Munro Review: Joint working at heart of Munro social work review

The review of children’s social work launched today by Professor Eileen Munro will consider how social work teams can collaborate with universal children’s services to bolster early intervention work.

Announcing the remit of her review, the London School of Economics professor said she would like to see how Sure Start children’s centres and health visitors can ensure the most vulnerable families are identified so that they receive the social care services they need.

A central plank of the review will look at how social work practice can improve by removing barriers to good-quality work — Munro said how children’s social workers interact with other agencies will be key to this.

How to reduce the burden of bureaucracy and regulation so that social workers can spend more time with families will also form part of the review as will improving IT systems to better support social workers’ work.

Launching the review, Munro said: “Social workers have one of the most difficult jobs in the world and we really need to look at how we can ensure children are at the heart of what they do.

“Less time [should be] spent at computers and filling in forms and more time working with vulnerable children, young people and their families, many of whom desperately need the support of a good social worker.”

Munro assured professionals that her study will build upon the work of the Social Work Taskforce.

Junior children’s minister Tim Loughton asked Munro to work closely with those leading related reviews such as the Family Justice Review and also to look to other countries with the  “strongest systems of child protection”.

He said: “Everything about child protection should start with the child at the centre and questions should then be asked, ‘what helps or hinders professionals from making the best judgments and intervention they can to protect a vulnerable child?’. A culture has taken hold in child protection, which places too much emphasis on bureaucratic box-ticking above close personal attention to the circumstances of individual children.”

Munro’s first report will be published at the end of September, followed by an interim report in January 2011. The final report will be submitted to government in April 2011.