Ofsted slams poor practice at council where three children died
Neil Puffett
Friday, November 27, 2015
A children's services department that was providing support for three vulnerable children who died in the space of a month has been rated "inadequate" by Ofsted.
A report into Lancashire County Council's children's services department reveals that during the inspection, which took place between 14 September and 8 October, three children who were receiving services as children in need died in unrelated incidents.
"Inspectors looked at the social work records of these children with senior managers from the local authority, who agreed some of the practice was poor.
“Some of this poor practice was seen in a much larger number of cases where children had not been harmed.”
The report adds that although investigations into each of the deaths have been launched, they are at an early stage and it is too soon to establish if they could have been prevented.
Inspectors referred five cases back to the local authority where there were serious issues of concern and 11 cases where there were concerns that the service offer or risk assessment may not be appropriate for the child’s needs. In 13 of those 16 cases, inspectors’ concerns were substantiated.
“Although this is a small number of children relative to the population of Lancashire, elements of the poor practices in these cases were apparent in many others,” the report states.
Inspectors said their concerns included apparent failures to involve key agencies in strategy discussions at all stages of child protection enquiries, resulting in inappropriate decisions being made in some cases.
Meanwhile risk assessments were made without reference to or knowledge of relevant history, and complex work was being allocated to practitioners with insufficient qualifications or experience.
“Significant staff turnover, much of it due to internal promotion, has resulted in an inexperienced workforce covering a broad range of work requiring more detailed and specialist knowledge than it is often equipped to offer,” the report states.
In some cases there was found to be an over-reliance on parents’ compliance with written agreements to keep children safe.
Ofsted’s findings mark a dramatic drop in standards at the local authority. The report states that all services have “significantly deteriorated” since the last inspection of children’s services published in March 2012, when the local authority was found to be “good” overall with some “outstanding” features.
Lancashire County Council said that since being informed of Ofsted’s findings, the council has begun implementing a number of changes backed with new investment in services of £5m.
The measures include recruiting new social work and support staff to help cope with demand as well as the introduction of a range of extra training and support programmes. The council has also established a post-inspection improvement board with an independent chairperson to oversee work to deliver improvements.
Matthew Tomlinson, lead member for children and young people at Lancashire County Council, said: "The children and young people who need these services deserve the best care and support, and we are very sorry that in some cases they have clearly not been receiving it.
“The council must now act quickly and effectively to resolve the problems identified during the inspection.
"The inspectors did identify a number of strengths in the council's work. For example, they were positive about the way children and young people are listened to, and the way in which we are tackling child sexual exploitation.
"However, we need standards to be consistently high across all of these vital services and I am determined to make sure that happens."
