Underinvestment in Children's Social Care
152 items
2 sources
Historical underinvestment in children's social care, impacting family support and increasing reliance on family court interventions.
Cross-Source Insight
Underinvestment in Children's Social Care has been flagged across 2 independent accountability sources:
121 inquiry recs
31 PFD reports
This issue has been identified by multiple independent accountability bodies, suggesting it is a recurring systemic concern.
Inquiry Recommendations (121)
BRIS-167 — Appoint National Director for Children's Healthcare Services to promote improvements
Recommendation: A National Director for Children’s Healthcare Services should be appointed to promote improvements in healthcare services provided for children.
Unknown
BRIS-168 — Consider creating a Children's Commissioner for England to promote children's rights
Recommendation: Consideration should be given to the creation of an office of Children’s Commissioner in England, with the role of promoting the rights of children in all areas of public policy and seeking improvements to the ways in which the needs …
Unknown
BRIS-169 — Expand Cabinet Committee remit to include healthcare for children and young people
Recommendation: The Cabinet Committee on Children and Young People’s Services should specifically include in its remit matters to do with healthcare and health services for children and young people.
Unknown
BRIS-170 — Designate senior staff in health authorities for local children's healthcare commissioning
Recommendation: Each health authority and each primary care group or primary care trust should designate a senior member of staff who should have responsibility for commissioning children’s healthcare services locally.
Unknown
BRIS-171 — Designate executive board member to protect children's interests in trusts
Recommendation: All trusts which provide services for children as well as adults, should have a designated executive member of the board whose responsibility it is to ensure that the interests of children are protected and that they are cared for in …
Unknown
BRIS-172 — Urgently agree and implement National Service Framework for children's healthcare
Recommendation: The proposed National Service Framework (NSF) for children’s healthcare services must be agreed and implemented as a matter of urgency.
Unknown
BRIS-173 — NSF must establish standards for all children's acute healthcare services
Recommendation: The NSF should include a programme for the establishment of standards in all areas of children’s acute hospital and healthcare services.
Unknown
BRIS-174 — NSF must set obligatory and aspirational standards for children's services
Recommendation: The NSF should set obligatory standards which must be observed, as well as standards to which children’s services should aspire over time.
Unknown
BRIS-175 — NSF must include incentives for improving children's healthcare services, aiding needy trusts
Recommendation: The NSF should include incentives for the improvement of children’s healthcare services, with particular help being given to those trusts most in need.
Unknown
BRIS-176 — NSF must plan regular publication of children's healthcare quality and performance data
Recommendation: The NSF must include plans for the regular publication of information about the quality and performance of children’s healthcare services at national level, at the level of individual trusts, and of individual consultant units.
Unknown
BRIS-177 — NSF must provide strategic guidance for integrating children's healthcare services
Recommendation: There must be much greater integration of primary, community, acute and specialist healthcare for children. The NSF should include strategic guidance to health authorities and trusts so that services in the future are better integrated and organised around the needs …
Unknown
BRIS-178 — Locate children's acute hospital services in children's hospitals near general hospitals
Recommendation: Children’s acute hospital services should ideally be located in a children’s hospital, which should be physically as close as possible to an acute general hospital. This should be the preferred model for the future.
Unknown
BRIS-179 — Ensure free-standing children's hospitals provide access to all necessary facilities and specialists
Recommendation: In the case of existing free-standing children’s hospitals, particular attention must be given to ensuring that, through good management and organisation of care, children have access when needed to (a) facilities which may not routinely be found in a children’s …
Unknown
BRIS-180 — Pilot children's hospitals running all acute and community services in a geographical area
Recommendation: Consideration should be given to piloting the introduction of a system whereby children’s hospitals take over the running of the children’s acute and community services throughout a geographical area, building on the example of the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital in the …
Unknown
BRIS-181 — Organise children's specialist services for best staff, facilities, and outcomes, prioritising quality
Recommendation: Specialist services for children should be organised so as to provide the best available staff and facilities, thus providing the best possible opportunity for good outcomes. Advice should be sought from experts on the appropriate number of patients to be …
Unknown
BRIS-182 — Establish flexible Family Support Funds for travel costs at concentrated specialist children's trusts
Recommendation: Where specialist services for children are concentrated in a small number of trusts spread throughout England, these trusts should establish Family Support Funds to help families to meet the costs arising from travelling and staying away from home. The Funds …
Unknown
BRIS-183 — Validate trusts providing children's acute services for child-centred policies, staff, and facilities
