The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has exposed a major safeguarding failure at Haringey LBC, where hundreds of police welfare reports have gone unread.
A complaint investigation revealed Haringey had more than 1,100 unread emails in its social work inbox, including more than 500 police welfare reports, highlighting a systemic backlog that left residents at serious risk.
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman chief executive, Julie Odams, condemned the council's ‘inertia' and failure to act promptly.
Haringey has committed to an action plan, including staff training, policy overhauls and improvements to how safeguarding alerts are handled. The council will also apologise and provide compensation to those affected.
