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Social workers sacked in Khyra area
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A council criticised over the death from starvation of a seven-year-old girl was accused of "casting around for scapegoats" after it revealed that six social workers had been sacked.
The frontline workers were dismissed over the past year for not doing their jobs properly at Birmingham City Council, which is taking part in a serious case review into the death of Khyra Ishaq.
Khyra died in 2008 when her body succumbed to an infection after months of starvation at her home in Handsworth, Birmingham. Her mother and stepfather were both jailed last week for her manslaughter.
Colin Tucker, director of children's social care at the council, said the sacked staff showed "no sign whatsoever" of meeting expected standards.
In an interview with the BBC, he said: "They did not adhere to standards and expectations that we laid down. They showed no sign whatsoever that they were keen to do so, so we dismissed them."
Mr Tucker was brought in last year after Ofsted inspectors branded aspects of Birmingham City Council's children's department as "inadequate".
The authority said the dismissals were not directly related to Khyra's death, which followed several attempts by social workers to visit her after she was removed from school in December 2007. But public sector union Unison branded Mr Tucker's claims "misleading and irresponsible" and warned that they would fuel an "exodus" of social workers from the council.
Tony Rabaiotti, the union's Regional Head of Local Government, said: "Mr Tucker should think more carefully before he opens his mouth and makes misleading and irresponsible claims. None of the social workers he claims he has sacked had anything to do with child care, let alone the tragic case of Khyra Ishaq."
He added: "He may think that talking tough will hide Birmingham City Council's management from responsibility in the sad death of Khyra, but he is wrong. All it does is undermine staff confidence, which is already at an all-time low.
"Experienced social workers are leaving Birmingham for other jobs and his comments are likely to speed up the exodus. Colin Tucker and the council should stop casting around for scapegoats and take action now."
Reader views (1)
Call me cynical if you want, but I bet the senior management are still in place and will remain so. Failures like this come from the top, and that's where the dismissals should come from. It'S far too easy to dispense with the workers who are on the front line than those who should be accountable. No one has the guts these days to dump the real failures, and when they do, they get a golden goodbye.
- David Griffiths, Llanfyllin, Wales, 19/03/2010 21:35
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