Nursery World - 'Free social workers from bureaucracy'

Social workers should be freed up to respond to child protection issues locally without the restrictions of central Government targets, Professor Eileen Munro has recommended in the final part of her review of the child protection system.

The report says the system has a tick-box culture and aone-size-fits-all approach that does not focus on the needs of thechild.

A new duty on local services should be introduced to co-ordinate anearly offer of help to families who do not meet the criteria of socialservices, to address problems before they escalate to child protectionissues.

Professor Munro said, 'Top-down Government targets and too many formsand procedures are preventing professionals from being able to givechildren the help they need and assess whether that help has made adifference.'

Key recommendations in the review include:

- Local authorities should no longer have to fulfil statutoryrequirements for completing assessments within set timescales.

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