Children's services leaders reject mandatory reporting

In response to a consultation launched in July this year, asking whether the law should be changed to require practitioners or organisations to report child abuse or neglect, the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) and the Local Government Association (LGA) said the proposals will not address bad practice in reporting child abuse and neglect.

The response states that mandatory reporting will shift the focus from providing support to families, to investigating them, undermining professional judgement.

The consultation follows growing pressure on the government to act following the high-profile child sexual abuse and exploitation cases in the past few years.

But the ADCS and LGA say mandatory reporting could actually undermine professionals' ability to spot abuse.

"Should mandatory reporting be enacted, it has the potential to overwhelm both our systems and staff," the response states.

"This measure overlooks the needs of children and the role skilled professionals play in building a trusting relationship to enable a disclosure of abuse to take place."

They say the measures could also exacerbate recruitment problems local authorities are currently experiencing.

"We are worried that recruitment could become yet more difficult if individual professionals are threatened with the introduction of additional legal consequences, including criminalisation, over and above the professional and employment sanctions that already exist," the response adds.

"The social work workforce is particularly fragile at this time, as evidenced by rising vacancy rates and an increasing reliance on agency staff."

ADCS and LGA have recommended that instead of introducing mandatory reporting, the government instead should introduce work programmes and awareness campaigns aimed at workers across local government and schools, as well as the wider community and children, to raise awareness of how to act when safeguarding concerns arise. 

Launching the consultation in July, the government warned that requiring practitioners or organisations to report child abuse or neglect could result in children being less safe than they are now.

The consultation document states that, if mandatory reporting is introduced, there could be an increase in unsubstantiated referrals, making it "harder to distinguish real cases of abuse and neglect".

Campaigners for mandatory reporting argue that the law must be changed because at the moment there is nothing to ensure people in regulated settings report concerns of child abuse, meaning people can be dissuaded from acting if they think they may be wrong.