> In short: A Section 42 enquiry is a statutory safeguarding enquiry under the Care Act 2014. It is triggered when a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that an adult with care and support needs is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect, and is unable to protect themselves. Health and care providers are very often asked to carry out the enquiry on the local authority's behalf — and the quality of their response shapes everything that follows.
What is a Section 42 enquiry?
Section 42 of the Care Act 2014 places a duty on local authorities to make, or cause to be made, enquiries when three criteria are met:
- The adult has needs for care and support (whether or not the authority is currently meeting them).
- The adult is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect.
- As a result of those needs, the adult is unable to protect themselves from that abuse or neglect or the risk of it.
When all three are met, the local authority must decide what action is needed and by whom. In practice, much of that action is carried out by the provider closest to the adult — an NHS trust, GP practice, care home, supported living service, hospice or domiciliary care agency. The local authority remains accountable for the overall enquiry and its conclusions.
A Section 42 enquiry is not an investigation in the criminal sense. It is a proportionate process focused on understanding what is happening, reducing risk and supporting the adult's outcomes — including those they themselves want.
Provider responsibilities
Health and care providers carry significant responsibility throughout a Section 42 enquiry, both as referrers and as the body often asked to lead the enquiry work.
Before an enquiry begins
- Maintain clear, accessible safeguarding policies aligned to the local Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) procedures.
- Train all staff — including agency, bank and ancillary workers — on recognising and reporting abuse and neglect.
- Ensure named safeguarding leads have time, authority and access to senior decision-makers.
When a concern arises
- Make a timely, well-evidenced safeguarding referral, using local thresholds and the Making Safeguarding Personal approach.
- Take immediate protective action where there is an urgent risk, without waiting for the local authority to respond.
- Preserve evidence — care records, rotas, medication charts, body maps, environmental observations, witness accounts.
During an enquiry
- Cooperate fully with the local authority, including providing records, statements and access to people and places.
- Where the enquiry is delegated, plan it formally: terms of reference, lead enquirer, conflicts of interest, timeline, communication plan.
- Keep the adult — and, where appropriate, their family or representative — informed in a way that respects capacity, choice and dignity.
After an enquiry
- Implement and evidence agreed actions.
- Feed learning into governance, training and quality improvement.
- Review whether wider services or other adults may have been affected.
Providers under regulatory scrutiny should remember that the Care Quality Commission looks closely at how safeguarding concerns are recognised, escalated and learned from. A weak Section 42 response is rarely a one-off — it usually signals broader gaps that connect to our safeguarding consultancy work and independent investigations support.
Safeguarding evidence: what to gather and keep
Strong enquiries rest on contemporaneous, organised evidence. The most useful provider evidence packs typically include:
- The adult's voice and wishes. Direct quotes, capacity assessments, advocacy involvement and the outcomes they want.
- Care and clinical records. Care plans, risk assessments, observation charts, MAR sheets, wound charts, behaviour records.
- Incident and accident records. Including near-misses and patterns over time.
- Staffing evidence. Rotas, induction records, supervision and competency assessments for staff involved.
- Environmental evidence. Maintenance logs, CCTV (where available and lawful), equipment checks.
- Communication trail. Referrals, professional meetings, family contact, GP and hospital correspondence.
- Previous concerns. Whether the adult, the staff member or the service has featured in earlier safeguarding work.
Evidence should be dated, signed, factual and clearly attributable. Opinions belong in professional judgement notes, distinct from contemporaneous records. Where records are weak, that itself is a finding — and one a credible enquiry should acknowledge openly.
What happens during a Section 42 enquiry
While each local authority operates within its SAB framework, most Section 42 enquiries follow a recognisable shape:
1. Concern raised and triage
The local authority screens the concern against the three Section 42 criteria. If met, a strategy discussion or meeting is convened to agree scope, immediate protective actions and who will lead the enquiry.
2. Planning the enquiry
A lead enquirer is identified — often a senior practitioner inside the provider, sometimes an independent reviewer. Terms of reference, lines of enquiry, timescales and communication routes are agreed. The adult's wishes and desired outcomes are central from the start.
3. Gathering information
Records are reviewed, interviews conducted with the adult, relevant staff and witnesses, and observations made of the care environment. Where police, NHS or regulatory partners are involved, parallel processes are coordinated rather than duplicated.