Recommendation: After completion of a pilot exercise, all trusts which provide acute hospital services for children should be subject to a process of validation to ensure that they have appropriate child- and family-centred policies, staff, and facilities to provide a good …
Unknown
BRIS-184 — Ensure children are cared for in paediatric environments by qualified professionals
Recommendation: Children should always (save in exceptional circumstances, such as emergencies) be cared for in a paediatric environment, and always by healthcare professionals who hold a recognised qualification in caring for children. This is especially so in relation to paediatric intensive …
Unknown
BRIS-185 — Review and apply 1991 paediatric nurse staffing standards as minimum
Recommendation: The 1991 standards for the numbers of paediatrically qualified nurses required at any given time should serve as the minimum standard and should apply where children are treated (save in emergencies). The standards should be reviewed as a matter of …
Unknown
BRIS-186 — Require all surgeons operating on children to obtain paediatric qualification and revalidation
Recommendation: All surgeons who operate on children, including those who also operate on adults, must undergo training in the care of children and obtain a recognised professional qualification in the care of children. As matter of priority, the GMC, the body …
Unknown
BRIS-192 — Develop national standards for all aspects of congenital heart disease care and treatment
Recommendation: National standards should be developed, as a matter of priority, for all aspects of the care and treatment of children with congenital heart disease (CHD). The standards should address diagnosis, surgical and other treatments, and continuing care. They should include …
Unknown
BRIS-193 — Stipulate minimum paediatric cardiac surgery procedure volumes for hospitals to ensure outcomes
Recommendation: With regard to paediatric cardiac surgery, the standards should stipulate the minimum number of procedures which must be performed in a hospital over a given period of time in order to have the best opportunity of achieving good outcomes for …
Unknown
BRIS-194 — Establish minimum weekly operating sessions for paediatric cardiac surgeons to maintain competence
Recommendation: With regard to those surgeons who undertake paediatric cardiac surgery, although not stipulating the number of operating sessions sufficient to maintain competence, it may be that four sessions a week should be the minimum number required. Agreement on this should …
Unknown
BRIS-195 — Require two paediatric surgeons performing 40-50 open-heart operations annually for infants
Recommendation: With regard to the very particular circumstances of open-heart surgery on very young children (including neo-nates and infants), we stipulate that the following standard should apply unless, within six months of the publication of this Report, this standard is varied …
Unknown
BRIS-196 — Mandate paediatric environment, trained staff, and PICU access for children's interventional procedures
Recommendation: The national standards should stipulate that children with CHD who undergo any form of interventional procedure must be cared for in a paediatric environment. This means that all healthcare professionals who care for these children must be trained and qualified …
Unknown
BRIS-197 — Centralise rare paediatric heart condition surgery to maximum two expert-validated units
Recommendation: Surgical services for children with very rare congenital heart conditions, such as Truncus Arteriosus, or involving procedures undertaken very rarely, should only be performed in a maximum of two units, validated as such on the advice of experts. Such arrangements …
Unknown
BRIS-198 — Urgently investigate paediatric cardiac surgery units for unsafe low patient volumes
Recommendation: An investigation should be conducted as a matter of urgency to ensure that PCS is not currently being carried out where the low volume of patients or other factors make it unsafe to perform such surgery.
Unknown
IHRD-85 — Deputy CMO for Children's Healthcare
Recommendation: The Department should appoint a Deputy Chief Medical Officer with specific responsibility for children's healthcare.
Gov response: Role considerations ongoing within Department of Health NI restructuring.
Accepted
No update 2+ yrs
WATE-(1) — Appoint an independent Children's Commissioner for Wales
Recommendation: An independent Children's Commissioner for Wales should be appointed.
Unknown
WATE-(10) — Assign field social worker to every looked after child in and after care
Recommendation: An appropriate915 field social worker should be assigned to every looked after child throughout the period that the child remains in care and for an appropriate period following the child's discharge from care.
Unknown
WATE-(11) — Require field social workers to visit looked after children every eight weeks
Recommendation: Field social workers should be required by regulation to visit any looked after child for whom they are responsible not less than once every eight weeks916. In the case of older children, they should be required also to see the …
Unknown
WATE-(12) — Safeguard field social worker's responsibilities for placement supervision and care planning
Recommendation: Any arrangements made for the provision of residential care or fostering services should expressly safeguard the field social worker's continuing responsibilities for supervision of the placement and care planning.
Unknown
WATE-(13) — Arrange sexual abuse awareness training for social services and other staff
Recommendation: Area Child Protection Committees should arrange training in sexual abuse awareness for social services staff and for those from other departments, agencies and organisations in their area.
