Haringey’s supervision of Arthurworrey condemned in court

The author of a report on the failings of social worker Lisa
Arthurworrey, who was sacked after the Victoria Climbie tragedy,
has condemned her supervision by Haringey Council,
writes Paul Stephenson.

Bernard Monaghan, who was employed by the council to write reports
on staffing issues related to the Climbie case, told this
week’s employment tribunal examining Arthurworrey’s
case for wrongful dismissal by the council, that her supervision
had been “lamentable”.

Arthurworrey believes she had “lamentable supervision and
training”, according to her counsel Rhory Robertson. She was
sacked for gross misconduct in November 2002.

However, Monaghan said he believed her training had been adequate
and that she had not taken the actions he would have expected of a
qualified social worker in questioning things that didn’t
make sense.

He said: “The duty of social workers has to be that they
satisfy themselves. That is an incredibly important matter. You
have an authority role. It is the inquisitiveness of saying
‘what was that, how did that come to be?’”

The hearing is expected to last six days.