Agenda item

An overview of the management of allegations in Oldham, and the role of the Designated Officer’s between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.

The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Annual Report was delivered to the Scrutiny Board by Oldham’s LADO and LADO Manager. The report provided the Board with an overview of the number and types of allegations received in the year 23/24 with detail on specific categories of abuse, source of referrals, and referral outcomes.

The Report indicates that over the years the understanding of the role of the LADO both locally and nationally has increased, and this is reflected in the steady rise of referrals. The significant increase in referrals since 2020 is linked to several factors:

·       Several complex cases that have multiple lines of enquiry and have generated multiple referrals.

·       An increase in non-recent allegations of abuse.

·       In September 2020 the Department for Education included a fourth threshold for referral to LADO within Working Together guidance and KCSIE (Keeping Children Safe In Education). This significantly increased the number of contacts to LADO regarding unsuitability.

·       Increase in the number of parents/members of the public reporting concerns directly to Ofsted and or LADO service

Members queried the capacity of LADO to deal with significant rises in referrals. Officers confirmed that a second LADO was appointed last year to provide additional support and allowed the service to continue to respond to referrals in a timely manner.

Members heard that the increase in referrals was due to better awareness of the LADO, but also a result of historic referrals being made due to issues being covered in the news and being brought to light. Members queried whether a breakdown of recent and historic allegations could be provided. Officers explained that they are awaiting a national definition of what exactly what constitutes an allegation being considered ‘Historic’ and once this has been agreed upon, these figures can be provided.

In response to members questioning, LADO Officers confirmed that contact could be made through various means including phone, email and the website. All contact is logged, even when there is no further action on a referral, so a record is available in the instance of malicious allegations. In some cases, the referral is logged under an institution rather than an individual so that patterns can be identified.

Members queried what safeguarding training the LADO provide to other agencies. Officers confirmed that whole staff training is provided from a school perspective and additional training is provided to recruiting officers and via other agencies such as Grassroots.

Members noted the annual allegation figures provided in the report, but questioned whether it was possible for a more detailed breakdown to be provided which would include the allegation rating on the1-5 tier system. Officers explained that this would be difficult to do on an annual basis as cases often span several years, but a 5-10 year breakdown could be provided to capture the additional detail required. LADO officers are to return to a future Scrutiny Board meeting to provide this additional information with analysis over several years.

RESOLVED that,

1.     the LADO and LADO Manager are to return to a future meeting with additional analysis on data over a larger period.

2.     the Scrutiny Board note the LADO Annual Report.