Time for a Safety Net for Every Citizen

Responding to yesterday's report on the "Failure at every level" that resulted in the closure of Hesley Group Children’s homes in Doncaster Jayne Senior Safeguarding Director for WhistleblowersUK said, "This is shocking, but yet another example of the failures of those paid to protect the most vulnerable from harm."

Children at the homes had been exposed to the most horrendous treatment some might say torture, but somehow the management failed to notice the abuse, put in place steps to prevent it and self report. The lives of these children were nothing more than a paycheck for the company who have admitted that they did not do enough to protect the children. 

The BBC revealed that Ofsted, despite its mandate to intervene had ignored over 40 warnings from whistleblowers and the chief inspector admitted being sorry but blamed 'a failure of integrity' by the Hesley Managers.

A total of over 360 reports were received; Ofsted receiving108 reports, the Safeguarding Officer at the Local Authority (LADO) received an astonishing 232 referrals. Senior went on to say,

“How many reports have to be made before someone joins the dots and takes their responsibility seriously - putting children first? Regulators with the resources and mandate to protect children have yet again failed the most vulnerable in society again and cannot be trusted to continue unsupervised. The Government is confronted with failure after failure and review after review it must introduce an Office of the Whistleblower as the only means of correcting the failures in the system.”

Following Whistleblowing Awareness Week on March 27th The Government announced a review of the UK's Whistleblowing Framework. 

Elizabeth Harper WhistleblowersUK's newly appointed victims champion said,

“The Government must use this opportunity to introduce the proposals in the Whistleblowing Bill, a safety net for every citizen that will help to prevent the abuse of children and protect and empower whistleblowers.”

WhistleblowersUK will continue to play a leading role in pushing the government to act on the words of the Home Secretary who told us that,

“We need a courageous system that supports the courage, leadership and bravery of whistleblowers and addresses the practice, culture and failure [of the existing system]”

Read the harrowing report here https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65323711 

If you would like to provide evidence to the review or if you need help or advice to report abuse or other concerns please contact us via our confidential reporting line on the website. Help is only one button away and is available 24/7.

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