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Interview: Andy Roberts, director of children's services, Surrey County Council

3 mins read Social Care Interview
The Channel 4 Dispatches programme, Undercover Social Worker, filmed an inexperienced family support worker being given responsibility for child protection cases in Surrey that should have been allocated to a fully qualified social worker.

Andy Roberts, director of the children's services department exposed in the programme, claims his council has improved vastly since the undercover filming, but is warning that Ofsted does too little to help troubled child protection teams to improve.

"Someone coming in and telling me that something doesn't work isn't always what I need because I know that," he explains. "The question is how do I move it on in a way that is safe, sustainable and we can afford? What we sometimes need is support in that process."

Roberts admits the failings exposed in the programme came as no surprise, but claims Surrey County Council has improved vastly since the undercover filming took place last autumn. "That office doesn't exist in that form now," he says. "Caseloads are high, people are working hard, but I think the system is safer. Certainly the practices and some of the poor management and supervision that was shown in that programme have been addressed. I don't claim we're perfect, but if that journalist turned up now he would notice a significant improvement."

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