Laming inquiry told social work employers must follow code of practice

Mike Wardle warned the inquiry that employers are free to ignore the current voluntary code of practice, which obliges managers to provide training and to support social workers in following  their own, obligatory, code of practice.

He said social care providers should be inspected against the employers code of practice, to encourage employers to comply. Ofsted's report into safeguarding failures in Haringey, which sparked the inquiry, found that managers were not providing effective oversight of social workers.

Children's services union Aspect told the inquiry that a root and branch review of the legal processes used in care proceedings is also needed.

General secretary John Chowcat claimed councils put off initiating care proceedings because of "punitive costs". He said budget pressures mean that local authority thresholds for taking children into care are too high, so children can be left living in unsafe circumstances.