'Conflicting' government policies risk slowing child protection reform, says Munro

Publishing a report into how the changes she proposed one year ago are progressing, she called on government to do more to encourage joint working between different services that work with children and families.

“The number and scale of changes in the different services that work together to safeguard children create a risk of losing some of the embedded culture and wisdom that has developed over the years,” she said.

“The reform of the health service in particular is so fundamental that many have stressed the urgency of making it clear what the accountabilities are in the new structure and how they will be monitored.”

She added that there is “potential danger of fragmentation” because a number of government policy changes that affect families are “pulling in conflicting directions”.

“The troubled families programme is led by the Department for Communities and Local Government yet clearly deals with families where there are concerns about the quality of parenting so it needs to be integrated with other services,” she explained.

“The adoption inspection criteria and the reforms in the court system both introduce timescales and targets which are at variance with my review’s aim of reducing them because of the perverse effects they have produced.

“For those responsible for managing children’s services, this creates a confusing narrative. Yet the political will to consider and address these problems creates opportunities to settle this confusion.”

Munro meanwhile urged government to speed up her reforms by reducing statutory guidance and freeing social workers to use their judgment on a case-by-case basis.

Once a consultation into a slimmed-down version of the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance has been carried out, “services should be better placed to work together to offer improved early help”, she said.

Professor Corinne May-Chahal, interim co-chair of The College of Social Work, said  her members are also concerned that change is not happening fast enough in many areas.

“Social workers are still struggling with IT systems that do not reflect Munro principles and more needs to be done to ensure that systemic learning and managing uncertainty have political and organisational support at the local level,” she said.

Despite this, Munro insisted an “urgent culture change” in the child protection system is now underway. “We are finally moving away from the defensive rule-bound culture that has been so problematic,” she said.

"Reforms are rightly moving the focus of help and protection firmly onto children and young people and away from excessive bureaucratic demands.”

She added that many councils are already developing innovative ways of working to fit local needs, and urged others to follow their example.

"I believe there are many front line managers and social workers who now have the confidence to exercise their judgment and provide effective help, based on the individual needs of a child,” she said.

“However, I am concerned there are also some who are uncertain how to do this and I hope the examples of good practice that I have included in this report will lead further change.”

Children's minister Tim Loughton pledged to speed up efforts to implement Munro's recommendations.

“We agree the pace of reform now needs to be accelerated and are committed to creating a system that is sustainable in the long term,” he said.

“This report shows progress is being made towards freeing hardworking social workers and other professionals from excessively restrictive structures, procedures and rulebooks so they can do their best for vulnerable children and their families.

“This is about putting the power of decision making back into the hands of local authorities and they all need to step up to the challenge and be strong and confident leaders who are ready to innovate.”