Recommendations for social services from Laming report

Recommendations for social services from Lord Laming’s
report:

* social services directors to ensure children who are the
subject of allegations of deliberate harm are seen and spoken to
within 24 hours of allegations being communicated to social
services

* social services directors to ensure that no case opened in
response to allegations of deliberate harm is closed until the
child has been spoken to alone, their carers seen and spoken to,
the accommodation visited, the views of professionals sought, and a
plan to safeguard the child’s welfare agreed

* social services directors to ensure that the transfer of
responsibility of a case between council social services is always
recorded on the case file of each authority and is confirmed in
writing by the authority to which responsibility has been
transferred

* if social services place a child in accommodation in another
local authority area they must notify that local authority’s
social services department and have it agreed in writing by a team
manager or more senior member of staff.

* social services directors to ensure the work of staff working
directly with children is regularly supervised

* social services directors to ensure that when staff are absent
from work, systems are in place to ensure that post, emails and
phone contacts are checked and actioned

* social services directors to ensure all cases of children
assessed as needing a service have an allocated social worker

* local authorities should set up and advertise a 24-hour free
telephone referral number for use by members of the public to
report concerns about a child

* managers of duty teams to devise a system to establish how
many children have been referred, what action is required, who is
responsible and when it must be completed

* social services directors to ensure staff in their children
and families intake teams are experienced in working with children
and families and have received appropriate training