ONE of the findings of the report into the handling of Rabina Hashim's case by care workers revealed that the family did not have a replacement social worker once the one allocated moved away.

The failure -- said to be partly due to staff shortages -- lead to disciplinary action against an officer, who was moved away from child protection work.

In a prepared statement for the press at the time the report was issued, in March this year, the chairman of Lancashire's Area Child Protection committee, Gill Rigg, said the circumstances surrounding Emma Jade's death were "clearly tragic."

On the findings of the inquiry she said at the time: "Whilst the report is undertaken with the benefit of hindsight, it has concluded that whilst errors were made in this case, it would appear that none of these directly led to Emma's death.

"However it is possible that a greater oversight could have led to recognition that her mother's mental health was deteriorating."

A further statement from Lancashire Social Services added: "The social worker originally involved did move elsewhere. The case was not allocated to another social worker.

"It should have been and the fact that it was not had a bearing on the action taken against the officer.

"There were some staff shortages in the relevant team at the time but the case should have been allocated."