A FORMER social services chief believes that childcare cases need to be reviewed in light of the murder of “poor Arthur.”

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Governance and Audit Committee on Tuesday, December 7, the tragic murder of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes in Solihull, and its implications to social service departments all across the UK, were brought up.

The harrowing details of his tragic life and death shocked the nation.

At the meeting councillors were discussing complaints that Blaenau Gwent services had received from the beginning of April to the end of September.

Former cabinet member for Blaenau Gwent social services, Cllr Haydn Trollope pointed to two complaints that Children’s Social Service had received between April and the end of June this year.

Both complaints had been upheld, which means that the department conceded there had been a problem to address in these cases.

Cllr Trollope wondered whether these cases needed to be reviewed.

Cllr Trollope said: “Because of what happened to poor Arthur the young lad who was killed, there is a need to re-look at them and previous ones to see if there’s things we need to tighten up.

“There will be big scrutiny on Children’s Social Services throughout Britain because of this one case, we need to really look to make sure we have everything right.”

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Blaenau Gwent’s head of legal and corporate compliance and monitoring officer, Andrea Jones told the committee that she didn’t know the details of those two upheld complaints, but knew the department had “case conferences and discussions” on how a case had gone “right or wrong.”

Ms Jones: “You are right there will be a spotlight on social services, we all understand the pressures they are under and the difficulties they face.

“I can ask Tanya Evans (head of Blaenau Gwent children’s social services) to outline their processes and how they address complaints and what learning can come out of it.”

Cllr Trollope said “All social services across Britain need to check and look at their history.

“I 100 per cent believe there’s nothing wrong in Blaenau Gwent but there’s a duty for us to look, because of what has happened.”

On Friday, December 3, Emma Tustin was jailed for 29 years for murder, while Arthur’s father, Thomas Hughes, was jailed for 21 years for manslaughter.

Tustin delivered a fatal head injury to her stepson Arthur Labinjo-Hughes at her home in Solihull, West Midlands, during lockdown in June 2020.

The pair were also convicted of various counts of child cruelty against the boy, who had more than 130 bruises and was emaciated when he died.