David N Jones, Chair of the Social Work History Network, remembers Herbert Laming.
Herbert Laming, former Chief Inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate and leading member of the House of Lords, died on 15 July 2026 at the age of 89.
Herbert was known to many social workers having started his career as a Probation Officer in Nottingham in 1961. He became Director of Social Services in Hertfordshire in 1975 and was Chief Inspector from 1991-1998. He was created a life peer in 1998 and played a significant role in the House of Lords, being at different times Convenor of the Crossbench Peers and Chairman of Committees. He became a member of the Privy Council in June 2014. He is perhaps best known as the author of the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié and the later report following the death of Baby P. He did not hold back from robust criticism of social services, including responsible local government politicians, when he thought it appropriate.
It has been suggested that he once summoned local political leaders from one council to a meeting after a very poor inspection report. The leader apologised, saying that the councillors were just not aware how bad things had been. Herbert apparently replied ‘I am shocked that you are shocked and that you did not know the poor state of services for which you are responsible’. That approach significantly changed political engagement with social services across the country and the relationship between local politicians and Directors of Social Services.
Herbert was an advocate for social services and social work in the House of Lords and nationally and retained his identity as a social worker. He took an interest in international policy, for example playing a significant role in the development of social work in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
His experience and wisdom will be much missed in Parliament, the profession and the country.
David N Jones is Chair of the Social Work History Network.
I wish to add another perspective to the role of Herbert Laming and his influence on social work and other professional child protection roles.
I had the privilege of knowing Lisa Arthurworrey over all the years since she gave evidence at the Victoria Climbie Inquiry until just a few months before her death last year.
I represented Lisa at the Protection of Children Act Tribunal hearing when she successfully appealed the government decision to place her name on the POCA list of adults barred from work with children. We presented the fact that at the time she was a social worker for Victoria (who Lisa always referred to as Adjo – her African name), Lisa had 23 child protection cases, was untrained in the investigation of child abuse, and very poorly managed. When I first met her she did not know what a Section 47 enquiry was. She was left on her own to present evidence at the Old Bailey trial of the ‘carers’ an experience she found deeply distressing. She was so traumatised and heavily medicated when interviewed by barrister Neil Garnham at the Inquiry that she could not respond to his questions. She was savagely blamed as a ‘murderer’ by mainstream media and had to leave her home and go into hiding. It took 10 years of campaigning for her to be recognised again as a social worker by which time it was too late for her to contemplate a return to her chosen profession. She regretted having lost her child bearing years and that very much upset her. Social work academics criticised her for her ‘racism ‘ without checking out her origins. Lisa was African Caribbean and African. Her father was Nigerian as the surname clearly stated. Lisa had considered whether Victoria’s deferential behaviour with her ‘carers’ was a sign of abuse or a cultural response. A reasonable question to ask. Yet she was widely accused of imposing her African Caribbean personal experience on an African child. This was unconscionable criticism and too much to bear on top of all else.
The tragedy of her death preceded that of Laming but should remain part of the ‘story’ that needs to be told. There has, as yet, been no book, film or documentary about Lisa and newly qualified social workers haven’t even heard of her – but I really valued my contact and friendship with her. I still have all the documentation should anyone wish to secure a different version of the events of that time. It was irony that Laming, in Recommendation 13, stated that the child protection register must be replaced with a more effective system. This was a disaster for children – the one protocol that might have protected Victoria was duly axed in 2008. The focus also shifted to police alone investigating crime – and social workers were instead to ‘assess need’. The dynamic professional relationship between police and social workers working together and training together to protect children was recklessly severed. Children at high risk of harm became the needle in the haystack – difficult to identify among the many ‘children in need’ and the response was ‘prevention’ wrongly defined as an alternative to ‘protection’. The language changed to ‘safeguarding’ and to speak of protection was frowned upon. I was told off by the NSPCC trainers, at a conference for child protection managers, for using the term ‘child abuse’. The Victoria Climbie Inquiry pushed forward a ‘prevention’ agenda at the expense of protection. This approach has had an profound and negative impact to this day.
Laming once told myself and Lisa Arthurworrey at a Climbie Memorial service – that he was not an expert in child protection and never had been and he advised us to speak to the Minister on the issue of the Register recommendation. As I write this many memories of those years, when I represented Lisa, come to mind and I feel very sad that she is not here to provide her own comments.