From bad to worse

A former education secretary's unrepentant, unlawful dismissal, an equally defiant ex-director of children's services who 'doesn't do blame', and a government inspectorate which changed its report from 'good' to 'devastating', have left the public both out of pocket and convinced that our child protection system is riddled with self interest.

Had Haringey Council, the local authority that failed to spot the abuse in the Baby P case, obtained an injunction preventing parliamentary scrutiny '“ as they had against a whistleblower six months earlier '“ Peter Connelly would have been just another of the four at-risk children that die each week from abuse, Haringey children's services director Sharon Shoesmith would still be in her post and all would apparently be well in children's services.

What the Baby P case demonstrated was that without robust, independent scrutiny and accountability the new system established following the death of Victoria Climbie only encourages failures to be whitewashed. Unless exposed by parliament, the media or an engaged whistleblower, numerous child protection failings will remain hidden because, in the absence of criminal proceedings or an inquest, a serious case review is the only investigation into abuse. Yet the cost, effectiveness and the new need for full publication have seen SCRs halved in number to just 71. This in a year in which referrals to the NSPCC for serious abuse totalled 16,385. And, of the SCRs conducted between 2007-09, 41 per cent were deemed inadequate by OFSTED.

The major flaws with SCRs are their terms of reference, which are limited to inter-agency co-ordination, the lack of independence of those conducting them and the reluctance of those conducing SCRs to apportion blame.

Before a SCR can be conducted, the Local Safeguarding Children's Board (SCB) must be satisfied that the abuse 'gives rise to concerns about the way in which local professionals and services worked together'.

Unfortunately the production of a SCR appears to have become an end in itself, with the SCR's prescribed form resulting in summaries with similar themes, which are often ineffectively disseminated despite their 'learning lessons' remit. Even when they are, they tend to lead to procedural changes that often fail to address the key problem, instead merely creating a procedure-bound culture.

To make a bad situation worse, Local Safeguarding Children's Boards are not truly independent of, nor accountable for, the individual organisations' operational work, only those organisations' effective communication and co-ordination.

The Care Quality Commission is under a statutory duty to assure the safety and quality of our social services but does not itself consider individual complaints, and OFSTED through its inspections oversees social service provision.

OFSTED's own independence and inadequacies were also exposed in the Baby P case. In October 2006, OFSTED found children at risk of abuse faced unacceptable delays, a high turnover of social workers and glitches in the new computer system in Haringey. Despite these concerns OFSTED based its 2007 inspection on desk research and Haringey's own allegedly inaccurate statistics, resulting in a 'good', three star assessment grade, just days before Baby P died. OFSTED's second report, after government involvement following the death of Baby P, labelled Haringey's performance 'devastating' but criticised as 'beefed up' and 'too harsh'.

OFSTED's revelation to a shocked Commons select committee that all OFSTED reports and their evidence base were routinely shredded after three months means that we may never know how Shoesmith was assessed as providing 'good life chances for children', nor whether her dismissal was substantively lawful.

A squeezed frontline

Social workers are those best placed to improve child protection, but only if they are allowed to. Whistleblowing is encouraged by their code of practice, and the Commission for Social Care has in recent years seen it as a key tool to improve standards. But in reality it is very much discouraged, with 1,500 whistleblowers dismissed between 1999 and 2004 and 40 per cent of complaints were allegedly not even considered by their managers.

Genuine child protection is further impeded by social workers being subjected to draconian codes of conduct and confidentiality that allow management to make subjective judgement whether workers' behaviour is 'appropriate', both in and outside of the workplace. Empathy, compassion and even meaningful communication may be deemed unprofessional, with a third of disciplinary hearings because a social worker is deemed to have crossed 'professional boundaries'.

By contrast, management themselves are under no duty to investigate or remedy alleged bad practice. With such unequal power, it is hardly surprising that last year 30 per cent of social workers polled complained of bullying by their manager.

Such disciplinary codes ensure that social workers remain 'on message' and frightened to make independent judgements, as to do so jeopardises not only their chance of promotion but possibly also their livelihoods and professional registration.

When he was secretary of state for children, Ed Balls committed £73m to the status and attractiveness of social work. Yet a £38m recruitment programme saw the vacancy rate for social workers rise to 11.3 per cent last year. Some 40 per cent of newly qualified workers were unhappy with a £5m support scheme, with 22 per cent dropping out. Case loads are still too high, with a reported ten per cent of child social workers forced to cope with more than 40 cases at any time.

Shoesmith's replacement earned nearly £200,000 last year, while most of his social workers took home less than £30,000. Child protection on the frontline is being squeezed, and social workers are still unable to find permanent positions, suggesting the high vacancy rate may be being deliberately maintained by cash-strapped councils who prefer cheaper and more disposable staff.

Peter Connelly's legacy would be best served by the removal of the responsibility for child protection from local authorities completely, and the restoration of full autonomy and worth to the social work vocation.