The council worker who responded to a social services referral involving the teenage son of celebrity presenter Kirstie Allsopp has been defended by a major social work association.
The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) said widespread media coverage of the referral had lacked an appreciation of how ‘social work actually works’.
It comes after Ms Allsopp shared on X last week that her son, who was then days away from his 16th birthday, had returned from a three-week interrailing trip in Europe with his 16-year-old friend.
She then revealed that Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council had informed her that the matter had been referred to social services.
The celebrity said the referral had made her ‘very angry’, although she said she did not want to appear critical of ‘amazing’ social services.
Officials had not seemed to understand that she was probably targeted by someone falsely alleging neglect, Ms Allsopp said.
The BASW has come out in support of the social worker, saying that they ‘did nothing wrong’ and explaining that ‘if a referral is made it must be acted on when certain criteria is met’.
The association added that while social services do receive malicious referrals, staff would not be able to determine if this were the case without making initial enquiries.
A Kensington and Chelsea council spokesperson said: ‘We take any referral we receive very seriously and we have a statutory responsibility for children under 18 years of age.’
