Variations in duty arrangements to respond to concerns about children's welfare

Reception and initial contact arrangements and practices in social services play a key role in safeguarding children and providing an avenue for the public and professionals to report concerns about a child's welfare. This paper reports on findings from a small-scale study, commissioned in the wake of the Laming Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Victoria Climbié. The aim of the study was an exploration of the arrangements local authorities had in place in early 2004 to receive referrals from the public and professional sources, and to report on duty team managers' levels of satisfaction with these arrangements. It drew on interviews with 70 social work managers responsible for daytime and out-of-hours duty services in 28 English local authorities. The authors argue that, while the Inquiry recommendations to improve the organisation of initial contact with social services in the event of concerns about a child's welfare remain important, wide variations exist in practice. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible contributory factors for such variation, and policy and practice measures that could address the variation.