Climbie care staff were not overworked, says council

THE social workers who failed murder victim Victoria Climbie were not overloaded with cases at the time of her death, despite previous claims they had excessive workloads, Haringey council now says.

A council report submitted to the public inquiry into the eight- year-old's death shows its social services staff had lighter caseloads than their counterparts in other boroughs.

The figures cast doubt on claims that severe staff shortages led to the oversights that allowed Victoria - the name her parents from the Ivory Coast originally gave her - to die at the hands of her aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, 44, and her aunt's boyfriend, Carl Manning, 28, who are serving life for her murder.

The girl, who was called Anna by her aunt, died from torture and starvation days after her social worker was ordered to drop her case by superiors. They ignored a letter of concern from a paediatrician who said that she thought Victoria was being abused, and took no further action.

Later, the borough's Unison branch claimed Haringey's childcare team was overworked which had been a strong contributory factor in Victoria's death.

However, the borough's new social services director, Anne Bristow, said a review of cases had shown its workers "did not have excessive workloads".

She said: "We compared our systems and methods of allocation with a number of other councils and found that our method of allocation results in lower caseloads than in comparable authorities.

"Therefore we are of the view that our social workers did not have excessive workloads in 1999/2000."

Conservative councillor Peter Forrest, who has submitted the report to the Laming Inquiry, said: "It seems possible that any pressure to close Victoria's case prematurely was driven not so much by an excessive workload, but more by a desire to cling to a restrictive practice - that is limits imposed by the union on workloads."

Peter Lewington, a spokesman for Haringey Unison, denied the union had any power to limit caseloads. He said: "The figures need to be studied in context.

We've said clearly all along that what happened to Victoria could have happened anywhere.

"Our campaign about excessive workloads and staff vacancies is not just in Haringey - it is across London."

The inquiry, based in Lambeth, has started taking written evidence and public sessions will begin in September.

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