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The team of social workers with lead responsibility for Victoria Climbie at the time of her death has only two of its original members remaining, Community Care can reveal, writes Gideon Burrows.

Of the 18 original staff on the north Tottenham duty investigation and assessment (I&A) team, 16 have either left, been suspended, or taken long-term sick leave since Climbie's death in February 2001.

According to public sector union Unison, staff have left due to a lack of support from management and the poor reputation of Haringey social services following the case.

One Haringey social worker, who asked not to be named, said: "The worse thing I can have on a job application is the fact that I work for Haringey Council."

Haringey social workers are unhappy that social services director Anne Bristow told a public meeting that social workers were not overworked at the time of Climbie’s death.

Staff claim they were not consulted about their workloads and, the day after the comment, Unison representatives had to visit the north Tottenham office to persuade them not to walk out.

Empty posts at the Tottenham office are currently being filled by a series of short-term agency workers. The team's only manager is also agency-employed.

In June last year, four months after Climbie’s death, inspectors criticised Haringey children’s services for high vacancy levels and low staff moral. A Social Services Inspectorate investigation concluded: "Unless the service is appropriately resourced, a difficult situation can only get worse."

A spokesperson for Haringey Council accepted there was a high turnover of staff in the team, but said it was not all due to poor moral and lack of support.

"It is a situation we are trying to remedy," he said. "Wherever possible we want to recruit permanent staff. It is inevitable after any incident such as the Climbie one there would be a very difficult period."

He said Haringey had recruited 62 new social services staff across the borough from January to July this year.

He also indicated that Haringey Council officials have overruled an apparent ban on social workers writing an independent submission to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry during working hours.

A group of former and current Haringey social workers are submitting written evidence to part two of the public inquiry, which will look at the broader issues surrounding the Climbie case.

The group’s convenor, Pauline Bradley of Haringey Unison, wrote to Bristow last month to complain about her refusal to allow staff time off to write their independent report, and her comment that their report would "not be helpful to the council".

However, Haringey's spokesperson told Community Care that staff contributing to the report would be offered "reasonable time to prepare, provided it doesn’t jeopardise their work". He added that a considerable amount of management time was being spent preparing documents for the inquiry.