News

A couple who undertook sponsored childminding and fostering for a local authority are to receive £7,000 in compensation after the council bungled an investigation into a child abuse allegation against them.

Sutton Council in South London has agreed to pay the compensation after the local government ombudsman found the couple had been unfairly treated and unnecessarily deprived of seven months' earnings.

A child protection investigation was launched after a parent of a child being cared for by the local authority-sponsored childminders reported sexual behaviour by one of her children.

The investigation lasted more than seven months instead of the maximum 15 days specified in Children Act 1989 guidance. It was 15 weeks before the couple were told of the nature of the allegations against them, of their right to appeal, and that their registration had been cancelled.

But an external investigation, four months after the allegation had been made, concluded that the in-house investigation had been flawed as the social worker who conducted it had failed to examine any files or discussed the matter with the complainant's social worker.

The consultant concluded that the couple should not be prevented from caring for children and should be supported by the council to resume. However, the council decided not to send the childminders this report. The couple has now given up fostering because of the stress of the investigation.