Government consults on criminal offences for social workers who fail to act on abuse
A duty on social workers to report or take action on child abuse, with criminal sanctions for practitioners who fail to comply, could be introduced in England under proposals published for consultation by the government.
Two potential duties are being looked at by the Home Office; a mandatory reporting duty, or a ‘duty to act’, both of which would place the reporting of child abuse on a statutory footing.
The ‘duty to act’ would require certain practitioners or organisations to take appropriate action (which could include reporting) if they had reasonable cause to suspect that child abuse or neglect was taking place. There is currently no legal duty meaning social workers have to do this, only an acknowledgement in the Working Together guidance that they should.
The consultation document says “a range of sanctions” for professionals who fail to report child abuse or neglect could be made available, from “employer and/or regulatory sanctions to criminal sanctions”.
Source: Community Care
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