Unknown
WATE-(14) — Remind professionals of their role in identifying and reporting child abuse
Recommendation: Steps should be taken through training and professional and other channels periodically to remind persons outside social services departments who are or may be in regular contact with looked after children, such as teachers, medical practitioners, nurses and police officers, …
Unknown
WATE-(15) — Maintain log of children's home incidents at police station for social services
Recommendation: A log of all incidents, disturbances, reports, complaints and absconsions at a children's home should be kept at an appropriate nearby police station and made accessible, when required, to officers of the Social Services Department.
Unknown
WATE-(16) — Advise police on absconders from care homes and social worker consultation
Recommendation: Police officers should be reminded periodically that an absconder from a residential care or foster home may have been motivated to abscond by abuse in the home. They should be advised that, when apprehended, an absconder should be encouraged to …
Unknown
WATE-(17) — Require reporting of absconsions to social worker and independent follow-up
Recommendation: It should be a rule of practice that any absconsion should be reported as soon as possible to the absconder's field social worker and that the absconder should be seen on his return by that social worker or by another …
Unknown
WATE-(18) — Appoint senior officer to strategise serious staff misbehaviour complaints
Recommendation: When a complaint alleges serious misbehaviour by a member of staff, the Director of Social Services should appoint a senior officer to formulate an overall strategy for dealing with the complaint, including such matters as liaison with the police in …
Unknown
WATE-(19) — Establish senior officer liaison with police for child abuse investigations
Recommendation: Whenever a police investigation follows upon a complaint of abuse of a looked after child, the senior officer referred to in recommendation (18) or another senior officer assigned for the specific purpose should establish and maintain close liaison with the …
Unknown
WATE-(2) — Define Commissioner's duties: monitor rights, examine cases, publish reports
Recommendation: The duties of the Commissioner should include: (a) ensuring that children's rights are respected through the monitoring and oversight of the operation of complaints and whistleblowing procedures and the arrangements for children's advocacy; (b) examining the handling of individual cases …
Unknown
WATE-(38) — Extend local authority duty to provide parental-level support for care leavers
Recommendation: The duty upon local authorities under section 24(1) of the Children Act 1989 to advise, assist and befriend a child with a view to promoting his welfare when he ceases to be looked after by them should be extended so …
Unknown
WATE-(58) — Advise elected members on responsibilities for looked after children policy and oversight
Recommendation: Elected members should from time to time be advised about and reminded of their responsibilities to develop policy and to oversee and monitor the discharge by the local authority of its parental obligations towards looked after children.
Unknown
WATE-(59) — Mandate Director of Social Services to support elected members on children's services
Recommendation: It should be the explicit duty of the Director of Social Services to assist and support elected members in discharging those responsibilities and, in particular:40 to 42, 62(vi) to (viii), 63 (a) to inform elected members of all matters of …
Unknown
WATE-(62) — Establish Advisory Council for Children's Services in Wales to strengthen provision
Recommendation: An Advisory Council for Children's Services in Wales comprised of members covering a wide range of expertise in children's services, including practice, research, management and training, should be established in order to strengthen the provision of children's services in Wales …
Unknown
WATE-(63) — Define Advisory Council functions: advise, research, disseminate information, and recommend
Recommendation: The functions of the Advisory Council should include: (a) advising on government policy and legislation with regard to their likely impact on children and young people; (b) commissioning research; (c) disseminating information and making recommendations.
Unknown
WATE-(64) — Conduct nationwide review of children's services needs and costs for strategy
Recommendation: There should be a nationwide review of the needs and costs of children's services based on local authorities' development plans and leading to a comprehensive and costed strategy for those services, including any necessary education and health elements.
Unknown
WATE-(65) — Local authorities prepare costed development plans for children's services provision
Recommendation: Local authorities, in collaboration with voluntary and other relevant organisations and acting together with other local authorities where appropriate, should prepare costed development plans for children's services as a prelude to the proposed nationwide review, such plans to ensure (amongst …
Unknown
WATE-(66) — Central government examine residential schools use as social services substitute
Recommendation: Central government should examine the extent to which residential schools are being used as a substitute for social services care and support, and identify the implications for children's long term welfare.
Unknown
WATE-(67) — Monitor nationwide availability and quality of residential placements and fostering services
Recommendation: Provision should be made for repeated monitoring at appropriate intervals of the availability and quality of residential placements and fostering services on a nationwide basis.
Unknown
WATE-(69) — Provide adequate resources for national children's services departments in Wales
Recommendation: Adequate resources should be provided to ensure that the departments in Wales responsible at national level for children's services are sufficiently and appropriately staffed to support and monitor the provision of these services in Wales.
