Parents under suspicion: why so many in Herefordshire?
Child protection matters, but so do a family’s human rights
Section 47 inquiries are one of the principal measures available to a local authority to enable it to exercise its child protection functions. Once a s.47 inquiry is underway social workers have considerable powers over a family, but the law is clear that a section 47 inquiry can only start if there are reasonable grounds to assume that a child is at significant risk of harm.
In Herefordshire, the rate of s47 inquiries undertaken by Herefordshire Council officers more than tripled between 2020 and 2022 and remains significantly higher than in neighbouring local authorities [1].
From a Freedom of Information request (FOI2024/01237) we know the figures for s47 inquiries carried out by Herefordshire Council inquiries from 2020 to 2023:
2020 = 426
2021 = 858
2022 = 1,393
2023 = 1,105
Did the parents of Herefordshire suddenly become incapable of safely parenting their children? Or is there something else behind the rise?
The article below suggests that the root cause of the astronomically high rates of investigations may lie with faulty advice in a guidance document published for social workers by the Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP).
More worryingly, it seems that despite so many experts being brought in to advise this “inadequate” Council over the last few years it has taken a tenacious parent to unearth the problem, a parent whose family was subjected to an unnecessary s47 investigation which is likely to have been unlawful.
The parent’s careful analysis below suggests that the faulty advice in the HSCP guidance document has led and is still leading to devastating breaches of families’ Article 8 rights to a private and family life.
We recommend you read the article in full.
Is this why s47 inquiries tripled in 3 years?
Imagine this: two social workers turn up at the closed gate of a loving family of good standing, without any paperwork, they state that a “Strategy Meeting” was held that morning and they had gathered background information from “GP Safeguarding Representative”, that you are under a “S47 investigation” and they are now telling you what is going to happen next to your family.
Sadly, this modus operandi is common among social workers working for Herefordshire Children’s Services.
I believe Herefordshire Council has carried out unlawful commencement of a section 47 investigation against many families over many years.
For Case Law and Legal Precedent, I reference:
AB & Anor, R (on the application of) v The London Borough of Haringey [2013] EWHC 416 (Admin) (13 March 2013), Before HH Judge Anthony Thornton.
The Court summed up the law on section 47 investigations very neatly:
7. Section 47 enquiries are one of the principal measures available to a local authority to enable it to exercise its child protection functions to protect children who are at risk of suffering or are suffering significant harm…
8. …The use of section 47 should also take account of the personal and family rights of a child’s parents or carers so long as that does not interfere with the overriding duty of child protection…
11. A section 47 enquiry has in recent years become very damaging for the life, career and family relationships of many who are parenting or caring for the child being assessed. There are now extensive statutory checks that must be made about adults who are caring for or working with children or who are coming into contact with them in an educational, health, pastoral or care context. Thus, involvement in a section 47 enquiry may often result in the ending of a career involving contact with children. This will usually be for good reason but this is not always so and there will rarely be a means for those unfairly marked out by involvement in a section 47 enquiry to eradicate that stain on their professional and personal reputation.
If you want it even shorter than that, it is that section 47 inquiries are an important tool to protect children but using them has consequences for the parents and the State must be careful that they are used in accordance with the guidance given, to avoid abuses. The threshold for deciding whether a set of circumstances triggers section 47 is as below.
16. On referral, the CYPS will initially screen the referral and sift out the relatively few referrals that are clearly not ones that will reach the relatively high threshold of a section 47 enquiry. Those that remain are then subjected to an initial assessment which is intended to be completed within 10 working days of the receipt of the referral and, crucially, to include input from both the child and her parents or carers.
17. It is important to keep in mind the different objectives of the initial assessment and the core assessment processes. The objective of the initial assessment is to ascertain whether the child is in need and whether the threshold for a section 47 enquiry exists. This requires considering whether there is reasonable cause to suspect whether the child is suffering or is likely to suffer from significant harm. The assessment process must include, so far as is consistent with the child's safety, the child being seen and her views being taken into account if the child is old enough to express them.
18. The relevant service has a statutory duty to initiate a section 47 enquiry but only if it has decided that it has reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering significant harm or is at risk of suffering such harm. That reasonable suspicion must arise in and be tested by the initial assessment process which may only be short-circuited in exceptional circumstances.
The crux is that in order to embark upon a section 47 inquiry, the Local Authority MUST have reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering significant harm and MUST, except in exceptional circumstances, have engaged in an initial assessment which involves the parents and the child.
That’s the reason why Herefordshire social workers can’t just knock on a person’s door unannounced and declare that a S47 inquiry is already underway. Nor can they gather medical evidence about a child without the consent of the parent unless the S47 inquiry is underway. In the case of the two social workers at the gate, there was no parental knowledge or consent to obtain background information from “GP Safeguarding Representative”.
