Children's home budget cuts 'sow seeds of new abuse scandals

Staff training budget – slashed to just 69p a head – could put already vulnerable children at risk, say care leaders

The Guardian

 

A fresh wave of scandals threatens children's homes, care leaders are warning, after the government cut annual training funds for staff to just 69p a head.

 

Only £25,000 has been set aside for work in children's homes in England out of an overall training budget of £113m for the children and young people's workforce for the next 12 months.

 

The bulk of the budget has been set aside for training social workers who operate in the community, considered the priority since the Baby P affair. But some 12,000 children, including between 10% and 15% of those in care, are looked after in residential homes.

 

The Social Care Association (SCA), which promotes good practice in the sector, has written to the education secretary, Michael Gove, who is responsible for child welfare, warning that he risks a return to the scandals of abuse in children's homes.

 

"It is a sector still recovering from a series of scandals going back to the 1970s and our concern is that this is letting that recovery slip and sowing the seeds of future scandals," said Nick Johnson, the SCA chief executive.

 

Gove has authorised £113.4m of spending by the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) in 2011-12, of which just £25,000 has been earmarked for "completion of a test and trial of professional practice standards for residential care".

 

A £6m training pot previously available for residential care has been exhausted. In addition, one of the first actions of the coalition government was to cancel a £300,000 contract for improving standards in children's homes that Labour had awarded to the Tribal consultancy.

 

Although there are no exact figures for numbers of children or staff in residential homes, the SCA's estimate of 36,000 workers equates to an individual share of the £25,000 amounting to 69p.

 

Johnson said there seemed to be an assumption that the sector, now dominated by private care providers, should fund its own training. But the state sent some of society's most vulnerable children to private homes and could not absolve itself of responsibility for their treatment, he said.

 

"Scotland is funding a nine-year investment programme to support the workforce in its children's homes," said Johnson. "My message to Michael Gove is that if you don't act on this, it will come back and bite you."

 

Successive governments were forced to intervene in children's homes in the 1980s and 1990s in response to revelations of endemic physical and sexual abuse in Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Islington in north London, and elsewhere.

 

Minimum standards for children's home workers specify that they must undergo formal induction and hold, or work towards, a workforce diploma qualification. But many are paid only the minimum wage and turnover is high.

 

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: "We know how important it is to have highly qualified staff in children's homes who can support and care for often vulnerable children.

 

"The department is also working with key representatives from the sector to improve the quality of children's homes. This includes working with the CWDC to train and develop the workforce."

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This is just beyond f**ked up.... This, along with the proposed "relaxing" on CRB checks is surely going to equate to a Paedophile's Charter..... If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.... In this case, you might get some very, very perverse, nasty monkeys......

We're all in this together though Scott and EVERYTHING, yes, everything has to be cut, without exception. More and more such stories will be emerging in the weeks to come.

Edited April 11, 201114 yr by Common Sense

We're all in this together though Scott and EVERYTHING, yes, everything has to be cut, without exception. More and more such stories will be emerging in the weeks to come.

Even disability allowance? ^_^ Why precisely does EVERYTHING have to be cut without exception?

 

The point he was making was that it is ridiculous that these cuts are going on when one of the government's main priorities is to cut the top rate of tax, when the government throws away £2bn on a cut in fuel duty that's rubbed out in less than a couple of weeks...would you like me to go on?

The relaxation of the rules on CRB checks is a good thing. It is ridiculous that someone who is due to address a group of schoolchildren in the presence of teachers has to undergo a CRB check.

Even disability allowance? ^_^ Why precisely does EVERYTHING have to be cut without exception?

 

The point he was making was that it is ridiculous that these cuts are going on when one of the government's main priorities is to cut the top rate of tax, when the government throws away £2bn on a cut in fuel duty that's rubbed out in less than a couple of weeks...would you like me to go on?

 

I wouldn't waste your breath Tyron.

 

Kath

We're all in this together though Scott and EVERYTHING, yes, everything has to be cut, without exception. More and more such stories will be emerging in the weeks to come.

