Carers: Kids at risk after cases rocket EXCLUSIVE
Grace Macaskill and Geraldine Mckelvie
CHILD protection officers told how they are struggling to cope with a soaring workload.
We spoke to social workers from five local authorities who gave a shocking snapshot of the threats faced by thousands of children.
Andy Tutte said his caseload in Merseyside had increased around 60% in the past year and that some colleagues in the North West had between 40 and 50 cases each.
He said: “A lot are really complex cases of physical and sexual abuse and high levels of neglect. We naturally have to give these cases more attention but it means cases lower down the threshold can increase in severity without intervention.”
Andy blamed Tory cuts for rising caseloads and said new social workers are being put off the job.
The UK is short of 6,000 children and family workers as they quit in droves.
Demand for foster care went up 57% and 27% more children were harmed in 2020 than in 2019.
An East London worker said: “It’s like fire fighting with cups of water and the flame is still burning.”
A social worker in Surrey said: “Caseloads are increasing, services are being cut and the services we used to be able to signpost lower risk families to no longer exist.”
In the North East, a social worker said more children than ever were being taken into foster care, adding: “Families who might have coped before just can’t go on.”
One in Lincolnshire revealed how families regularly saw different social workers. She said: “I worry that a child will be seriously harmed.”
The pandemic saw a rise in the number of children harmed or killed.
Barnardo’s saw 13,030 referrals between April and December last year, a 57% rise on the same period in 2019.
Safeguarding agencies reported 285 “serious incidents” to Ofsted between April and September last year – 27% on the year before.
Ofsted’s Amanda Spielman later revealed 64 babies were deliberately harmed in England – and eight died.