The document provides guidance on recording incidents where physical restraint of a child or young person was necessary. It outlines that employers have their own procedures for recording and notifying others about restraints, and these procedures must always be followed. It recommends collecting information about restraints in four categories: details of the incident, details of any injuries, the child's view of the incident, and views of any witnesses. Accurately recording all details of restraints is important for monitoring care quality, encouraging reflection on practice, and potentially forming evidence in legal proceedings.

1. 8 Recording the Event and Letting Others Know
8a
Recording the Event
and Letting Others
Know
Introduction
8
After physically restraining a child or young person, you must let the appropriate people
know, and make sure that it is all properly recorded. Employers will have their
own specific arrangements about recording and letting others know, and you
must always follow these. If you feel these are inadequate, discuss this with your
manager and report serious concerns to the more senior managers and if necessary
the Care Commission.
Service providers do not have to record information in a standard way, but we
suggest that the details below would be helpful in monitoring when and how
children are restrained.
8b Letting the right people know about the restraint
As noted, each provider will have their own procedures about letting staff and others
know when a child or young person has been restrained. The procedures are likely
to include details about when particular individuals should be told, and you must
keep to any timescales. Those likely to be included on any list are:
• the childʼs family and, where appropriate, carers;
• the childʼs social worker;
• managers within the residential establishment;
• external managers; and
• the police in cases where a crime may have been committed, including instances of
assault by the child or staff member.
If there are more serious and exceptional incidents, it is possible that managers may
decide to refer the matter to:
• the Health and Safety Executive;
• the Reporter to the Childrenʼs Panel;
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2. 8 Recording the Event and Letting Others Know
Care
From National Care Standards - Standards
Care Homes for Children and Young People
Standard 3 - Keeping in touch with people who are important to you
You are helped to keep in touch with your family and friends and to have a good understanding of
your family history and relationships.
4 If you cannot tell them yourself, your family will quickly be told about any significant events,
developments or incidents in your life.
• the Child Protection Lead Officer or local equivalent;
• The Care Commission.
Examples include a serious assault or events which suggest child-protection
procedures might need to begin or be reviewed.
8c Why record?
Recording details of incidents where a child or young person has been restrained serves
many purposes:
• It provides an account of the care and control within an establishment;
• It encourages staff to reflect on their practice;
• It helps management and staff plan care by helping to identify problematic
behavioural patterns;
• It helps a young person face and confront difficulties;
Care
From National Care Standards - Standards
Care Homes for Children and Young People
Standard 6 Feeling safe and secure
You feel safe and secure in all aspects of your stay in the care home.
At any time, there are enough staff available to help you when needed.
2 You are protected from all kinds of abuse. You can be confident that staff are aware of child
protection procedures and that they know what to do when they have a concern. Staff know
what to do and will help you get appropriate specialist help if you wish to tell someone that
you have been abused or ill-treated in any way by anyone at any time.
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3. 8 Recording the Event and Letting Others Know
• It allows organisations who check the quality of care to see how establishments
restrain children (for example, by Care Commission, or SWIA);
• It may form evidence in civil or criminal courts or formal inquiries.
You must record all occasions when you have had to physically restrain young people in a
way which:
• Is thorough (meaning rigorous and detailed);
• Is transparent (meaning that it is written and presented in clear ways which help all
those who need access to the record);
• Records different views of an incident.
Box 8c - Regulations about recording
ʻA provider shall keep a record of any occasion on which restraint has been applied to a user, with
details of the form of restraint or control, and the reason why it was necessary and the name of
the person authorising it.ʼ (The Regulation of Care (Requirements as to Care Services) (Scotland)
Regulations 2002, regulation 19(3)(a)).
Regulation 12 of the Residential Establishments Child Care (Scotland) Regulations 1996 states
that ʻManagers shall ensure in consultation with the person in charge that there is maintained for
each establishment a log book or books of day to day events of importance or of an official nature,
including, … details of sanction imposed.ʼ In this situation (and only in this situation) restraint is seen
as a sanction. But see regulation 4 (1)(c) of these regulations in box 1d4. Regulation 13 covers records
for each child.
Data protection issues are covered more fully in chapter 9.
See box 1d4 Go to Section 9
8d What to record
You should record this information as soon as possible and usually within 24 hours of the
event.
It may be helpful to collect information in four main categories:
• Details of the actual incident which will usually be completed by the lead member
of staff restraining the child;
• Details of any injuries which will usually be completed by a staff member or
manager not directly involved in restraining the child;
• Details of the childʼs view of the incident, the follow-up in respect of the care plan
and any changes which are needed as a result;
• Details of any witnessesʼ views, and the differences in their recollections;
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4. 8 Recording the Event and Letting Others Know
• Other information where appropriate, including:
• Witness statements (these are particularly useful when an incident is serious or
complex and if people have differing views or recollections);
• A record of the staff debriefing and the monitoring by internal and external
managers;
• Comments on how staff could improve their practice;
• Any need for further staff training.
Recording events of violence to staff is very important for health and safety
requirements, and should not be confused with recording occasions when children
are restrained.
