Purpose

Towards the end of February 2021, OFSTED received a whistle blow referral which was reported to the Doncaster Children’s Services Trust. The DCS and safeguarding partners took decisive action to protect the residents at that time.
2. The Doncaster Safeguarding Partnership Executives took a decision at the beginning of March 2021 to initiate a Complex Abuse Inquiry.
3. Extraordinary funding has been agreed by Cabinet and the Children Safeguarding partnership for years 2021/2022, 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 to fund the social care element of the
investigation. South Yorkshire Police is resourcing the policing element of the investigation.
4. To date a team of social workers have undertaken the building of life story packs, recovery planning and the completion of Local Authority Designated Officer investigations. The management of the team has been dealing with strategic oversight, partner engagement, including the Disclosure and Barring Service and regulators. This was funded through the key decisions taken by Cabinet.
5. The operation continues to evolve into a multi-layered and legally complex landscape. A growing number of Subject Access Requests (SARs) have been received and in addition to large numbers of Freedom Of Information (FOI) requests. Substantiated allegation management meetings as part of the LADO function, led to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) referrals, with subsequent reviews and information sharing commencing on an individual basis, between the social work and DBS team. Safer Recruitment enquiries for individual staff and Regulatory enquiries continue to also be received. This will continue, due to residual risk in the system.
6. The inquiry is entering its final stage. Social work expertise in terms of building life story packs have now concluded. The work that remains are focussing on dealing redacting and sharing of information with local authority areas, their safeguarding partners and families. The disclosure of information requests is dealt with in the relevant legal frameworks through Subject Access requests, Freedom of Information requests, supporting the Disclosure and Barring Service in their investigation, Regulatory support and the Police investigation itself.
7. An operational end of investigation report is expected by June 2026. A strategic evaluation programme of work, concluding in a report will also be lead and completed by the external scrutineer of the investigation.
8. It is therefore proposed that from April 2026, the social work leadership capacity and two business support roles continue to support the investigation for up to six months to the value
of £176,870. In additional to this there may also be external legal costs incurred, which are currently difficult to quantify and will require appropriate funding.
9. It is anticipated that the remainder of the operational delivery of the investigation will conclude within the first 3 months of 2026/27, and it will take 2 – 3 months to transfer all remaining functions, as set out above, to the Council. Therefore, the request for funding is for up to 6
months unless there is a significant change in the direction of travel for the enquiry.

Decision

Agree funding from corporate contingency budget of £176,870 to continue with the delivery of the inquiry to conclusion or to a position that functions can be delivered as part of business as usual for 2026/27

Alternative options considered

If no further funding is made available CDC and the Children, Young People and Families directorate will be unable to fulfil its statutory duty which will come with strategic and reputational risk.
Option 1: The investigation transfer to the business-as-usual social care function within the Council. Due to the significant resource requirement at present to deal with functions set out in paragraph 22, it will be impossible to deliver requests and responses within the statutory time frames. Furthermore, the organisational memory within the current resource will be lost and therefore some relevant information could be lost and the efficacy of the approach will be at risk.
Option 2 (preferred option): A decision is taken to provide additional funding of £177k to support the delivery of current tasks and ensure the transition of residual asks to business- as-usual takes place during 206/27.