The death of a looked after child: guidance

2. Notifying the Scottish Ministers

If any looked after child dies (whether he or she was living at home or was placed away from home) the local authority looking after the child must notify the Scottish Ministers^[1].

The Scottish Ministers can be notified by emailing looked_after_children@gov.scot. This should be done within one working day of the local authority becoming aware of the child having died.

When notifying Scottish Ministers, the local authority should provide the following information:

• The name of the child
• His or her date of birth
• The legal circumstances in which he or she was being looked after and the location of where they resided at the time of death; and
• Brief details of the cause and circumstances of his or her death, if known.

These details can be provided to the Scottish Ministers by copying in the Scottish Ministers to the notification in Form DLC1 given to the Care Inspectorate (see further below). This form can be accessed online.