Unknown
LAMI-1 — Establish a ministerial Children and Families Board within government
Recommendation: With the support of the Prime Minister, a ministerial Children and Families Board should be established at the heart of government. The Board should be chaired by a minister of Cabinet rank and should have ministerial representation from government departments …
Unknown
LAMI-10 — Government inspectorates to assess quality and inter-agency effectiveness for child services
Recommendation: As part of their work, the government inspectorates should inspect both the quality of the services delivered, and also the effectiveness of the inter-agency arrangements for the provision of services to children and families.
Unknown
LAMI-100 — Train child protection officers to confidently challenge other professionals' views
Recommendation: Training for child protection officers must equip them with the confidence to question the views of professionals in other agencies, including doctors, no matter how eminent those professionals appear to be.
Unknown
LAMI-101 — Home Office to actively maintain child protection investigation standards through inspections
Recommendation: The Home Office, through Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, must take a more active role in maintaining high standards of child protection investigation by means of its regular Basic Commands Unit and force inspections. In addition, a follow-up to the …
Unknown
LAMI-102 — Home Office to implement national child protection officer training curriculum
Recommendation: The Home Office, through Centrex and the Association of Chief Police Officers, must devise and implement a national training curriculum for child protection officers as recommended in 1999 by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in its thematic inspection report, Child …
Unknown
LAMI-103 — Chief constables to ensure trained detective officers in child protection teams
Recommendation: Chief constables must ensure that officers working on child protection teams are sufficiently well trained in criminal investigation, and that there is always a substantial core of fully trained detective officers on each team to deal with the most serious …
Unknown
LAMI-104 — PITO to evaluate child protection IT systems for police forces
Recommendation: The Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) should evaluate the child protection IT systems currently available, and make recommendations to chief constables, who must ensure their police force has in use an effective child-protection database and IT management system.
Unknown
LAMI-105 — Chief constables to integrate and adequately resource child protection teams
Recommendation: Chief constables must ensure that child protection teams are fully integrated into the structure of their forces and not disadvantaged in terms of accommodation, equipment or resources.
Unknown
LAMI-106 — Home Office to make child protection policing a ministerial priority
Recommendation: The Home Office must ensure that child protection policing is included in the list of ministerial priorities for the police.
Unknown
LAMI-107 — Require police authorities to prioritise child protection investigations in policing plans
Recommendation: Chief constables and police authorities must give child protection investigations a high priority in their policing plans, thereby ensuring consistently high standards of service by well-resourced, well-managed and well-motivated teams.
Unknown
LAMI-108 — Add child protection policing training to strategic command course syllabus
Recommendation: The Home Office, through Centrex, must add specific training relating to child protection policing to the syllabus for the strategic command course. This will ensure that all future chief officers in the police service have adequate knowledge and understanding of …
Unknown
LAMI-11 — Government to review law on private foster carer registration
Recommendation: The Government should review the law regarding the registration of private foster carers.
Unknown
LAMI-12 — Require front-line staff to record basic child information at first contact
Recommendation: Front-line staff in each of the agencies which regularly come into contact with families with children must ensure that in each new contact, basic information about the child is recorded. This must include the child’s name, address, age, the name …
Unknown
LAMI-13 — Amalgamate child welfare guidance documents into one simplified common language framework
Recommendation: The Department of Health should amalgamate the current Working Together and the National Assessment Framework documents into one simplified document. The document should tackle the following six aspects in a clear and practical way: • It must establish a ‘common …
Unknown
LAMI-14 — Require training bodies to include inter-agency joint working in national programmes
Recommendation: The National Agency for Children and Families should require each of the training bodies covering the services provided by doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, officers working in housing departments, and social workers to demonstrate that effective joint working between each …
Unknown
LAMI-15 — Require local boards to provide and evaluate inter-agency training for staff
Recommendation: The newly created local Management Boards for Services to Children and Families should be required to ensure training on an inter-agency basis is provided. The effectiveness of this should be evaluated by the government inspectorates. Staff working in the relevant …
Unknown
LAMI-16 — Issue guidance on data protection and confidentiality for child welfare information sharing
Recommendation: The Government should issue guidance on the Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, and common law rules on confidentiality. The Government should issue guidance as and when these impact on the sharing of information between professional groups …
Unknown
LAMI-17 — Explore feasibility of a national children's database for safeguarding children under 16
Recommendation: The Government should actively explore the benefit to children of setting up and operating a national children’s database on all children under the age of 16. A feasibility study should be a prelude to a pilot study to explore its …
Unknown
LAMI-18 — Mandate interpreter use for non-English speaking children in welfare communications
Recommendation: When communication with a child is necessary for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting that child’s welfare, and the first language of that child is not English, an interpreter must be used. In cases where the use of an interpreter …
Unknown
LAMI-19 — Require duty managers to track child referrals, actions, responsibilities, and deadlines
Recommendation: Managers of duty teams must devise and operate a system which enables them immediately to establish how many children have been referred to their team, what action is required to be taken for each child, who is responsible for taking …
Unknown
LAMI-2 — Incorporate Children's Commissioner responsibilities into National Agency Chief Executive role
Recommendation: The chief executive of a newly established National Agency for Children and Families will report to the ministerial Children and Families Board. The post of chief executive should incorporate the responsibilities of the post of a Children’s Commissioner for England.
