DfE to consult on reduced guidance for child protection professionals

The Government is to consult on reduced guidance on child protection, claiming that the move would free professionals up from “pointless bureaucracy that has stifled their judgment for too long”.

The Department for Education consultation looks at three statutory guidance documents:

  • Working Together to Safeguard Children: draft guidance on what is expected of organisations, individually and jointly, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
  • Managing Cases: the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families: draft guidance on undertaking assessments of children in need. Nationally prescribed timescales for assessments will be replaced by a more flexible approach focused on the needs of each child. The Government said trials of this new approach had been encouraging.
  • Statutory Guidance on Learning and Improvement: proposed new arrangements for Serious Case Reviews (SCRs), reviews of child deaths and other learning processes led by Local Safeguarding Children Boards. These are intended to “get to the heart of what happened in a particular case and why” and set out what improvements need to be made to prevent recurrence. SCRs will be published in full.

The Government claimed “short, precise” guidance and checklists listing roles and responsibilities would replace “hundreds of pages of instruction manuals”. The three documents run to 68 pages, compared to more than 700 pages previously.

The consultation follows the review of the child protection system led by Professor Eileen Munro, which concluded that it was focused too much on compliance and box-ticking.

Children’s Minister Tim Loughton said: “We want to change the child protection system fundamentally – I believe the changes proposed today will free hardworking social workers and other professionals from structures, procedures and rulebooks so they can do their best for vulnerable children and their families.

“This is a new mindset and a new relationship between central Government and local services. I am determined that we build on the excellent work of Professor Munro and I trust the workforce to deliver the reforms without the need for excessive central prescription.”

Loughton said publication of SCRs in full would give the public greater confidence in the child protection system.
 


The minister added: “The Government is determined to improve the quality and impact of Serious Case Reviews and we need to ensure that we have a robust system to protect children. Unfortunately we can never eliminate all risk, but when tragedies do happen we need everyone to be clear about what went wrong and why.

“This new guidance is clear that reviews should be thorough and lead to sustainable improvements in services to prevent future harm.
It is essential that as much information as possible is made public so the public can have confidence in the system that protects our most vulnerable children.

The DfE insisted that there would be greater accountability alongside the promised greater flexibility. It cited Ofsted’s unannounced inspections of local authority child protection arrangements, a new child protection performance information framework and revised statutory guidance for local authority directors and lead members of children’s services.

Professor Munro said: “This draft guidance is proof that reforms are rightly moving the focus of help and protection firmly onto children and young people.
We are finally moving away from the defensive rule-bound culture that has been so problematic.

“I believe an urgent culture change in our child protection system is now underway.
The guidance is clear and concise and leaves no one in any doubt on the expectations of all professionals in helping keep children safe. It moves responsibility for how to do that to local and professional control.”

More information on the consultation can be viewed here

Philip Hoult