4. Analysis and findings
Information is analysed against the lines of enquiry. The enquiry should be clear about what is established as fact, what remains unresolved, and what the implications are for the adult and the wider service.
5. Outcomes and protection plan
A safeguarding plan is agreed, setting out actions to reduce risk, support the adult's outcomes and address any wider concerns. Actions have owners, deadlines and review points.
6. Closure and learning
The enquiry is formally closed when the local authority is satisfied the duty has been met. Learning is shared with the provider, commissioners and, where appropriate, the SAB.
Common mistakes providers make
Across hundreds of safeguarding reviews we see the same avoidable issues. The most common include:
- Treating Section 42 as a tick-box exercise. Generic terms of reference, narrow lines of enquiry and rushed reports satisfy no one — and rarely satisfy the regulator.
- Confusing internal investigation with safeguarding enquiry. Disciplinary processes and HR considerations should run alongside, not inside, a Section 42 enquiry.
- Failing to involve the adult. Making Safeguarding Personal is a duty, not an aspiration. Outcomes the adult does not recognise tend to fail.
- Weak lead enquirer selection. Asking a stretched ward manager or registered manager to lead a complex enquiry without protected time or independent support is a recipe for a poor outcome.
- Conflicts of interest unmanaged. Leaders should not investigate concerns about services, staff or decisions they are accountable for.
- No evidence of learning. A clean factual report with no governance follow-through is a red flag for inspectors and commissioners.
- Poor communication with families. Defensive, legalistic responses damage trust and frequently trigger complaints, claims and regulatory referrals.
When to seek independent support
Most Section 42 enquiries can and should be handled in-house. Independent support becomes valuable — and sometimes essential — when one or more of the following apply:
- The concern involves a death, serious harm or pattern of incidents.
- There are conflicts of interest at senior level, or the service's own leadership is part of the concern.
- The case is likely to attract regulatory, commissioner, coroner or media attention.
- The enquiry overlaps with PSIRF investigations, Domestic Homicide Reviews, Safeguarding Adults Reviews or criminal proceedings.
- The provider's internal capacity, expertise or objectivity is genuinely limited.
- A previous enquiry has been challenged by the adult, family, commissioner or regulator.
Independent enquirers bring distance, specialist expertise and a credibility that internal teams cannot always offer. Where the enquiry sits inside a wider response — for example, a system-level review or a PSIRF-aligned investigation — independent involvement helps ensure findings are robust, proportionate and defensible.
How CPGB Ltd supports Section 42 work
CPGB Ltd provides independent safeguarding leads, lead enquirers, chairs and reviewers for Section 42 enquiries, Safeguarding Adults Reviews and complex multi-agency safeguarding work. Our team combines current clinical, social work and safeguarding registration with senior experience across NHS, local authority and independent sector settings. We work in line with the Care Act 2014, Making Safeguarding Personal and local SAB procedures, and we focus on outcomes that are honest, proportionate and useful to the adult at the centre of the work.
If you are scoping a complex Section 42 enquiry, recovering from a challenged one, or strengthening your wider safeguarding governance, we can help.
Contact us to discuss your enquiry, or read more about our broader safeguarding consultancy and independent investigations services.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Section 42 enquiry?
A statutory safeguarding enquiry under the Care Act 2014, triggered when a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect an adult with care and support needs is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect, and is unable to protect themselves.
Who is responsible for carrying out a Section 42 enquiry?
The local authority holds the duty, but typically asks the provider closest to the adult to make enquiries on its behalf. The local authority remains accountable for the quality of the enquiry.
What is the difference between a safeguarding concern and a Section 42 enquiry?
A concern is information shared with the local authority. A Section 42 enquiry only begins when the three statutory criteria are met. Many concerns are managed through other routes.
How long should a Section 42 enquiry take?
There is no fixed national timescale. Local SABs commonly expect completion in around 28 days, with interim updates. Complex enquiries can take longer but should show steady, recorded progress.
What happens if a provider disagrees with the outcome?
Providers should use the local authority's escalation route, supported by evidence. Unresolved disputes may warrant an independent review of the enquiry or a wider safeguarding case review.