Council unanimously approves motion for independent investigation into child protection services
Councillors voted unanimously for an independent review into the council's improvement in child protection following the death of Sara Sharif
Last updated 9th Dec 2025
Surrey councillors have backed calls for an independent expert to review the way it responded to the death Sara Sharif.
The 10-year-old was killed by her father and step mum in Woking in 2023..
A recent Child Safeguarding Practice Review into Sara's murder showed institutional failures across several agencies which undermined public trust on the ability of the authority to protect the most vulnerable children.
After Sarah began being home schooled, social workers were sent to the wrong address, meaning she was not seen for several months before her murder.
As well as this, agencies didn't pick up on things like unexplained bruises and problems after she was taken out of school.
The motion that was passed unanimously, has three steps for ensuring child protection services in Surrey are functional
Firstly, an extraordinary meeting of the Children, Families, Lifelong and Select Committee will take place on 15 December to scrutinise the review and develop recommendations
Secondly, an external, independent expert to review the culture, systems and processes of the Children's Services across the county.
And thirdly, it asks the leader of the council to write to the Secretary of State for Education and MPs locally to ask for urgent national action on safeguarding legal loopholes and legislative changes.
This includes things such as wanting the government to tighten rules so children with a history like Sara's can't simply be removed from school without extra checks.
The council hope that the investigation will be completed by March next year
The motion was put forward by Liberal Democrat councillor Lance Spencer, and received cross party backing.
Spencer told us he is hopeful the motion being passed will lead to action and accountability
"People said in the council meeting saying we're going to learn from our mistakes and learn and improve things going forward but you really need some real actions and real accountability and real responsibility coming out of this and I think that's what we got from the motion."
Council Leader Tim Oliver says the council is focused on doing whatever they can to ensure something like this never happens again
"We are all as members and indeed as officers here absolutely focused on finding any gaps in the way in which our services deliver but any safeguarding issues to make sure that as much as we're able to that this can never happen again."