Abstract
This paper draws on research into the role of Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) in England, exploring the dimensions and challenges of their ‘independence’. IROs are specialist social workers whose function is to review the cases of children in public care and ensure that they have appropriate plans and that these plans are being implemented in a timely manner. IROs are ‘independent’ in the sense that they are not the social worker to whom a child's case is allocated, and do not have line management responsibility for the case, however they are employed by the same local authority. There are detailed regulations and government guidelines on their role, and high expectations, but what does independence mean in this context? The paper draws on a mixed methods study conducted by the authors in 2012–14, which included a survey of 122 files of children in care from four local authorities; interviews with 54 social workers, 54 IROs, 15 parents, and 15 young people; six focus groups; and nationally-distributed questionnaires for IROs (65), social work managers (46) and children's guardians (39). The study found five dimensions of independence: professional, operational, perceived, institutional and effective. The IROs and social workers generally took more nuanced and pragmatic approaches to their inter-professional working than prescribed in the policy guidance or the pronouncements of politicians and judges, seeing this as more likely to be effective. IROs are not, and cannot be, the solution to all the problems that exist in services for children in care, and the other professionals involved should not be seen as necessarily any less capable or committed to the best interests of the children. Rather, the IRO is part of an interactive system of checks and balances which, together, may increase the likelihood that professional judgement will be exercised effectively on the child's behalf.
Highlights
This paper considers the role of Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs), specialist social workers in England and Wales whose function is to review the cases of children in public care and ensure that appropriate plans are in place and being implemented in a timely manner
IROs are ‘independent’ in the sense that they are not the social worker to whom a child's case is allocated, and do not have line management responsibility for that social worker they are employed by the same local authorities as these others
We observe that the thinking behind the IRO service is a curious hybrid of, on the one hand, the traditional discourse of professionalism (IROs need to be independent of managerial control in order that they may be guided by their professional values and judgement) and, on the other, the managerialist discourse that emphasises the need for quality assurance mechanisms to ensure accountability
Summary
This paper considers the role of Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs), specialist social workers in England and Wales whose function is to review the cases of children in public care and ensure that appropriate plans are in place and being implemented in a timely manner. IROs are ‘independent’ in the sense that they are not the social worker to whom a child's case is allocated, and do not have line management responsibility for that social worker (a role that typically falls to yet another social worker, the team manager) they are employed by the same local authorities as these others. This means that there are (at least) three social workers around any given child or young person in care with direct responsibility for, and a reasonable degree of familiarity with, his or her case. We observe that the thinking behind the IRO service is a curious hybrid of, on the one hand, the traditional discourse of professionalism (IROs need to be independent of managerial control in order that they may be guided by their professional values and judgement) and, on the other, the managerialist discourse that emphasises the need for quality assurance mechanisms to ensure accountability (social workers' professional values and professional judgement cannot be relied upon, so their decisions need to be scrutinised)
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