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A NEW interim director is among those drafted in to help turn around Herefordshire's failing children's services department after a raft of failings were exposed in a damning judgement. Councillors hit out at a culture of lies, delays, and misdirection which prevented proper scrutiny of the department, while staff were said to be too frightened to speak out against poor practice at an extraordinary meeting called to receive the judgement and vote on a series of improvement measures on April 27. But, councillors were told, action is being taken, with new interim director Cath Knowles dra...

Council to go on improvement plan after High Court lambasts ‘utter failures’ in false allegations of abuse case Herefordshire children’s services will undergo external review and an independently monitored improvement plan following case where social workers ‘ignored’ senior judge and experienced psychiatrist Photo: Wikimedia commons/Roger Cornfoot A council’s children’s services are to be monitored by a government-appointed chair, following a High Court judgment in a care case that questioned their “fitness for purpose”. Herefordshire council will hold an extraordinary meet...