Unknown
LAMI-20 — Ensure social services intake staff are experienced and appropriately trained
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that staff in their children and families’ intake teams are experienced in working with children and families, and that they have received appropriate training.
Unknown
LAMI-21 — Require written confirmation of child welfare referrals to social services within 48 hours
Recommendation: When a professional makes a referral to social services concerning the well-being of a child, the fact of that referral must be confirmed in writing by the referrer within 48 hours.
Unknown
LAMI-22 — Assess and record suitability of temporary child accommodation; report unsuitability to senior officer
Recommendation: If social services place a child in temporary accommodation, an assessment must be made of the suitability of that accommodation and the results of that assessment must be recorded on the child’s case file. If the accommodation is unsuitable, this …
Unknown
LAMI-23 — Notify receiving authority of out-of-area child placements and retain responsibility
Recommendation: If social services place a child in accommodation in another local authority area, they must notify that local authority’s social services department of the placement. Unless specifically agreed in writing at team manager level by both authorities or above, the …
Unknown
LAMI-24 — Alert education authorities when school-age child is not attending school
Recommendation: Where, during the course of an assessment, social services establish that a child of school age is not attending school, they must alert the education authorities and satisfy themselves that, in the interim, the child is subject to adequate daycare …
Unknown
LAMI-25 — Require manager approval for child assessments and plans after seeing child and carer
Recommendation: All social services assessments of children and families, and any action plans drawn up as a result, must be approved in writing by a manager. Before giving such approval, the manager must ensure that the child and the child’s carer …
Unknown
LAMI-26 — Prohibit closing vulnerable child cases until child seen and welfare plan agreed
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that no case involving a vulnerable child is closed until the child and the child’s carer have been seen and spoken to, and a plan for the ongoing promotion and safeguarding of the child’s …
Unknown
LAMI-27 — Include children's services explicitly in local authority priorities and operational plans
Recommendation: Chief executives and lead members of local authorities with social services responsibilities must ensure that children’s services are explicitly included in their authority’s list of priorities and operational plans.
Unknown
LAMI-28 — Require local authorities to assess and plan improvements for children's duty systems
Recommendation: The Department of Health should require chief executives of local authorities with social services responsibilities to prepare a position statement on the true picture of the current strengths and weaknesses of their ‘front door’ duty systems for children and families. …
Unknown
LAMI-29 — Implement system for directors to monitor children's social services duty team data
Recommendation: Directors of social services must devise and implement a system which provides them with the following information about the work of the duty teams for which they are responsible: • number of children referred to the teams; • number of …
Unknown
LAMI-3 — Establish National Agency to assess, advise, and monitor children and families policy
Recommendation: The newly established National Agency for Children and Families should have the following responsibilities: • to assess, and advise the ministerial Children and Families Board about, the impact on children and families of proposed changes in policy; • to scrutinise …
Unknown
LAMI-30 — Directors must ensure senior managers regularly inspect children's social services case files
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that senior managers inspect, at least once every three months, a random selection of case files and supervision notes.
Unknown
LAMI-31 — Ensure all staff working with children receive comprehensive vocational and ongoing training
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that all staff who work with children have received appropriate vocational training, receive a thorough induction in local procedures and are obliged to participate in regular continuing training so as to ensure that their …
Unknown
LAMI-32 — Ensure single, compatible electronic database for all children and families services
Recommendation: Local authority chief executives must ensure that only one electronic database system is used by all those working in children and families’ services for the recording of information. This should be the same system in use across the council, or …
Unknown
LAMI-33 — Establish 24-hour public referral line for child concerns, pilot electronic recording
Recommendation: Local authorities with responsibility for safeguarding children should establish and advertise a 24-hour free telephone referral number for use by members of the public who wish to report concerns about a child. A pilot study should be undertaken to evaluate …
Unknown
LAMI-34 — Standardise social worker home visits: clarify purpose, check records, document findings
Recommendation: Social workers must not undertake home visits without being clear about the purpose of the visit, the information to be gathered during the course of it, and the steps to be taken if no one is at home. No visits …
Unknown
LAMI-35 — Ensure children subject to harm allegations are seen within 24 hours
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that children who are the subject of allegations of deliberate harm are seen and spoken to within 24 hours of the allegation being communicated to social services. If this timescale is not met, the …
Unknown
LAMI-36 — Require legal advice before emergency child harm action, ensure 24-hour availability
Recommendation: No emergency action on a case concerning an allegation of deliberate harm to a child should be taken without first obtaining legal advice. Local authorities must ensure that such legal advice is available 24 hours a day.
