Northumberland Council to strengthen child protection team

Social services chiefs in Northumberland are to strengthen their child protection workforce as part of nationwide efforts to avoid a repeat of the Baby Peter scandal in Haringey.

County Hall bosses are planning to recruit three additional front-line social workers, a new child care lawyer and an extra clerical assistant to deal with the extra workload triggered by the toddler’s death and its aftermath.

The moves will cost the new unitary council an additional £191,000 a year – at a time when it is facing further major budget cuts – but are seen as essential to making sure local children are properly safeguarded against abuse.

The appointments, which are expected to the ratified by the county council’s executive next week, are in response to Lord Laming’s review of child protection procedures and the £58m Government action plan arising from it.

Lord Laming was commissioned to carry out the review following the death of 17-month-old Baby Peter in Haringey, London in November 2007. The toddler had 50 injuries, including a broken back and ribs, the result of repeated abuse by his mother’s boyfriend.

In the final eight months of his life he had 60 visits from health and social workers. Lord Laming’s report concluded too many child protection agencies failed to adopt reforms introduced after the Victoria Climbie tragedy, whose guardians abused and murdered her at the age of nine, also in Haringey, in 2000.

He reserved much of his criticism for the workings of social services departments, which he said suffered from low staff morale, poor supervision, high caseloads, under-resourcing and inadequate training.