The death of a two-year-old boy from dehydration and starvation in Skegness, Lincolnshire, has rightly prompted shock, sadness and anger. Bronson Battersby died because his father and main carer, Kenneth Battersby, was killed by a suspected heart attack and there was no one else in the home to look after him. Bronson was found huddled by his father’s body by a social worker. The last days of his life can only have been profoundly distressing. How could such a terrible thing happen when social services knew he was vulnerable?
We don’t yet know, though the rapid review promised by Lincolnshire county council means more information will soon emerge. A social worker went to the property on 2 January and tried again two days later when no one answered. Social workers are not allowed to break down doors, and on both occasions police were notified. The local force has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
There should be no rush to judgment while inquiries are undertaken. The lack of other visitors speaks to concerns about social isolation. But there is no doubt that children’s services across England are under intense pressure. While council spending on them keeps rising due to the increasing number of children in state care (currently more than 83,000), the number of family social workers fell in 2022, and a third of local authorities report difficulties in recruitment and retention. Meanwhile, spending on agency temps has hit an all-time high. This is not a large workforce. There are about 35,000 children’s social workers in England (and about 5,000 more across Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – where the devolved administrations face many of the same difficulties).
Whether or not funding and staffing pressures were a factor in Lincolnshire, evidence shows that the job of helping councils fulfil their responsibilities to vulnerable children is getting harder. Austerity is one reason, although the politicians responsible for the cuts of the 2010s are loth to admit it. “The relationship between poverty and demand on services cannot be missed,” is how Ruth Allen, the chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers, puts it. (Senior figures in other public services have made similar points; in 2021, the retiring chief constable of Merseyside, Andy Cooke, said reducing poverty would lead to less crime.)
In parallel with rising needs, there have been fundamental changes in the role of social workers. In 2021-22, 81% of spending was on crisis intervention – for example, removing children from birth parents, and all the tasks connected with this, including court hearings. A decade earlier the figure was 67%, meaning that back then a third of the average caseload took the form of ongoing support rather than the social work equivalent of A&E. Over the same period, other local services such as youth clubs and addiction support also disappeared.
No one thought that the children’s social care review, which ministers commissioned from Josh MacAlister, would solve all these problems. However, the lack of follow-through from Rishi Sunak’s team has been shameful, particularly given the effects of the pandemic and the crisis engulfing council finances. The horrified reaction to tragic events in Skegness is natural and justified. But the gradual erosion of the kinds of local services used by vulnerable parents, including those with poor health, also matters.
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