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Closing and Sign-off

Closing a concern is the sign-off. When a safeguarding lead closes a record of concern, Pigeonhole records who closed it and when, giving you a clear, accountable record of who took responsibility for the outcome.
There is no separate “request sign-off” step and no signature to draw. Reviewing the concern and closing it is the single action that signs it off.

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What Sign-off Means

Closing a concern provides:
  • Oversight — a safeguarding lead has reviewed the concern before it is closed
  • Accountability — the person who closed it is recorded by name
  • Audit trail — the date and any closing notes are kept with the record

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Concern Statuses

Every concern has one status:
  • Active — the concern is ongoing and being monitored
  • Closed — the concern has been resolved and signed off
  • No Action — the concern was reviewed and no further action was needed
Both Closed and No Action are closed states: each records who closed the concern and when, and both can be reopened later.

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Who Can Close a Concern

This depends on your safeguarding settings:
  • Sign-off required is on — only a Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Safeguarding Lead can close a concern.
  • Sign-off required is off — Managers can also close concerns, alongside safeguarding leads.

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How to Close a Concern

  1. Open the record of concern from the Records of Concern list.
  2. Click Close concern at the bottom of the concern card.
  3. Choose an Outcome:
    • Closed (resolved) — the concern was dealt with
    • No action required — reviewed, but nothing further was needed
  4. Optionally add Close notes describing how the concern was resolved.
  5. Click Close concern to confirm.
The Close concern dialog showing the Outcome dropdown and Close notes field
The concern’s status updates immediately, and the record shows who closed it and on what date.
A closed concern showing the Closed by name and date line, with the Reopen button
Close notes are optional when you use the Close concern button. If you instead change the status on the edit form, close notes are required.

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Reopening a Concern

If new information comes to light, a safeguarding lead can reopen a closed concern.
  1. Open the closed record of concern.
  2. Click Reopen and confirm.
The concern returns to Active, and the closure details — who closed it, when, and the close notes — are cleared.
Reopening clears the previous closure details and close notes. If you need to keep a record of the original outcome, add it as an action before reopening.

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Older Records

Concerns that were closed before this process was introduced show “Closed by legacy record” instead of a person’s name. The concern and its history are unaffected — only the name of the person who closed it was not captured at the time.