A leading MP demanded an inquiry after a whistleblower at Ofsted claimed an official report into Haringey council was secretly downgraded from "good" to "inadequate" because of the furore over the death of Baby Peter
Documents seen by the Guardian show Ofsted's initial 2008 report into Haringey children's services, then run by Sharon Shoesmith, gave it high ratings – three or four out of the maximum of four stars – in most categories. But in the key category it was later changed to one star – the worst, meaning its services were inadequate.
Any suggestion that Ofsted manipulated the report could have ramifications for the judicial review of Shoesmith's sacking, which is under way in the high court. Ofsted tonight denied the allegations.
Shoesmith alleges she was unlawfully removed from her job and that Ofsted caved in under pressure from the children's secretary, Ed Balls, in handling the case. She is seeking compensation.
The chairman of the children's select committee, Barry Sheerman, says an Ofsted official involved in producing the report has come forward claiming that the relegation of Haringey was done because inspectors were under pressure not to give the council a clean bill of health. The media had turned on Shoesmith and her handling of child protection services in the London borough, and an emergency inspection – a joint area review (Jar) – had identified severe failings.
Sheerman has written to Ofsted's chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, to demand an explanation for the changes. His letter says: "The information provided to me alleges that at a very senior level the inspection team were asked to re-evaluate their assessment using the same statistics and information and with no further visits. The report was rewritten with a very different set of scores and commentary.
"As these are such serious allegations and in view of current developments around the Haringey case I would welcome an immediate response."
Sheerman said that in several conversations the whistleblower said he had come forward because he had been troubled by Ofsted's behaviour. "Senior managers at Ofsted instructed inspectors to rewrite the report on the same information, changing everything because they [Ofsted] were more interested in protecting Ofsted than protecting children," the MP said.
Baby Peter died on 3 August 2007. His mother, her boyfriend and his brother were convicted on 11 November 2008, after which media scrutiny turned to the performance of Haringey social services. The claims over downgrading of grades relate to an annual review of the council undertaken by Ofsted at the time the story had become headline news.
The documents show the assessment went through at least three revisions between November and December and at each was marked down by Ofsted inspectors: the final two changes were made after the furore triggered by the court verdict.
In the first stage of the review – called an area performance assessment (Apa) - the council fills in a self-assessment. Haringey judged itself good in four of the seven categories and outstanding in three. A regional consistency panel, routinely convened to scrutinise self-awarded grades, met on 5 November and marked them down in two areas: both from four to three stars in an assessment of how well it was achieving children's "economic wellbeing" and in the capacity to improve.
The original report intended to judge Haringey's child safety record, the crucial measure which includes their child protection services, as good.
The whistleblower alleges that the report was then delayed and the schedule for review by Ofsted abandoned after the court verdict. Political pressure was intensifying with David Cameron embarrassing Gordon Brown at prime minister's questions. The emergency Jar, conducted by Ofsted, was demanded by Balls and, when it delivered its devastating verdict on 1 December, he forced Shoesmith out.
On 6 December Gilbert said in a Guardian interview that Apas were flawed but accused Haringey of manipulating the process to present it in a good light.
On 8 December, a new consistency panel marked Haringey down in all grades bar one, moving them from good or outstanding to failing in the three crucial categories: staying safe, overall effectiveness and capacity to improve. Those marks were revised again centrally by Ofsted. A draft final letter contains the panel's marks but the version sent to Haringey and published is lower, judging the council failing in four of the seven areas. A spokesman for Ofsted said the 2008 Apa was suspended because some evidence was "in doubt". It was re-established to take into account the emergency Jar. He said: "Ofsted completely refutes the allegation that it manipulated any results. No pressure was put on these inspectors to downgrade the Apa rating."
the high court heard the Ofsted team carrying out the Jar were shocked by what they found. Lead inspector Heather Brown said in a statement: "I was expecting and hoping to find that the case of Baby P was essentially an aberration. What we found was shocking, even for the highly experienced team that worked on the inspection."
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