Victory as social work chief sacked over Baby Peter set for £1m compensation

JUDGES have ruled that a former Children's Secretary overstepped the mark in sacking a woman whose department failed to protect Baby P from his killers.

The Court of Appeal yesterday found that Sharon Shoesmith, who was the head of children's services at Haringey Council in London, had been "unfairly" removed from her post.

The judges said that Ed Balls, who is now the Shadow Chancellor, had not followed procedure properly, and overturned an earlier High Court ruling.

Ms Shoesmith is now in line to receive 1 million in compensation because of the blunders made in her dismissal.

She lost her job in December 2008 after a damning Ofsted report into failings in her department surrounding the death of Baby P, 17-month-old Peter Connelly, who was subjected to sustained and severe abuse by his mother Tracey Connelly, her lover Steven Barker and their lodger, Barker's brother Jason Owen.

The boy had suffered 50 injuries despite receiving 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police over the final eight months of his life.

When he unveiled the Ofsted report in 2008, Mr Balls described its findings as "devastating" and announced that he was removing Ms Shoesmith from her post. The council then said it had lost confidence in her and completed her sacking.

• Sharon Shoesmith: 'Remove from post with immediate effect'

However, Ms Shoesmith, who was on 133,000 a year, had not been allowed to see the findings of the report beforehand and was not given a chance to respond.

Lawyers argued that Ms Shoesmith, 58, had been the victim of "a flagrant breach of natural justice" and that she had been driven from her post by a media witch-hunt and political pressure.

They asked Lord Neuberger, Master of the Rolls, sitting in London with Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Lord Justice Stanley Burnton, to rule that her sacking without compensation was so legally flawed as to be null and void, and that she still remained entitled to her full salary and pension from Haringey up to the present day.

Allowing her challenge, the judges ruled that both Mr Balls and Haringey had acted too hastily and in a way that was "procedurally unfair" because Ms Shoesmith had not been given a proper chance to put her case.

Lord Justice Kay declared: "Accountability is not synonymous with heads must roll."

They referred the case to the High Court for unresolved issues including compensation and denied the government the chance to appeal. However, Mr Balls yesterday insisted that he would have done the same again if faced with the same decision.

He claimed the decision would be "greeted with surprise across the country"."Ministers need to be able to exercise their legal duties and make judgments in the public interest based on independent analysis and advice," he said.

"That is what I did - and I am concerned that this judgment will make it harder for ministers to do so in future."

The government also made it clear that it would push for an appeal at the Supreme Court against the ruling, having won the first case in the High Court.

A Department for Education spokesman said: "The government thinks that it was right in principle for Sharon Shoesmith to be removed from her post as director of children's services.

"There are questions of constitutional importance involved in this case, beyond the specific question about whether Ed Balls should have had a further meeting with Sharon Shoesmith before removing her."

But Ms Shoesmith said that the ruling had vindicated her although she accepted she could not return to her old job at Harringey.

She said she was "over the moon" at the ruling, but her sorrow over the death of Baby P "will stay with me for the rest of my life".

She added: "People up and down the country are doing their best to protect children and their families, especially social workers, who do an often thankless task in very different circumstances."