Unknown
LAMI-37 — Train social workers to confidently challenge other professionals' opinions on child needs
Recommendation: The training of social workers must equip them with the confidence to question the opinion of professionals in other agencies when conducting their own assessment of the needs of the child.
Unknown
LAMI-38 — Ensure inter-departmental case transfers are recorded and confirmed in writing
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that the transfer of responsibility of a case between local authority social services departments is always recorded on the case file of each authority, and is confirmed in writing by the authority to which …
Unknown
LAMI-39 — Train front-line staff to promptly record and transfer child safety calls
Recommendation: All front-line staff within local authorities must be trained to pass all calls about the safety of children through to the appropriate duty team without delay, having first recorded the name of the child, his or her address, and the …
Unknown
LAMI-4 — National Agency to use regional structure for local policy implementation and monitoring
Recommendation: The National Agency for Children and Families will operate through a regional structure which will ensure that legislation and policy are being implemented at a local level, as well as providing central government with up-to-date and reliable information about the …
Unknown
LAMI-40 — Establish mandatory steps for closing child harm cases, including welfare plan
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that no case that has been opened in response to allegations of deliberate harm to a child is closed until the following steps have been taken: • The child has been spoken to alone. …
Unknown
LAMI-41 — Require senior managers and councillors to regularly visit children's intake teams
Recommendation: Chief executives of local authorities with social services responsibilities must make arrangements for senior managers and councillors to regularly visit intake teams in their children’s services department, and to report their findings to the chief executive and social services committee.
Unknown
LAMI-42 — Implement systems to detect failures in internal social services case transfers
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that where the procedures of a social services department stipulate requirements for the transfer of a case between teams within the department, systems are in place to detect when such a transfer does not …
Unknown
LAMI-43 — Mandate training for Section 47 inquiries and audit staff for compliance
Recommendation: No social worker shall undertake section 47 inquiries unless he or she has been trained to do so. Directors of social services must undertake an audit of staff currently carrying out section 47 inquiries to identify gaps in training and …
Unknown
LAMI-44 — Conduct six-monthly reviews of temporary staff promotions and record outcomes
Recommendation: When staff are temporarily promoted to fill vacancies, directors of social services must subject such arrangements to six-monthly reviews and record the outcome.
Unknown
LAMI-45 — Ensure regular supervision of staff working with children, including case file review
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that the work of staff working directly with children is regularly supervised. This must include the supervisor reading, reviewing and signing the case file at regular intervals.
Unknown
LAMI-46 — Ensure clear understanding of child protection adviser roles across children's services
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that the roles and responsibilities of child protection advisers (and those employed in similar posts) are clearly understood by all those working within children’s services.
Unknown
LAMI-47 — Provide 24/7 specialist services for children and families, separate from general teams
Recommendation: The chief executive of each local authority with social services responsibilities must ensure that specialist services are available to respond to the needs of children and families 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The safeguarding of children should …
Unknown
LAMI-48 — Require social worker agreement and record purpose for all agency referrals
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that when children and families are referred to other agencies for additional services, that referral is only made with the agreement of the allocated social worker and/or their manager. The purpose of the referral …
Unknown
LAMI-49 — Review cases and meet professionals when other agencies raise concerns
Recommendation: When a professional from another agency expresses concern to social services about their handling of a particular case, the file must be read and reviewed, the professional concerned must be met and spoken to, and the outcome of this discussion …
Unknown
LAMI-5 — National Agency to conduct or oversee and publish serious child case reviews
Recommendation: The National Agency for Children and Families should, at their discretion, conduct serious case reviews (Part 8 reviews) or oversee the process if they decide to delegate this task to other agencies following the death or serious deliberate injury to …
Unknown
LAMI-50 — Implement systems to action communications during social services staff absence
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that when staff are absent from work, systems are in place to ensure that post, emails and telephone contacts are checked and actioned as necessary.
Unknown
LAMI-51 — Ensure strategy meetings include action points, records, and review mechanisms
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that all strategy meetings and discussions involve the following three basic steps: • A list of action points must be drawn up, each with an agreed timescale and the identity of the person responsible …
Unknown
LAMI-52 — Allocate cases only when social workers have adequate training, experience, and time
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that no case is allocated to a social worker unless and until his or her manager ensures that he or she has the necessary training, experience and time to deal with it properly.
