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The short answer
Make everyone safe first. Then record what happened and check who needs to be told. Telling parents, notifying Ofsted, reporting a safeguarding concern and making a workplace safety report are separate tasks. Not every incident requires all of them.
Scope: England · School-age holiday clubs and daytime activities · Check the rules for your club
Make a factual internal record
Where the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework applies, keep written records of accidents, injuries and first aid. Tell parents on the same day or as soon as reasonably practicable. Compulsory Childcare Register providers must record accidents on the premises as soon as reasonably possible. [1][2]
Our suggested record includes the child, date, time, place, what was observed, witnesses, injury or concern, immediate action, first aid, parent contact and person responsible for follow-up. Separate what you saw yourself from what someone later told you or what you think happened. Use the accident report form and accident record index as internal tools adapted to your requirements.
Check Ofsted notification separately
Registered childcare providers must tell Ofsted about specified serious incidents as soon as possible and within 14 days. The list includes serious accidents, injuries or illness to a child, a child’s death, food poisoning affecting at least two children, and allegations of harm or abuse involving people living, working or looking after children at the premises. Check the full guidance for the incidents covered and examples. You do not have to tell Ofsted about every minor injury. [3]
The 14-day limit is not a reason to wait. Where EYFS applies, serious accidents, injury or death also require notification to local child protection agencies. Safeguarding concerns need their own prompt referral route regardless of whether an accident form has been completed. [1] See safeguarding and reporting concerns.
Check whether you need to report to HSE
RIDDOR is the law requiring reports of certain work-related injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) explains when a report is needed.
For someone who is not at work, such as a child attending your club, an injury generally needs reporting under the relevant rule if it results from a work-related accident and they go directly from the scene to hospital for treatment. Tests alone do not count as treatment under that rule. Nor does a precautionary hospital visit when there is no injury. Deaths and certain injuries to workers have separate rules. [4]
Name someone to check the HSE rules, make any required report and record what they decided and why. Do not wait for an internal committee meeting when a reporting deadline applies. An Ofsted notification does not replace a required HSE report.
Protect records and learn from the incident
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) says to keep personal information only as long as you need it. Record why you need it for that long and review it regularly. Data protection law does not set one keeping period for every type of record. Account for the particular childcare, safeguarding and other legal obligations before setting your schedule; avoid copying one duration across every form. [5]
After an incident, identify what needs fixing now, what needs changing in the risk assessment and what the team can learn. Keep track of any investigation by another organisation. Limit access to sensitive details and name someone to check that each task is finished. HSE identifies incidents and ineffective controls as reasons to revisit the risk assessment. [6]
Evidence behind this page
Sources and further reading
Fact-checked against these sources on . We check sources each month. This is our editorial review, not an independent legal or medical assessment.
The numbers in the text link to the sources below. Follow the original guidance for full details and later changes. How we check this guide.
- Department for Education. EYFS statutory framework for group and school-based providers↩1 ↩2Effective 1 September 2026.Paragraph 3.78; Paragraph 3.79. Read the document (PDF).
- Ofsted. Daycare providers on the compulsory Childcare Register: requirements↩Updated 1 September 2026.Keeping records.
- Ofsted. Report a serious childcare incident↩Updated 1 September 2026.Reportable events and notification deadline.
- Health and Safety Executive. Types of reportable incidents↩Current online guidance.Non-fatal accidents to people other than workers.
- Information Commissioner’s Office. Storage limitation↩Current guidance; ICO flags review following the Data (Use and Access) Act.Retention periods, review and deletion.
- Health and Safety Executive. Steps needed to manage risk↩Updated 10 June 2024.Review controls.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, where applicable. Specialist sources are attributed to their respective publishers.