Sheffield child safeguarding team praised as ‘rottweilers’ by boss
A team of Sheffield council staff who work on safeguarding around adults who work with children have been described as “rottweilers” by their boss.
Sheffield City Council council has a statutory responsibility to have a LADO (local authority-designated officer) who manages allegations against adults who work with children.
The service was created following the 2004 Bichard Report into the conviction of school caretaker Ian Huntley for the murders of children Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire.
The council currently has a team of three permanent full-time LADOs, plus two temporary officers whose time adds up to 1.4 of a full-time post.
A report to a meeting of the council’s education, children and families policy committee yesterday (December 18) said that LADOs are responsible for managing allegations against adults who work with children.
The report said: “This involves working with police, children’s social care, employers and other involved professionals. The LADO does not conduct investigations directly, but rather oversees and directs them to ensure thoroughness, timeliness and fairness.”
Behaviour
They work independently within Sheffield Children’s Services and give advice and guidance to employers, organisations and other individuals who have concerns about the behaviour of an adult or young person 16-18 who works in Sheffield with children and young people.
This can include “volunteers, agency staff and foster carers as well as people who are in a position of authority in working with children or providing children’s services such as religious leaders, police, taxi drivers or school governors”.
The report added that a LADO will become involved where there is “reasonable suspicion that a person who works with children (whether paid or unpaid) has behaved in such a way as to:
- Behaved in a way that has harmed a child or may have harmed a child.
- Possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child.
- Behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children.
- Behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children”.
An annual report of the LADO service states that Ofsted inspectors who visited in 2023 found “a competent and responsive local authority-designated officer service” that had made improvements since the previous inspection on 2020.
Scrutinised
The report said: “In June we supported a SCC [council] residential setting in managing multiple allegations for a child by advising on setting up a complex allegation panel. This ensured the child’s voice was listened to and allegations were scrutinised with the child’s social worker and independent representatives for patterns or anomalies to ensure they were safeguarding, and oversight of staff practice was transparent, and the child’s needs supported.”
Of the cases that LADOs were involved with, 37% were substantiated, 36% were not, 17% were unfounded, 5% were false and 2% were malicious.
Councillors heard that LADOs do not investigate cases that are referred to them as this is the responsibility of employers and the police in some cases. LADOs assist with decision-making about whether to refer cases to the police or social care services.
The service has provided information leaflets for employers and employees and run training sessions with Sheffield Youth Justice Service workers, residential homes and school headteachers and safeguarding leads.
It has also been working with both city football league clubs, city mosque leaders and Christian congregations.
Council strategic head of children’s services, Meredith Dixon-Teasdale, told the committee: “They [the LADOs] are like rottweilers with this, I certainly know they are not shrinking violets.”