Unknown
LAMI-53 — Managers must ensure social workers understand allocated cases, actions, and supervision
Recommendation: When allocating a case to a social worker, the manager must ensure that the social worker is clear as to what has been allocated, what action is required and how that action will be reviewed and supervised.
Unknown
LAMI-54 — Allocate social workers to all children's cases or report unallocated cases monthly
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that all cases of children assessed as needing a service have an allocated social worker. In cases where this proves to be impossible, arrangements must be made to maintain contact with the child. The …
Unknown
LAMI-55 — Define 'allocated' cases as those with active social worker engagement
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that only those cases in which a social worker is actively engaged in work with a child and the child’s family are deemed to be ‘allocated’.
Unknown
LAMI-56 — Prevent discharge of hospitalised children with concerns until home is safe
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that no child known to social services who is an inpatient in a hospital and about whom there are child protection concerns is allowed to be taken home until it has been established by …
Unknown
LAMI-57 — Ensure social workers can access international information on vulnerable children
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that social work staff are made aware of how to access effectively information concerning vulnerable children which may be held in other countries.
Unknown
LAMI-58 — Require a properly maintained chronology in every child's case file
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that every child’s case file includes, on the inside of the front cover, a properly maintained chronology.
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LAMI-59 — Provide single-source, up-to-date guidance and monitor adherence for staff
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that staff working with vulnerable children and families are provided with up-to-date procedures, protocols and guidance. Such practice guidance must be located in a single-source document. The work should be monitored so as to …
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LAMI-6 — Establish a Committee for Children and Families to coordinate inter-agency services
Recommendation: Each local authority with social services responsibilities must establish a Committee of Members for Children and Families with lay members drawn from the management committees of each of the key services. This Committee must ensure the services to children and …
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LAMI-60 — Line manage hospital social workers within children and families' services section
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that hospital social workers working with children and families are line managed by the children and families’ section of their social services department.
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LAMI-61 — Ensure hospital social workers participate in all child safeguarding hospital meetings
Recommendation: Directors of social services must ensure that hospital social workers participate in all hospital meetings concerned with the safeguarding of children.
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LAMI-62 — Implement single agreed guidance for hospital social workers with out-of-area children
Recommendation: Where hospital-based social work staff come into contact with children from other local authority areas, the directors of social services of their employing authorities must ensure that they work to a single set of guidance agreed by all the authorities …
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LAMI-7 — Establish local authority Management Board for Children and Families, ensuring staff training.
Recommendation: The local authority chief executive should chair a Management Board for Services to Children and Families which will report to the Member Committee referred to above. The Management Board for Services to Children and Families must include senior officers from …
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LAMI-8 — Appoint director to ensure effective inter-agency arrangements and assess child needs.
Recommendation: The Management Board for Services to Children and Families must appoint a director responsible for ensuring that inter-agency arrangements are appropriate and effective, and for advising the Management Board for Services to Children and Families on the development of services …
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LAMI-9 — Identify agency budgets for vulnerable children to enable flexible resource use.
Recommendation: The budget contributed by each of the local agencies in support of vulnerable children and families should be identified by the Management Board for Services to Children and Families so that staff and resources can be used in the most …
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PFD Reports (31)
Ellame Ford-Dunn Prevention of future deaths report
Concerns: Insufficient Tier 4 Paediatric Mental Health beds lead to long waits, resulting in children with mental health needs being inappropriately held on acute paediatric wards unsuitable for their care.
Response: NHS England has funded the recruitment of additional mental health nurses for paediatric wards and emergency departments at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. They are also engaged in multidisciplinary …
Responded
Jennifer Chalkley
Concerns: A widespread misconception among schools that £6,000 must be spent on a child's SEN before an EHCP assessment application is delaying critical early support, increasing the risk of mental health issues and suicidality.
Responded
Sunnah Khan and Joseph Abbess
Responded
Nathan Scantlebury
Concerns: There is a critical and long-standing national and local shortage of suitable placements for high-risk children with complex mental health needs.
Overdue
Amina Ismail
Concerns: Delays in transferring mental health patients from independent providers resulted from underfunded local beds, an over-reliance on external services, and a national shortage of specialist rehabilitation units.
Responded
Katie Madden
Concerns: Child services lacked systems to treat vulnerable parents (e.g., Claire's Law recipients) as higher risk in child care investigations, failing to assess the mental health impact of child removal processes or provide independent support. Funding for specialist therapy was also problematic.
