Top academic disagrees with adviser’s call for the government to scrap LSCBs

A leading social work academic is urging the government not to scrap local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs) after a ministerial adviser suggested they were unnecessary.

Last week, Andrew Povey, leader of Surrey County Council and member of the Department for Education ministerial advisory group, wrote to government claiming that LSCBs do little to improve outcomes for children and young people, as they are excessively regulated.

But Ray Jones, professor of social work at Kingston University, and head of the Centre for Inquiries and Reviews, which advises LSCBs, health trusts and councils, warned that scrapping the boards would be short sighted, particularly in the current economic climate.

“The agencies represented on LSCBs will all be making cuts, which will be incredibly disruptive to frontline staff,” he explained. “There is going to be an even stronger requirement for anything that helps professionals to work together.”

Jones added that he was surprised Surrey Council would want to get rid of LSCBs, given the issues their children’s services department has had in the past.

Povey’s letter to government also suggested that government could reduce bureaucracy by disbanding family courts service Cafcass and handing its functions to local authorities. Jones said: “I don’t see how any local authority would have the capacity to take on all of Cafcass’s work.”