 

You really are a contradictory git you know that Chris...? Last week you were bitching and moaning about the Tories cutting your disability... <_<

 

This "necessity" for cuts is a f**king Tory and lick-spittle Lib Dem LIE, ... Wake up Chris, Jesus, haven't you been listening...????

The relaxation of the rules on CRB checks is a good thing.

 

Sorry, have to disagree.. I had to undergo a CRB check for working with disabled ADULTS, so anyone who works with kids or volunteers with kids should definitely have to undergo one... They want to relax the rules for more than just "one-offs"... And you miss the point of the article totally....

 

Sorry, have to disagree.. I had to undergo a CRB check for working with disabled ADULTS, so anyone who works with kids or volunteers with kids should definitely have to undergo one... They want to relax the rules for more than just "one-offs"... And you miss the point of the article totally....

I was commenting on your remarks, not the article. And you have missed the point of what I said. I have no problem with a CRB check for people who will be left unsupervised with individual children or vulnerable adults or with small groups. However, the chances of an adult doing something inappropriate with a single child in front of an audience of dozens of other children and several other adults are close to zero so a CRB check in those cases is grossly OTT.

Even disability allowance? ^_^ Why precisely does EVERYTHING have to be cut without exception?

 

The point he was making was that it is ridiculous that these cuts are going on when one of the government's main priorities is to cut the top rate of tax, when the government throws away £2bn on a cut in fuel duty that's rubbed out in less than a couple of weeks...would you like me to go on?

Day's Tyron, day's.

 

Petrol has risen in price since i went to Portugal despite the "drop" in duty

The relaxation of the rules on CRB checks is a good thing.

 

 

Agreed. Now even parents wanting to go on a school day-trip need a CRB check. :rolleyes: When my daughter was in primary school I went every June on their class trip, some years the only parent, and had no check. Wasn't heard of or the Head-teacher didn't bother, not sure which! All us adults had a group of children each so at London zoo I had six 9 year-old girls in my charge all day, including my daughter, (the teacher didn't mix the sexes as she thought I'd have an easier day with the girls!) We never met up with anyone else from the school all day, except for 30 minutes at lunch-time. Did anything happen to any of them? NO. We had a great day. I had a First Aid kit and mobile phone and the teacher's number.

 

Now at her all-girls secondary school, yes, parents can go on trips too, after a CRB check. Just daft. :rolleyes:

 

Yes I understand when working full-time with children/teenagers etc but these are parents going on day-trips FFS. :rolleyes:

Edited April 11, 201114 yr by Common Sense

All us adults had a group of children each so at London zoo I had six 9 year-old girls in my charge all day, including my daughter, (the teacher didn't mix the sexes as she thought I'd have an easier day with the girls!) We never met up with anyone else from the school all day, except for 30 minutes at lunch-time. Did anything happen to any of them? NO. We had a great day. I had a First Aid kit and mobile phone and the teacher's number.

 

Now at her all-girls secondary school, yes, parents can go on trips too, after a CRB check. Just daft. :rolleyes:

 

Yeah, cos a p**** would never take advantage of a situation like that would they...? Christ, what is it thickies like you..? Do you suppose that Paedophiles are like some alien species who exist outside the norms of society...? NO, they're outwardly "normal", everyday people like you and I, the whole "stranger danger" thing is a myth, the majority of child abuse happens within the home or is committed by someone known to the family.. Yes, that would include, maybe, PERHAPS one of these "trusted adults" who go on school trips.....

 

I cannot disagree strongly enough, anyone who is looking after kids unsupervised, even if it's for a day, should undergo a CRB check.... Can you imaging what would happen if a school DIDN'T do this and something DID happen...? Especially in these litigious, "Injury Lawyers 4U" times that we live in.... Heads would roll and the school would end up getting the arse sued off of it by incredibly angry parents....

 

 

 

Just want to add that now at her primary school it's different and you need a CRB check before being allowed as a parent on a school trip.

Edited April 12, 201114 yr by Common Sense