommendations relating to the organisation in full. Many of those are well underway or already complete, but practice is continuously reviewed and this report will help all partners improve further.
Action already taken by Surrey County Council:
- In relation to the Children’s Single Point of Access (C-SPA) service, there has been significant change to the way it operates since 2023, including:
- A task and finish group was set up in July 2022 and a clear plan of improvement for the C-SPA developed in January 2023. A Joint Targeted Area Inspection of Surrey in March 2023 further informed this work, with structural changes beginning in June 2023. Those changes, which included a new rigorous triaging system, ultimately improved oversight and accountability.
- The consultation line always has a qualified social worker taking calls. Any concerns being expressed which relate to harm, abuse or neglect would result in a contact being progressed immediately, whilst the full written referral is awaited.
- The quality of recording has been improved, and children’s records always include a summary analysis of previous work, enabling better understanding of the child’s history upon any new referral.
- There is now a much stronger and detailed Quality Assurance and Audit Framework sitting around all the stages of the child’s journey, from contact to outcome in the C-SPA, which provides immediate learning and where necessary immediate service improvement.
- Ofsted referenced the C-SPA in their latest inspection of children’s services in 2025, noting that children who are referred to C-SPA receive a timely and proportionate response, and that practitioners and managers in the C-SPA routinely apply the authority’s continuum of need guidance to inform decision-making, generating a consistent approach to contacts and referrals. It also noted effective partnership working with the police means that initial responses in the C-SPA to domestic abuse and to children who go missing are prompt and child focused, and that parental consent is sought or dispensed with appropriately. The Ofsted report said multi-agency strategy meetings regarding children who are identified as being at risk of significant harm are timely and well attended. These meetings lead to well-considered decisions regarding subsequent actions to explore and to reduce the risks to children.
- The full report can be found here..
- In relation to Elective Home Education (EHE), there has been significant change to the way this service operates since 2023, including:
- An increase in staff and strengthened systems and process are in place to ensure continuity of work when staff are unexpectedly absent.
- Staff training has been bolstered around key areas of learning from the rapid review, and this will be reviewed again following receipt of the full report. This includes reminding staff to regularly check and confirm address and contact information with families and schools, and all staff reminded of the legislation relating to off rolling – Regulation 9 of School Attendance Regulations 2024 (formerly regulation 8 – Pupil Registration Regulations 2006).
- The EHE notification form has been updated to include a section for schools to provide additional information if they tick the safeguarding concerns box.
- Regular audits of practice are undertaken to identify gaps and reduce risk, and further audits are being undertaken with the findings of the LCSPR report in mind.
- There had already been practice improvements since 2019 in relation to Section 7 reports and court work to improve quality, in addition to:
- A full review of all templates and guidance for Section 7 reports completed, ensuring family history and involvement with professional services is incorporated.
- There is now a clear expectation for the team manager to ensure the Cafcass safeguarding letter is received and incorporated into the work and a Section 7.
- Training has been updated and completed for all staff on Section 7 report work.
- Increased training and learning is in place for all staff for improved awareness around parental alienation and domestic abuse, to ensure these dynamics are incorporated into analysis and recommendations.
The report recommends that we review and strengthen existing culture, systems and processes designed to support good practice in working with children and families.
This has been done continuously as part of Surrey County Council Children’s Services’ improvement from inadequate to good, and the LCSPR report will enable further review with specific learning in mind.
