Fear of criticism putting reviewers off SCR work

Interviews with senior child protection practitioners taking part in Department for Education-funded training on leading SCRs, found that fear of producing a “bad” report and being publicly criticised as a result was a factor that some said would put them off taking on the work in the future.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia, which carried out the evaluation of the training, concluded that “anxieties about adverse publicity” and the potential for that to “damage future careers” is a big concern for new and experienced reviewers and could have far-reaching consequences.

The report states: “The implication here is that there may be a reducing pool of individuals willing to take on the work and a consequent detrimental impact on the quality of SCRs produced.”

Last year, children’s minister Edward Timpson publicly criticised the quality of SCR reports produced by Coventry and Bradford local safeguarding children’s boards into the deaths of Daniel Pelka and Hamzah Khan respectively.

In particular, Timpson was unhappy that the reports failed to explain why decisions were made by agencies and professionals involved in the care of the children.

The criticisms - widely reported in the media - sparked debate about whether there needs to be improved guidance from the DfE on what review systems SCRs should use.

The report states: “Part of the confusion was the perception of a dissonance between the systems-learning approach and public statements from ministers which were perceived to be more about blame than learning.”

The need for clarity from the DfE was mentioned by course participants that took part in the research, with many calling for more case examples that illustrated good practice to be used in the training of reviewers.

It adds: “Interviewees…were uncomfortable with the absence of clear guidance in the context of such a high profile and important task. There were pleas for more practical examples, less theory.”

Much of the two-day training course, which was undertaken by 77 people with social work, legal, health and police backgrounds in 2013 and early 2014, was praised by participants, however the report concluded it was unclear whether it had achieved its aim of training SCR leaders for the immediate future.