Social work review suggests greater flexibility around child protection

Excessive bureaucracy and box-ticking exercises have hampered professionals in this area, Professor Eileen Munro suggested in a report commissioned after the death of Baby P.

Presenting her proposals yesterday, she argued local areas should have more freedom to design their own child protection services, moving away from the “one-size-fits-all approach”.

Asked if this shift from a top-down, target-driven culture could help prevent a repeat of tragedies such as Peter Connelly’s death in August 2007, Prof Munro said: “Yes, the tick-box system stifles thinking. These changes would reduce the number of such child deaths, it won’t eradicate them.”

When mistakes are made, a new approach is needed to learn from them, she added.

Serious case reviews, carried out when a child dies or is seriously harmed, should focus more on why they were not protected and less on what happened.

Prof Munro, of the London School of Economics, said: “A one-size-fits-all approach is not the right way for child protection services to operate. Top-down government targets and too many forms and procedures are preventing professionals from being able to give children the help they need and assess whether that help has made a difference.

“That is why I am recommending that unhelpful targets for completing assessments within a set timescale are removed. Professionals should instead concentrate on making good-quality assessments that really focus on delivering the right help for the child and checking whether that help has improved the child’s life.”

The Munro Review of Child Protection proposes the Government removes the requirement for local authorities to complete assessments within set timescales, and for Ofsted inspections of children’s services to give more weight to feedback from children and families and pay more attention to whether children have benefited. It also calls for social, health and education services, as well as the police, work together to co-ordinate early help for families to prevent less severe problems escalating to neglect or abuse and for experienced social workers who are promoted to continue to work with families.

Children’s Minister Tim Loughton said: “This report, if it works, is about better use of resources, saving money and better experiences for the child. It’s a win-win situation if we can get it to work in practice... The costliest thing is getting it wrong and in too many parts of the country we’re still getting it wrong.”