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Child Care Solicitors
Six-figure” payout for Baby P social service director’s unfair dismissal (29 October 2013)
Date: 29/10/2013
Sharon Shoesmith’s settlement could reach up to £600, 000 after she was unfairly dismissed from her £133,000-a-year post, according to BBC2’s Newsnight.
A council spokeswoman said: ‘Following the decision of the Court of Appeal in favour of Ms Shoesmith, and the court’s direction that the parties seek to resolve the issue of compensation, the London Borough of Haringey and Ms Shoesmith have reached a settlement in this case.
‘The terms of the settlement are confidential. We are unable to comment further on this matter.’
Shoesmith was dismissed from her post following an Ofsted report which exposed ‘catastrophic management failures’ in her department before the death of 17-month-old Peter Connolly.
Tim Loughton, former children’s minister censured the payout, saying that the ‘buck has to stop somewhere and someone has to take responsibility’.
‘We published the full serious case review – both of them – into this whole case so we could get some transparency into all of this, so we can put things out into the open,’ he told BBC Radio 4.
‘And yet, several years on from this tragic death in 2007, we are effectively rewarding failure.
‘You don’t expect that person accepting responsibility, reluctantly in this case, to get a very large cheque on the back of it as well.’
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, removed Mrs Shoesmith from her £133,000-a-year position in December 2008.
Though, in May 2011, the Appeal Court concluded that she was unfairly dismissed because Mr Balls and Haringey did not give her an appropriate chance to put her case before her removal.
Her lawyers said that she was the victim of a ‘flagrant breach of natural justice’ exacerbated by a media witch-hunt.
Baby P died at his home in Tottenham, North London in 2007 after suffering more than 50 injuries, in spite of receiving 60 visits from social workers, police and health professionals over the course of eight months.
If you would like to discuss a Child Care or social service issue with an experienced and professional child care solicitor then contact us here at Duncan Lewis.