Police have ordered officers working with child abuse cases to take a much tougher line with social workers after the death of Baby P.

As relations between police and social services continued to deteriorate, ministers indicated yesterday that they were preparing to send a task force to take over Haringey social services because of the “systemic” failures that led to the death of Baby P.

One detective involved in the case — in which police concerns about the child being returned to his mother were overruled — was so angry with the way that it had been handled that he called for a public inquiry into the shortcomings at Haringey and the “failure” of council officials dealing with the case.

The Times has learnt that police are being urged to take a more robust approach if other agencies do not take heed of their child abuse warnings.

Senior officers from the Child Abuse Investigation Command have been told that if they are not happy with decisions made by social workers they have the “capability to request follow-up strategy discussions during complex or protracted investigations”.

A senior Metropolitan Police officer told The Times: “There have been lessons learnt and one is about the confidence of police officers and staff to challenge decisions made by other agencies.

“One of the recommendations in the review relates to the confidence of the police to seek updates and keep on at other agencies. We have already implemented and given training to officers on this.”

The relationship between the council and police was undermined further yesterday when Haringey claimed that there was a delay in the police investigation of “several months” as the case was transferred between officers.

Officers have responded that the only delay was while they were waiting for advice from the Crown Prosecution Service — and it was only a matter of weeks, not months.

Police had urged that Baby P be placed in care after he was admitted to North Middlesex Hospital in June 2007 with more non-accidental injuries. A confidential police report said that a “frank exchange of views” had occurred.

Senior officers have told The Times that they were “extremely frustrated and angry” that their concerns were rejected by Haringey council on two occasions in the months before his death. Despite the disagreement, police eventually agreed to a care plan that meant Baby P was returned home again.

Police and social workers clashed a second time over whether the mother of Baby P should be allowed to keep her newborn child, even though he had been born in jail.

As The Times reported last week, council officials did not want the new baby to be taken into care as they said it was “against the human rights” of the mother, but Scotland Yard officers eventually overruled Haringey on the issue.

Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, told MPs yesterday that initial reports into the tragedy showed that there were “failings of procedure and management” in Haringey, adding that he would “not hesitate to act”.

An aide to Mr Balls called the problems in the social services department “systemic” and said that the Children’s Secretary would act after the report by Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and police is submitted on December 1. He emphasised that no final decisions would be made until the report was complete, but said that the new management from other local authorities could take control of Haringey social services.

John Coughlan, director of children’s services in Hampshire, has already been brought in alongside the existing team.

Mr Balls said that he had asked Lord Laming, who is conducting a nationwide review of child protection, to examine whether new safeguards are needed to protect social workers from legal action if they try to remove a child from its parents.

Legislation will be published today to force social workers to co-operate more closely with doctors, teachers and key local figures. Mr Balls said that this would promote the “safety and wellbeing” of children.

He said: “The whole nation has been deeply shocked, appalled and angered by the tragic death of Baby P. I know members across the House who have been contacted by constituents to express their revulsion that a small boy could suffer abuse in this day and age and their disbelief that this could happen again in Haringey.”

But he refused a Liberal Democrat request for a public inquiry, telling MPs that the urgent nature of the issue meant having the multi-agency report that he had commissioned ready in two weeks’ time — with further investigation “if necessary”.

Calls for retribution to be taken against the boyfriend of Baby P’s mother have been made on various websites. One comment, which has identified the boyfriend, encourages prison inmates to attack the man.

Last week, the mother’s 32-year-old boyfriend and another man were convicted at the Old Bailey of causing or allowing the death of the 17-month-old Baby P under Section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. The law was brought in to prevent several adults blaming each other for the death of a child.

His mother had already pleaded guilty to the same charge, which carries a maximum 14-year jail term. All three will be sentenced next month.

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