The delivery of Return Interviews across England: 2023-24

Statutory guidance from the Department for Education sets out the requirement for local authorities to offer children a Return Home Interview (RHI) after they return from a missing episode. These interventions are offered with the aim of exploring why the child went missing, whether they experienced any harm while they were away, and what support they may need to have put in place following the incident.

How these RHIs are delivered varies in each local authority. The statutory guidance allows for some flexibility, and some areas struggle to deliver within the expectations that are set out. This report uses data for 2023/23, obtained through a freedom of information request, and explores how RHIs are being delivered to try to understand what is working well, and what challenges local authorities are facing, with the aim of informing changes to future statutory guidance, and to encourage improvements in practice.

Key findings

The data shows that there is significant variation across different areas:

How many RHIs are delivered

• The proportion of missing incidents after which an RHI is offered varies significantly, with 5 local authorities offering an RHI after more than 90% of missing incidents, and 10 local authorities offering them after less than 30% of incidents.
• The proportion of offered RHIs that are actually completed (children have the right to decline the intervention or may have gone missing again before it can be conducted) also shows a broad range: 3 local authorities completed 100% of the RHIs that they had offered, whereas one only completed 19%.
• Statutory guidance states that RHIs should be completed within 72 hours of the child’s return from being missing. However, we found this expectation may be untenable, with no local authorities completing all RHIs within 72 hours, and an average of just 63% being completed within this timeframe.

Who is delivering RHIs

There is no consistency in which professionals are delivering RHIs, with some respondents expressing concern about a lack of clarity on what constitutes someone being independent of a child’s care (an expectation set out in the statutory guidance).

What is working well and what are the barriers to effective delivery

Respondents shared the importance of good staff and good multi-agency working, as well as child-centred practice. But spoke about challenges in interpreting the current statutory guidance, in delivering against challenging timeframes, and in providing RHIs to children who are placed out of area.

The findings in this report show a need for information about Return Interviews in the statutory guidance to be reviewed, and for more oversight to ensure consistency in practice across the country.

Read the report

You can read the full report below.