Responded
David Hall
Concerns: A lack of available and suitable emergency social care placements forced a patient into a detrimental acute hospital stay, leading to rapid deterioration, highlighting systemic social care shortages.
Responded
Benjamin Hazelden
Concerns: There are severe limitations in suitable specialist placements for young autistic adults with self-harm risks. Past unit closures have created a critical shortage of beds, leading to inappropriate care settings or discharge without adequate support.
Overdue
Allison Aules
Concerns: Under-resourced and underfunded CAMHS services, coupled with a lack of consultant leadership, led to significant delays in mental health assessments for children, despite rapidly increasing demand.
Responded
Leah Barber
Concerns: Bradford Council lacked a unified system for overseeing its involvement with vulnerable children, preventing learning from deaths and maintaining departmental disconnect, which risks future fatalities.
Responded
Samuel Howes
Responded
Lance Walker
Concerns: The lack of regulation for residential homes housing vulnerable 18-21 year olds leads to providers with inadequate training and staffing. Additionally, there is no standard referral form, risking missed vital information for supported housing placements.
Overdue
Asher Sinclair
Concerns: A highly vulnerable child was not provided prescribed 2:1 care, their complex package lacked proper review or quality checks, and critical parental concerns were ignored, compounded by inadequate staff training.
Responded
Katrina Makunova
Concerns: Knife possession and gang affiliation were not consistently recognized as risk factors in contextual abuse assessments by police or social services. Additionally, police Child Safety Units face significant workload pressures impacting safeguarding effectiveness.
Overdue
Helena Opuku
Concerns: Social services struggled to properly investigate safeguarding referrals, appoint social workers within a reasonable timeframe, or conduct timely home suitability assessments for vulnerable residents.
Overdue
Lily-Mai George
Concerns: Haringey Children's Services facilitated a child's discharge into unsupervised parental care despite professional concerns, leading to fatal injuries before a planned safe placement could occur.
Overdue
Jacob Bates
Concerns: Vulnerable 16-18 year olds are placed in unregulated care settings lacking statutory oversight, leaving local authorities unable to adequately assess provider competency or safety due to resource constraints.
Responded
Daniel Shorrocks
Concerns: Local Authorities with high numbers of young people in care lack sufficient resources and qualified staff, further compounded by poor integration between care, mental health, and educational support services.
Responded
Sam Grant
Concerns: Lack of early intervention mental health support for young people not meeting CAMHS thresholds, coupled with poor information sharing between health agencies and the removal of medically qualified staff in schools, hindered comprehensive care.
Overdue
Michael Cox
Concerns: There is a critical shortage of suitable long-term placements for individuals with complex mental health histories, causing persistent difficulties for social workers in finding appropriate facilities.
Responded
Aryan Akhgar
Concerns: A critical gap exists in urgent mental health services for 16 and 17-year-olds in Sheffield, with necessary additional resources for CAMHS lacking guaranteed funding.
Responded
Karen Edgar
Concerns: Critically underfunded child and adolescent mental health services in Cumbria result in long treatment delays, risking lives and causing lasting harm.
Overdue
Ellie Butler
Concerns: No specific concerns were detailed in the provided text, only a reference to appended concerns.
Overdue
Brandon Singh Rayat
Concerns: There is a critical lack of long-term mental health care provision for children in Leicestershire who cannot attend hospital due to anxiety, with the crisis team unable to fill this gap.
Responded
Jac Davies
Concerns: Landlords in Wales are under no legal obligation to install smoke alarms in rented properties, contrasting with England's regulations, and current "best practice" recommendations carry no enforcement.
Responded
Amy El-Keria
Concerns: Hounslow Social Services misunderstood their ongoing welfare role for a child placed far from home and failed to assess for support, neglecting family contact issues.
Responded
Peter Embra
Concerns: A local authority failed to act on an urgent GP referral for a patient assessment, leading to a significant one-week delay before a social worker visit.
Overdue
Isaac Nash
Concerns: Strong and unpredictable currents in Aberffraw beach's river estuary pose a danger, as visitors lack local knowledge and there are no warning signs to inform them.
Responded
Alex Kelly
Concerns: A vulnerable child was sentenced without forensic psychiatric assessment, and mental health support conflicted with disciplinary procedures, failing to adopt a holistic approach or consult outside agencies. A social worker allocation was also significantly delayed.
Responded
George Werb
Concerns: The lack of an effective child psychiatric bed bureau system caused significant delays and distant placements, leading to poor environment, limited family involvement, and inadequate communication.
Overdue
Mary Stroman
Concerns: A child's recommended long-term therapeutic placement was delayed and ultimately overturned by Children's Services, despite multi-agency support, due to a perceived failure to meet statutory accommodation thresholds.
Responded