Fear of impact on whistleblowing as Baby P social workers lose appeal

The ability of social workers to blow the whistle on bad practice “remains stymied by a culture of fear”, the British Association of Social Workers has warned.

The comments from BASW chief executive Hilton Dawson came after two social workers involved in the Baby P case – Gillie Christou and Maria Ward – lost their appeals against a tribunal ruling that they were fairly sacked by Haringey Council.

According to the BBC, the social workers plan to appeal this latest ruling.

Before the Employment Appeal Tribunal, they had argued that there had been ‘double jeopardy’ because two misconduct panels set up by the local authority had looked at the same allegations. The first panel decided that the pair should be given written warnings, but the second led to their dismissal.

A majority of the Employment Tribunal concluded that the bringing of the second disciplinary proceedings was justified on the grounds that the first set of proceedings was inadequate. 

The EAT ruled that the ET did not err in failing to hold that the council was precluded from conducting the second disciplinary proceedings by the first disciplinary action.

The EAT also found that the appellants had failed to surmount the high hurdle that exists in cases where the decision of the Employment Tribunal is challenged as perverse. It added that the ET had addressed the right questions of law and reached a conclusion open to them on the evidence.

The BASW's Dawson said: “This is a case that should strike fear into the heart of every social worker. Social workers are trained professionals attempting to do their best for children under very stressful circumstances, but when things go wrong their mistakes are magnified and the results more tragic than in most areas of work.

“When social workers make serious mistakes, they should face the appropriate sanctions, but no-one should lose sight of the fact they are working in an extremely pressurised system, expected to predict every harmful situation, while meeting the ever growing demands of a target-led profession.”

The BASW chief executive said that at the time of Peter Connelly’s death, Haringey council’s systems and management were under-resourced, and staff were overburdened and not supported as they should be.

“Sadly, social workers in Haringey knew that the environment they were working in was inappropriate, but they did not raise the alarm in the way the public would have hoped,” he said.

“The ability of social workers to blow the whistle on bad practice remains stymied by a culture of fear, and where openness and transparency is frowned upon as a risk to the image of a local authority.”

Dawson added that in a recent BASW survey of more than 1,000 social workers, half reported that they were afraid of speaking out for fear of repercussions.

He also warned that morale among social workers was “plummeting” as a result of caseloads, the amount of paperwork involved and cuts to services.