Kids left ‘at risk’ after police referral delays

CHILDREN exposed to domestic abuse were left at risk of harm after delays by Greater Manchester Police in referring them to social services.

A damning report into Wigan council’s children’s services has revealed ‘poor’ partnership working between the town hall and the police force.

Ofsted inspectors found that child protection enquiries were delayed and ‘seriously compromised’ after meetings between the authority and GMP were put off for weeks.

This left children in ‘situations of unassessed risk’, with youngsters and their families unable to access support at the earliest opportunity.

Council staff were also burdened with huge workloads after council bosses failed to plan ahead to meet demand, with some cases hampered by poor social work practice.

One social worker said her caseload was ‘horrendous’ and made her feel like she was not doing her job properly.

Wigan council said problems arose during a period of ‘ unprecedented demand’ on children’s social care, and that improvements have since been made. Senior child protection officers from across Greater Manchester have already written to Chief Constable Ian Hopkins raising concerns that the new computer iOPS system was ‘creating daily risks for children’.

But a GMP spokesperson said ‘as far as they are aware’ iOPS had nothing to do with the issues identified by Ofsted.

The watchdog’s findings were sent to Wigan council following a focused visit to the authority last month. Inspectors raised concerns over the time it took GMP to refer concerns to children’s social care when youngsters had been exposed to domestic abuse.

“The police acknowledge that there is a backlog in the triage and referral of those cases assessed at medium risk, and they are reviewing their response,” said the report. “However, these delays have resulted in children being left in situations of unassessed risk and delays in children and their families accessing services at the earliest opportunity.”

There were also concerns about the effectiveness of strategy meetings between GMP and child protection services.

Council staff continued to visit children between decision-making and strategy meetings being held, but the lack of timely discussions between the

Write to: Viewpoints, M.E.N, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Ave, Oldham, OL9 8EF Or email: viewpoints @men-news.co.uk two parties meant there was an increased risk to children.

The report said: “The purpose and function of strategy meetings are seriously compromised by poor partnership working between the local authority and GMP.

“Despite a number of challenges at the highest level from the local authority to GMP, the partners have not been able to ensure that properly constituted strategy meetings that the police attend take place as and when they should.

“In a significant number of cases, strategy meetings have not taken place for several weeks after they have been recommended.

“In some instances, this delayed the start of child protection enquiries.

“In a small number of relevant cases, strategy meetings and child protection enquiries have not been considered at all.”

O ver the last six months, changes to thresholds – the point at which social services are likely to accept a referral for a child – caused ‘significantly increased’ workloads.

The number of cases deemed to meet these new thresholds rose from 30 per cent to 70pc over a three-month period.

The report said: “An improvement plan has been put in place, but these changes have meant significantly increased work demands, which the local authority has struggled to respond to.”

With demand soaring, the council is now reliant on two out of four of its assessment duty team being wholly made up agency staff – including managers.

But Ofsted were complimentary towards the council’s ‘front door service’, a single point of contact allowing services to respond quickly - mostly within 24 hours - to social care needs.

James Winterbottom, director for children’s services at Wigan council, said: “The points raised by the inspectors were issues we had already identified in the service due to unprecedented demand into children’s social care, as many local authorities are experiencing across the country.

“We were already working hard with our partners to address these issues and continue to do so as a priority.

“Plans to address the areas for improvement are already in place, including a wider recruitment strategy, work to further reduce individual caseloads and partnership working, to ensure we always provide a quality service with children and young people at its heart.”

GMP Assistance Chief Constable Rob Potts said the force continued to improve working practices with partners ‘to keep the most vulnerable safe’.

He added: “Prior to the report being published, we had already started to put renewed plans in place and following the assessment, have been working hard together with our partners to overcome these issues.”