Birmingham city council sacks six social workers
Birmingham city council sacks six social workers for showing "no sign whatsoever" of meeting expected standards. The dismissals were not directly related to the death of Khyra Ishaq.
Friday, 19, Mar 2010 02:55
By Alex Steger.
Six social workers at Birmingham council, which was strongly criticised following the death of seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq, have been sacked, it has been announced.
Khyra died from starvation in May 2008 and her mother and stepfather were jailed for manslaughter last week.
The dismissals were not directly linked to the girl's death but they follow other child deaths in Birmingham over the last few years.
Colin Tucker, the council's director of children's services, said the six staff were sacked for not doing their jobs properly.
He went on to say that the dismissed social workers showed "no sign whatsoever" of meeting expected standards.
All six of the axed workers were front line social workers not managers. Mr Tucker though told the Today programme that although no manager had been dismissed senior staff would be undergoing rigorous training and assessment.
Mr Tucker 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."
In the same interview Mr Tucker announced that Birmingham's children service would be undergoing a remodelling in the autumn with fewer managers and more permanent staff.
The changes come after eight children known to children's services have died in Birmingham in three years.
Last year an official report condemned Birmingham's child protection arrangements as "not fit for purpose."
On the death of Khyra Ishaq, Mr Tucker said: "In the profession, in the city, we are so upset about that it is untrue. This has cast, and rightly so, a real shadow over this department for two years. But we can't turn the clock back."