0370 270 6000

Search

Search Mobile

collapse

already registered?

Please sign in with your existing account details.

Email address

Password

Sign in with LinkedIn

need to register?

Register to access exclusive content, sign up to receive our updates and personalise your experience on brownejacobson.com.

Privacy statement - Terms and conditions

Register with LinkedIn

Forgotten your password?

collapseSign

Home

Insights

Resources

Blogs

Munro – one size does not fit all for child protection – what’s the benchmark going to be?

Munro – one size does not fit all for child protection – what’s the benchmark going to be?

18 May 2011

Professor Munro has published her final report, reviewing child protection. She recommends, amongst other things, that local areas should have freedom to design their own services and that those working in child protection be given more scope to exercise professional judgment.

She has cautioned against cherry picking parts of her report. We deal with an increasing number of professional negligence claims against children’s services departments. One of the criticisms we often see is an assertion that social workers failed to meet timescales fixed in statutory guidance and policy. One of Professor Munro’s recommendations is that local services should be liberated from nationally prescribed ways of working, and should be free to re-design services.

If these reforms are implemented, it will be interesting to see how practice is benchmarked in future claims against social workers.

Related opinions

Flexible working, childcare and indirect sex discrimination – important reminder

The courts have long recognised that, on a societal level, women bear a greater burden of childcare responsibilities than men which can make it more difficult for women to comply with employer requirements for flexible working (known as the ‘childcare disparity’).

Sports associations and clubs – keeping children safe from sexual abuse – Lessons learned from the Sheldon report

On 17 March 2020 a report by Clive Sheldon QC was published. He had been appointed by the FA back in December 2016 to carry out an independent review into allegations of sexual abuse by coaches and scouts working in youth football between 1970 and 2005.

The Debt Respite Scheme and its implications for creditors

The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 is due to come into force on 4 May 2021. It’s a snappy title but what exactly is it?

COVID-19 child protection practice - four months in - lessons learned so far

In June 2020 the University of Birmingham published a research briefing exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child protection practice.

View all blogs

Sarah Erwin-Jones

Partner

Mailing list sign up

Select which mailings you would like to receive from us.

Sign up

Quick links

Social care