Prof Munro wants social workers to spend more time with children Front-line social workers should regain the freedom to decide what is best for children, an official review of England’s child protection system says.
The review, by London School of Economics professor of social policy Eileen Munro, calls for targets to be removed and red tape to be ditched.
Developing social workers’ expertise will enable more children to stay with their families, she adds.
The government is investing £80m implementing the reforms this year.
Education Secretary Michael Gove asked Prof Munro to review the child protection system in England, focussing on whether bureaucracy and targets have been getting in the way of good practice.
In her report, Prof Munro says: “Helping children is a human process. When the bureaucratic aspects of work become too dominant, the heart of the work is lost.”
She argues that the system has become preoccupied by individuals “doing things right” rather than “doing the right thing”.
And she concludes this attitude has meant that learning from professional experience has been limited.
She recommends a chief social worker – similar to a chief medical officer – should be appointed to report directly to government and liaise with the profession.
Prof Munro’s report sets out how the system can move from one that has become too bureaucratic and focussed on compliance to one that values and develops professional expertise.
She says centrally-prescribed time scales for formal procedures, such as social work assessments, should be scrapped.
Her report also calls on the government to revise social worker statutory guidance – said to be 55 times longer than that issued nearly 40 years ago.
The amount of regulation has led to child protection staff feeling obliged to do everything by the book rather than use their professional judgement, says the report.
Prof Munro also wants the government to ensure local areas have the freedom to innovate, with local authorities taking more responsibility for helping their staff to operate with a high level of skill and knowledge.
And she calls for the social workers’ expertise to be developed – pointing out that skilled help can enable more children and young people to stay safely with their families and bring “significant savings”.
But the report warns that more money will be needed at first to develop the additional training necessary to set the profession off on a “new path”.
And it cautions that “cherry-picking” reforms will not lead to the desired improvements overall.
One of the major challenges, the report adds, is how to enable a wide range of professionals work together well for the good of vulnerable children.
Clear lines of accountability and named contacts are “vitally important” for this, she adds.
The report also places an emphasis on early intervention, calling on the government to place a duty on local councils to ensure there are enough early-help services for children, young people and families.
In particular it singles out the effectiveness of Sure Start Children’s Centres in providing early help and intervention.
Children’s Minister Tim Loughton said the review presented some wide-ranging and radically different proposals for reform.
“It is now up to the government and the children’s sector to work together to look at the recommendations in detail and assess the implications of their implementation in practice for the long term, not as a short term fix.
“To do this the government will be working closely with a group of professionals from across the children’s sector and we will respond to Professor Munro’s recommendations later this year.”
Chief executive of children’s charity 4Children said: “This review backs many of the calls families are making for a move away from bureaucratic assessment to personalised and hands-on support for those who are struggling to cope.
“Research for 4Children’s new campaign, Give me Strength, shows that 95% of the public believe that families in crisis can turn their lives around.”
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