On the same day that Baby P’s Mother and Stepfather received their sentences, Haringey’s council announced an overhaul of its children social services with an aim to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating by 2012.

The three year program will guarantee qualified social workers more balanced workloads and better support. New and more user friendly IT systems will be implemented and an increase in better qualified staff will be permanently hired.

With a £4.2m budget already approved for this year, the council will launch a children’s trust campaign next month to bring together schools, social services and the police in order to improve communication and the quality of its social services to achieve by the end of this year a “satisfactory” rating from the children’s services inspectorate Ofsted.

But the biggest problem the borough is facing is the lack of qualified social workers willing to work in the area after Baby P’s scandal. In January, the borough made an urgent appeal to all London councils to lend qualified social workers to ease the recruitment. With the appeal been largely rejected, children’s social directors said they would consider a rescue package to ease the pressure on The Haringey’s Council.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a happy ending, but Baby P’s story finally came to an end with the trial and sentence of mother and boyfriend who were responsible for one of the worst cases of sadistic brutality and sordid child neglect ever to be reported in the UK.

It’s been nearly two years since the 17 months toddler died due to repeated violent physical abuse and only now, Baby P’s mother and her boyfriend were finally sentenced.

The mother was sentenced with another 644 days in solitary confinement for her own protection and the boyfriend person who Baby P referred as “dad” was sentenced for 12 years for causing or allowing Peter’s death; earlier in the month he had been convicted for the rape of a two year girl and will spend the rest of his days in jail for that crime.

This sickening story caused a hike in qualified social workers salaries, not only in Haringey’s Council but across the UK due to the lack of qualified social workers willing to take on this challenging, stressful job.

Councils and the government are trying their best to incite qualified and independent social workers to go back to their jobs. Good salaries, especial benefits, relocation allowances and even pre-approved mortgages are on the list of privileges offered.

Ensuring a qualified social worker is handling such cases is certainly a must for the future, and increasing the amount of qualified social workers employed should also be questioned to prevent other cases from slipping through the system?

What can be done to prevent appalling cases of prolonged child neglect and abuse, as in Baby P’s case, from occurring again?

The stories surrounding ‘Baby P’ continue to make the headlines of Britain’s most popular newspapers, this past week a new round of shocking facts emerged that makes the case even more disturbing.

The Haringey Council sacked five more social workers who failed to protect the 17-month old boy. Baby P’s social worker Maria Ward, Team Manager Gillie Christou, Head of Safeguarding Children Clive Preece, Head of Children’s Services Sharon Shoesmith and a fourth official Cicilia Hitchen, were all  dismissed without any payouts.

Another shocking fact revealed this past week is that Baby P’s mother could have her sentence reduced by a third because she admitted to her part in his death. This is known as a guilty plea – if someone accused of a crime confesses their sentence is cut by a third.

All these facts and much more have created serious problems for Haringeys Council Social Services and has forced the Council to offer inflated salaries in the hope of finding qualified social workers to work in the area.

The highest salary on offer at present is for a Locum Team Manager advertised at £68,000 a year for Haringey’s Children in Need Safeguarding Service. Several perks will be offered in addition to the salary including a £7,000 relocation allowance, season ticket loan, ‘gold-plated’ local government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, a mobile phone and a pre-approved loan of up to £50,000 towards buying a property.

For junior social workers posts the Borough is offering a nation’s high of £38,000, while the national average is around £18,000 rising to £30,000 for team leaders according to the Government’s website ww.socialworkcareers.co.uk