In summary, except in exceptional circumstances
No completed initial assessment process = Nothing to test reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering significant harm or is at risk of suffering such harm.
No reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering significant harm or is at risk of suffering such harm = No threshold for S47 investigation = unlawful commencement of a section 47 investigation.
The nub of it is that Herefordshire Children’s Services decision to conduct a section 47 investigation should always be a fair and reasonable one, following proper processes.
Guidance for Social Workers
So how would a Social Worker, newly arrived in Herefordshire, find out what local Children’s Services “proper processes” were for a lawful s.47 inquiry?
They could visit the “online comprehensive suite of services to support every aspect of social care procedures”, provided by Herefordshire Council’s partner, tri.x
If the social worker clicked through they would find page on assessment
https://westmids-herefordshire.trixonline.co.uk/chapter/assessment
Assessment
Scope of this chapter
Safeguarding Partners should agree with their relevant agencies on the criteria for different levels of assessment to inform which services are commissioned and delivered in the local area and ensure that the right help is given to children at the right time. Assessments must be based on good analysis, timeliness and transparency and proportionate to the needs of the child and their family.
Each child who has been referred into the Local Authority children's social care should have an individual assessment to identify their needs and to understand the impact of any parental behaviour on them as an individual. The Local Authority children's social care have to give due regard to a child's age and understanding when determining what (if any) services to provide under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, and before making decisions about action to be taken to protect individual children under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989. …”
All is good, all is in line with Case Law and Legal Precedent as summed up by HH Judge Anthony Thornton.
But what if, as seems more likely, the newly arrived Herefordshire Social Worker goes to the “Professional Resources” section of the “Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership” and downloads its guidance document Right Help, Right Time, Levels of Need, which is described on its cover page as : A framework for providing effective support for children, young people and families – making a difference
Right Help, Right Time as downloaded from the HSCP website on 25 May 2025
Images of the relevant pages from Right Help, Right Time
I honestly believe this document “Herefordshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, Right Help Right Time, Levels of Need” is significantly flawed.
The “Right Help Right Time” document has conflicting guidance. If social workers followed the following section to the letter, then I believe it could result in unlawful commencement of a section 47 investigation:
“Whenever there are child protection concerns, a ‘section 47 (Children Act 1989) enquiry’ is undertaken. This involves liaison with the police and other agencies and will ALWAYS be started following a strategy discussion, often through a multi-disciplinary meeting, to decide and plan next steps.”
The Law says: “The relevant service has a statutory duty to initiate a section 47 enquiry but only if it has decided that it has reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering significant harm or is at risk of suffering such harm. That reasonable suspicion must arise in and be tested by the initial assessment process which may only be short-circuited in exceptional circumstances.”
It almost beggars belief to contemplate that Herefordshire social workers have followed to the letter “will ALWAYS be started following a strategy discussion” since version 1, Right Help Right Time, was created in November 2020.
One could wonder if somebody copied and pasted incorrectly into that 2020 version “Whenever there are child protection concerns, (reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm), a ‘section 47 (Children Act 1989) enquiry’ is undertaken,” but missed out “reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm”.
Is this what happened? Is the flawed document a result of a copy and paste error? Or is it the case, as suggested to me by a Herefordshire Law Group adviser, that “Clearly the council have reframed the legislation to fit their operating practice”?
“Right Help Right Time, Levels of Need” was created in November 2020 with a review date of December 2024. It must be urgently reviewed. It is now May 2025 so the review is late.
I am told that correlation is no proof of causation but why else have s47 investigations trebled and continue to be significantly higher than in neighbouring local authorities? The public need answers urgently.
Further research and Reference links:
Public Questions on this issue were put to the Children and Young Person’s Scrutiny Committee in September 2024. Question 2 is of particular interest.
An excellent legal blog detailing the case of AB and Another v London Borough of Haringey 2013 and the valuable lessons that can be learned from it:
https://suesspiciousminds.com/2013/03/19/haranguing-haringey/
The case itself can be found here:
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2013/416.html
And there’s an exceptionally good piece on it here, written by Celtic Knot, [@Celticknottweet] who was involved in the case and thus has both first hand knowledge and a very good perspective on it:
http://notsobigsociety.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/data-gathering-damned-if-we-do-damned-if-we-dont/
Many of the words in this blog and much of my understanding of Case Law and Legal Precedent has come from these legal bloggers. I am very grateful that their work helps a simple man such as myself, to stand in my own authority and defend my family from Herefordshire Children’s Services’ overreach.
Jim McGeown, May 2025