What Laws?
My eye having been caught by the headline “Thousands could sue over ‘child protection’ sackings” in the Telegraph online this afternoon I decided to read the article.
It turned out to be about three nurses who, dismissed from their jobs because they failed checks run by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), are now suing for loss of earnings in a ECHR test case that could result in others in similar situations doing the same thing. Although it is using up taxpayers money, I can’t say I blame the three of them because the ISA was a bloody stupid idea in the first place.
It was these two paragraphs however that caught my attention:
The three nurses bringing the case all lost their jobs following minor offences which were not deemed serious enough to go to court, but which resulted in them being handed police cautions.
One of the nurses broke the law by leaving her 11-year-old son at home alone while she went shopping. Another was cautioned because while he was at work, his wife left the couple’s children alone for a short period. The third kissed a colleague without permission.
These things are offences? Really? Since when? Should I be reporting my own parents as I and my brother were left home alone at times when we were both still under 11? Should I be reporting my colleagues from the Italian office who always greet myself and the other ladies in the team with a kiss when they visit? I think not.
According to the report other people effectively dismissed from their jobs by this government quango include:
…a mother was cautioned for child neglect after leaving her three-year old son in the care of her responsible 14-year-old son while she popped to the shops.
…another mother was cautioned for child neglect after leaving her three children in the care of a seemingly responsible neighbour, a grandmother, while she took a relative to the airport. The neighbour left the children on their own for a while and the mother was barred from taking up a place on a nursing course.
…Rachael Parry, from Caerphilly, south Wales, was cautioned for leaving her daughter alone in the bath for a minute and a half when she went downstairs to get towels. She returned to find her daughter face-down in the bath. She gave mouth-to-mouth to revive her daughter and took her to hospital, where she made a full recovery, but although police and social services recognised that she was a loving mother who had made a terrible mistake the CPS ordered that she be given a caution.
Strewth, if they are setting the bar this low I don’t know how anyone with children will be allowed to work with other children or vulnerable adults as so far as I can see these are all things that have been going on since time immemorial. Is there a child out there who has never been left at home alone even for one second, never been left in the bath alone, never been left with an older kid (e.g. a baby sitter)?
Evidentially the High Court agreed because they ruled the treatment of the three nurses in question to be unlawful.
How many people have been affected by the heavy handiness of the ISA? 13,150 last year alone – of whom 812 have had their bans overturned. That is a failure rate of over 6% and one that is likely to grow.
Any chance we can just shut down this useless waste of money and get back to some common sense?