Baby P social workers should return to work, panel told

Two social workers found guilty of misconduct today over a string of mistakes in their care of Baby Peter should be allowed to return to practice immediately, a disciplinary panel has heard. Maria Ward and Gillie Christou are waiting to hear what sanctions a General Social Care Council (GSCC) conduct committee will impose on them after accepting that they failed to ensure the little boy – who was known to be at risk - was visited regularly enough, losing contact with him for a time, and not keeping adequate records. But it seems unlikely the pair will be struck off. Marios Lambis, counsel for the GSCC, said the council thought the 16 months they had already been suspended was long enough, and they should not face any extra punishment. Yesterday he described Peter's death as an "eminently avoidable tragedy" that might never have happened if Ward and Christou, her team manager at Haringey council, had done their jobs properly. They were suspended on an interim basis in December 2008 soon after Peter's mother, Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend Steven Barker and lodger Jason Owen were convicted of causing or allowing the 17-month-old's death. The suspension orders were revoked in April this year. This was considered a "proportionate and sufficient" period of suspension, Lambis said. The panel was told yesterday that Ward had not carried out enough unannounced visits to check up on Peter and his mother, even though the boy was subject to a child protection plan She was supposed to go to the house at least once a fortnight, but on two occasions the gap between visits – which were sometimes only 15 minutes long - was 19 days, and once it was 22 days. Peter died in a blood-spattered cot in August 2007 after spending much of his short life being used as a punchbag. Between them social workers, police and health professionals made 60 visits to his home over eight months, during which time he suffered more than 50 injuries. "It is clear that Tracey Connelly was a skilled and manipulative liar intent on deceiving the social services, the police and pretty much anyone who was assessing her parenting abilities," Lambis told the hearing in central London. None of the social workers' failures was malicious, he added. "Whilst ill-focused, naive and inadequate … the GSCC accepts that they were trying to help, albeit to no ultimate avail." Lambis said it would be unfair to consider what the social workers did without putting it in the context of Haringey's problems, which included staff shortages, excessive caseloads, and a lack of support and supervision from managers. Ward was responsible for 18 or 19 children, even though the recommended maximum was 13. The intense media scrutiny of the case meant it would be hard for her and Christou to get work in future. Lambis said: "In any social work framework, their reputation will precede them." Nick Toms, counsel for Ward and Christou, said the women had paid a "very high price" for their involvement in the case already. "Their reputations will probably never recover from the battering they have received in the media," he said. Toms revealed that Ward had been working as a locum social worker at Haringey when she was responsible for Peter, but was given a permanent post in October 2007 "in the clear light of what happened in Peter Connelly's case". Haringey sacked Ward and Christou in April 2009. Both have launched employment tribunal challenges against their dismissal. Toms said it was not the case, as alleged by the GSCC yesterday, that Ward had considered each injury to Peter in isolation and failed to link them to a wider picture of abuse. "This is not a case of a social worker ignoring what's going on and not doing anything," he said. Peter was being seen by many professionals from other agencies, he added. And although Ward had failed to enter records on the offical system on time, she had kept notes of her own. Yesterday the hearing was told she had a four-month backlog on the system. The panel will deliver its decision on the sanctions the social workers will face tomorrow morning.