This study explored the potential financial and capacity implications for local authorities of implementing a number of key recommendations from the Laming report which was issued in 2009 in the wake of the Baby Peter Connelly scandal.  The study was commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA) and was supported and endorsed by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.

The study found that increases in referrals and workloads were generating considerable challenges for local authorities. Following publication of the study report, the government rejected Laming’s recommendation that all referrals to children’s services from other professionals should lead to an initial assessment and set out guidance making it clear that it is the local authority’s responsibility to decide whether or not to undertake an initial assessment. ( See The Government’s Response to Lord Laming: One Year On, page 42, Ref no 19)

The team of researchers received responses from 46 local authorities as part of a national survey and carried out in depth work with nine of them. The results showed that social workers are having to hold higher caseloads than they feel they can comfortably manage to respond to increases in referrals to children’s social care.  Local authorities see this as  linked to public and professional anxieties and fears following the Baby Peter Connelly case, as well as to the current economic climate and pressures facing families. Other key themes and concerns included recruitment and retention of staff, inter-agency working, electronic recording systems, finance and budgets, and the profession’s public image and portrayal by the media.

As a result of the findings of the study, the LGA  proposed a five point plan to ensure social work reforms result in the best possible protection of vulnerable children and argued that the government should revise its policy on Laming’s recommendation 19(1), which was likely to have the biggest impact on social work teams.

Recommendation 19(1) requires every referral from another professional to be followed up by a formal process known as an initial assessment. On average, only 13% of the time taken to complete an initial assessment is spent with the child or family but 87% is spent on paperwork and process.

Loughborough’s research team found that if recommendation 19(1) was to be fully implemented:

• the predicted increase in initial assessments councils would have to deal with ranged between 4% and 479%, depending on the authority
• the average increase in initial assessments across the country would be 91%
• around 2,000 extra social workers would be needed, at a time when the recruitment and retention of such staff is still difficult.

Cllr Shireen Ritchie, Chair of the LGA Children and Young People board, said:

“Every right-minded person wants to know everything possible is being done to keep children safe from harm. Money is an ugly topic to raise when the issue is the safety and wellbeing of children, but it would be irresponsible to pretend social work teams can make major changes to how they operate without there being implications for their workload and resources.

“The aim of this research is to help turn well-meaning proposals into practices which strengthen the safety net which keeps children safe from harm. There has to be recognition of what dedicated social workers all over the country are dealing with every day, the pressures placed on them and the valuable expertise they can share.

“Children who are at risk, and families which are struggling, will benefit more from additional time with experienced social workers than they will from an increase in the number of forms filled in about them.

“It is time to show more trust in our social workers to do the right thing for children. It is time for professionals like the police and health service workers to step up to the mark and show they understand the part they have to play in helping social workers reach the most vulnerable children first.

The LGA outlined the following five point plan to ensure social work reforms lead to the best possible child protection systems:

• GIVE SOCIAL WORKERS MORE POWER to process referrals in the way which will best help the child, using their own discretion, and scrap the requirement to always do a formal initial assessment;
• HAVE ALL PROFESSIONALS RECORD INFORMATION IN THE SAME WAY to reduce time cross-referencing information;
• INCREASE THE PART PLAYED BY OTHER BODIES, such as the police and health services, in making decisions about a child’s needs;
• REDUCE THE 300 PAGES OF GUIDANCE FOR CHILD PROTECTION to a target of 100 pages;
• PROVIDE INTERIM GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF £116M TO COUNCILS to plug the gap created by social work reforms, and to pay for recommendation 19(1) if it is not amended.

Outputs

Holmes, L., Munro, E. R. and Soper, J. (2010) Calculating the cost and capacity implications for local authorities implementing the Laming (2009) recommendations. Report to the Local Government Association. Loughborough: Centre for Child and Family Research, Loughborough University.

Contact

Lisa Holmes, Research Fellow

Email: L.J.Holmes@lboro.ac.uk