Exclusive: Slammed social workers tell of chaos amid child tragedies

Children's services at Doncaster Council have been the subject of heavy criticism, and those involved in the department would not usually be able to talk publicly about their work.

But the Yorkshire Post has been given access to members of the child assessment team, who revealed that 28 managers passed through their department in its worst 18 months.

Doncaster Council's reputation was in tatters after the deaths of seven vulnerable children who were known to the department and two young boys were brutally assaulted by two brothers in the notorious Edlington attacks.

Staff employed in the months leading up to those events described their working conditions as "horrendous", adding that they had suffered from a dysfunctional management regime.

But they also said the department had seen "massive improvements" since a new management team was drafted in, with new processes and smaller caseloads making it easier to spot youngsters at risk.

Kerry Mullen, who has worked in Doncaster's children's services for seven years, said she had kept a count of managers and staff as they moved on a "conveyor belt" through the office.

She said 100 staff had also passed through the department in 18 months and added: "When things were at their worst I had 48 children allocated to me and because of the numbers involved you would spend your day in front of a computer.

"You were never relaxed, you just felt tense all the time and even went you went home you couldn't sleep because most of the cases allocated to you just didn't get looked at."

Mrs Mullen's concerns were echoed by Julie Taylor, who has worked in the department for 17 years. She revealed she had times of "feeling sick" at the thought of going back into the office to face further disasters.

She was also "relieved that the lid had been blown off as to what was happening" having been branded a troublemaker for trying to blow the whistle.

"Back then it was horrendous, we had no support from management and you didn't feel safe in anything you were doing. But nobody was listening to what we said," she said.

"I would feel physically sick about going to work and seriously considered resigning. It was like that every day, and when the phone rang you would get anxiety. Since July, we have had a new management team and it feels like they are going to stay, and we fell like we are getting 100 per cent support from them, so now there is an air of optimism."

Doncaster Council has also launched a recruitment campaign to try to encourage experienced social workers to join those now happy to work there.

The drive is being headed by new assistant director Vicky Lawson, who was brought in as part of the Government intervention team but has since agreed to take a permanent job.

Mrs Lawson, a qualified social worker, is candid about past problems, including management by people with no child protection experience.

She said it was now functioning much better, despite the fact referrals had increased as a result of the huge publicity surrounding child safety cases.

She added: "Before, the police and the NHS were unwilling to work with us because of our bad reputation, but we have now rebuilt those relationships and other public bodies are even working with us on our recruitment campaign. We are not in the perfect position yet and it will take us two to three years to be among the best, but we are now working as we should be and we want other people to join us on that journey."