LETTER : Action against child abusers

Sir: Hearty congratulations on your Saturday piece "Abusers' charter goes unchecked" (20 April). My professional association is extremely concerned about the lack of control over a small minority of professionals who exploit and abuse children as well as some adults with disabilities.

It is angry about the inability to deal with these colleagues and the worsening situation created by increased recruitment from the EU and elsewhere. For more than 30 years the British Association of Social Workers and its predecessors have pressed for a government-backed social work council to check this minority of colleagues and also for an additional year's training for social workers.

When BASW takes disciplinary action against allegedly errant members, some simply resign and go on practising. Successive governments have refused to take any action. We must now be given the tools to do the job.

David Brandon

Professor in Community Care

Chair, British Association

of Social Workers

Cambridge