Surrey drops 500 children’s social services cases

Surrey County Council has closed 500 children’s social services cases so that it can focus on the most vulnerable children and young people.

The closures represent around a tenth of its children’s social services caseload.

The move has been taken as the council attempts to turn around its children’s services and safeguarding children procedures, which were both labelled inadequate by Ofsted last December.

Surrey County Council’s strategic director for children and families Andy Roberts said a major factor in the decision has been the growth in the number of cases referred to social services following the Baby P case.

He said: “Some of the cases did not require social workers’ time and skills and could have been dealt with by other agencies without being referred to us. This represents about one in 10 of the total number of cases social services are dealing with and lets us carry on ensuring the highest quality service is provided to those who really need it.”

Roberts added that only cases where the safety of children had been confirmed have been closed.

A spokesman added that many of the cases involved education concerns and have been referred to schools and education officers.