8d1 Details needed
You should record details of the incident as soon as possible and usually within 24 hours
of the event. The details should be made available as soon as possible to other
staff members who need to know about the restraint, and also to the child. We
recommend that you should include:
• a list of the staff present during the incident, including those not directly involved;
• the names of any other professional staff or visitors to the establishment who saw
the incident;
• the names of any other children who were present and who had any significant
involvement, including witnesses. A witness may have seen the events leading up
to the child being restrained, the restraint itself, what followed, or indeed what
people said. Remember that you will need to discuss their involvement with them,
especially if you believe that it went beyond simply being a witness.
• details of the events leading to the incident;
• details of the behaviour of the child in the period leading up to them being
restrained;
• details of the responses of adults before the restraint;
• a statement about why physical restraint was the only practicable means to
deal with the situation, including details of the risks of harm and exceptional
circumstances you believed were present;
• a description of the methods of restraint you used and how long the restraint lasted;
• details of how the restraint came to an end;
• details of any involvement by the police;
• information about the immediate support offered to the child after being restrained;
• how events fit with the care plan and any issues which need to be reviewed;
• a list of those who were told about the child being restrained.
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5. 8 Recording the Event and Letting Others Know
8d2 Injuries
Regulations.
Regulation 19(3)a of the Requirements as to Care Services Regulations requires providers
to keep a record of ʻany occasion on which restraint or control has been applied
to a user, with details of the form of restraint or control, the reason why it was
necessary and the name of the person authorising it.ʼ
As with the other details of the incident, you should record this information as soon
as possible and usually within 24 hours of the event. If possible the information
should be recorded by a member of staff who has not been directly involved in the
restraint to avoid accusations of inaccurate or biased recording. The information
should include:
• details of any injuries the child, the members of staff or any other person suffered
and when these became apparent, e.g. immediately or later and if so when;
• the medical help which was asked for and what was actually provided;
• confirmation that the child has been asked about his or her physical condition after
the restraint and that their general physical condition has been checked and by
whom;
• confirmation that the staff directly involved have been asked about their physical
condition after the restraint; and
• whether there has been a need to make an entry in the establishmentʼs accident
book.
8d3 What the young person thought
You should discuss who might be the most appropriate person to talk about the incident
with the young person. Although staff aim to discuss the incident with the young
person as soon as possible, they should be sensitive to the child or young personʼs
needs.
Disabled children may have their own particular communication needs and you
may help them understand an incident by using symbols or drawings.
Care
From National Care Standards -
Standards
Care Homes for Children and Young People
From Standard 6 – Feeling safe and secure
You feel safe and secure in all aspects of your stay in the care home.
At any time, there are enough staff available to help you when needed.
8 If you are a younger, frail or less confident child, or have a disability, or if you find it difficult
to communicate, you are protected from more challenging or stronger children.
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6. 8 Recording the Event and Letting Others Know
Be creative in finding ways that work for the child or young person. Methods could
include offering a computer or tape recorder, or using a diary.
Arranging for the child or young person to speak in more relaxed surroundings, for
example in a car or in a quieter or busier place, may sometimes be appropriate.
You should make a record of the discussion as soon as practicable and no later than
a week after the incident.
Whatever methods you use to help the child or young person express their views of
the incident, you must accurately put those views in writing. Whether they write it
themselves, or ask others to record it, the record is likely to contain:
• The dates of the discussions and the staff involved;
• The young personʼs account of events leading up to them being restrained;
• The young personʼs views about the reasons why the staff restrained them;
• Any views the young person may have about how things might have been done
differently;
• The young personʼs view of how relationships within the establishment have been
affected;
• Other action which the young person would like to take in the future; and
• Action which the young person would like the staff to take in future.
8e Other things to consider
You will need the records of occasions when you have restrained children for a range
of purposes. They have considerable potential as a tool to help you, the child and
the organisation learn from the experience. They also might be significant, long
after the event, in deciding on legal disputes or settling claims for compensation.
This might include criminal proceedings against staff or children. They could
be criminal injuries compensation claims or civil damages proceedings for an
employee or a child making a claim for improper care.
Given this range of possible uses, it is important that all records are:
• Accurate (which may include accurately recording different versions);
• Appropriately filed and cross-referenced;
• Typed (or in very rare cases written in clearly legible black handwriting);
• Signed by the individuals who are directly involved, providing witness statements
or carrying out follow-up discussions.
Because of the complexity and volume of the information which is gathered,
employers will want to create methods to avoid duplicating records. Wherever
possible, the main record of the restraint should be the first record of the restraint,
and you should cross-reference this document in other records and files.
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7. 8 Recording the Event and Letting Others Know
Some staff or residents may wish to keep, for their own record, personal notes.
Anyone keeping such personal notes for their own purposes should be aware that
a court may order them to produce such notes in civil or criminal proceedings. In
a criminal case the police may seize such notes as evidence. People keeping notes
should also be aware that they must keep such notes confidential to respect the
privacy of anyone referred to in them.
On the attached CD, available as a download from the Scottish Institute for
Residential Child Careʼs website and in appendix 3 we provide a form which you
can use to record the information shown in sections 8d1, 8d2, and 8d3.
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8. 8 Recording the Event and Letting Others Know
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