What are Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs)?
Safeguarding Adults Reviews are held to ‘promote effective learning and improvement action to prevent future deaths or serious harm occurring again’. The criteria for a Safeguarding Adults Review is set out in Section 44 of the Care Act 2014, and in summary these are held when:
- there is a reasonable cause for concern that an adult in need of care of support has died as a result of abuse, neglect or self-neglect or
- the adult in need of care and support has experienced serious neglect, abuse or self-neglect, and
- there is concern about how organisations worked together to protect them.
Aims and objectives
It is important that all parties understand the aims and purpose of any Safeguarding Adults Review undertaken. The relevant statutory guidance explains that:
- It is not the purpose of a Safeguarding Adults Review to hold any individual or organisation to account, as there are other processes that exist for that purpose.
- The aim is to identify learning about how organisations worked together, and for that learning to be used to prevent similar situations re-occuring in the future.
How to make a referral
Any individual can make a Safeguarding Adults Review referral using the form on this page. Individuals whose organisations are represented on the Safeguarding Adults Board should however consult their Board member before so doing.
New SAR Notification Form_Aug 2024.docx (DOCX, 55.09KB) This plain text version can also be used
A multi-agency group will review each referral and may seek further information from other organisations before making a decision as to whether the criteria is met.