AGENCIES were not willing to identify neglect early enough in cases which ended in tragedy or close to it, a report has said.

Investigations into the deaths of three very young children and a case of neglect of another were completed – and Swindon social services has taken the lessons from those reviews, councillors have been told.

Swindon Borough Council’s safeguarding manager Fiona Frances told members of the children’s health, care and education overview and scrutiny committee: “All the agencies have looked at our own practices.

"The key areas were identifying and evidencing neglect.”

She added: “In Swindon people wanted to continue to work with families to help them make improvements.

"They were optimistic they could help make good changes – but they didn’t consider what it was like for the children who were neglected. How it was for those children who have to live in neglect.

“Some partners found it difficult to name neglect and we’ve had to do work with colleagues to help them be able to identify neglect and report it.”

Three serious case reviews concerned children in Swindon. Child Q, a five-year-old girl, was admitted to hospital in September 2015 severely malnourished and dehydrated. It was described by the paediatrician who examined her as being a potentially life-threatening condition.

Another serious case review was conducted into the death of a ten-week-old baby, Child G.

Child G was a twin born prematurely.

They lived with their mother, their father, their older half sibling, and that child’s father, who reportedly owned the home where they lived.

The father of the older child pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Child G in 2019.

The third Swindon review was into the death aged less than a year of a baby boy, Child U. The inquest into his death said it was unexplained.

The fourth review was conducted into Oxfordshire Social Services after the death of a five-year-old boy in early 2017.

Child M’s mother pleaded guilty to his manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was found to have been suffering from a serious mental disorder at the time when she killed her son.

A spokesman for the council added that the practice outlined in each of the historic serious case reviews does not reflect current practice and that all the learning identified by Swindon Safeguarding Partnership had been implemented and that comprehensive action plans were now firmly in place.

The full review reports on all four cases are available on the Swindon Safeguarding Partnership website safeguardingpartnership.swindon.gov.uk