Ofsted rates council 'inadequate' amid concerns over leadership

Inspectors found that poor quality support for children and families provided by Gloucestershire County Council is leaving vulnerable children at risk. They added that standards had "deteriorated significantly" since another damning Ofsted inspection more than six years ago found its safeguarding services to be "inadequate".

Inspectors also raised concerns about "significant discrepancies" in some of the information provided to them by the senior leadership team, which they said brought the integrity of the department's leadership into question.

They added that senior managers do not provide an environment in which healthy challenge is present and social work practice is allowed to flourish.

"A high number of staff reported that they feel vulnerable, unsupported by senior managers and fearful of challenging or exposing poor practice," it adds.

A breakdown in the relationship between staff and senior managers was highlighted as a key area of concern by Ofsted, with inspectors revealing it had been inundated with whistleblowing concerns about bullying and a blame culture across the department.

Inspectors said staff feel vulnerable and unsupported by senior managers and are left fearful of challenging poor practice. Meanwhile, the social work team is blighted by a high turnover of staff and reliant on a large proportion of inexperienced social workers.

In addition, management oversight was found to be poor as it was failing to identify a raft of weaknesses across social work.

This includes children not being seen quickly by social workers, with delays leaving them "exposed to unassessed risk for far too long," Ofsted's inspection report, put together following a visit during February and March, states.

"Relationships between senior managers and practitioners have broken down," the report states.

"Inspection findings and staff feedback, as well as an unprecedented number of whistleblowing concerns, demonstrate that the management oversight of children's services is failing to protect children and families. 

In addition, child protection plans were found not to be clear or robust, resulting in repeat referrals and delays in care proceedings.

Looked-after children are also performing poorly at school, with attendance for children in Year 11 and above found to be poor, and variable attainment among children in care of all ages. 

While care leavers were found to be well supported by personal advisers, too often the council fails to keep in touch with them and inspectors were concerned that some are being placed in bed and breakfast accommodation, which they brand "unacceptable".

Identification and support for children at risk of sexual exploitation is improving, but the quality of help was found to be variable with too many young people not being offered a return home interview after being found. 

Although the council's leadership and child protection work was found to be "inadequate", inspectors praised the performance of its adoption team, which they rated as "good".

Stable management in fostering and adoption teams was found to be ensuring that children are being identified as suitable for adoption and placed in an adoptive home swiftly.

Gloucestershire County Council said that Alison Williams, previously director of young people and families at private firm Prospects, has taken over as the interim director of children's services.

Gloucestershire chief executive Pete Bungard said: "I am sorry that we have not supported our children and their families as quickly as we should have done.

"The Ofsted report states that we have been taking too long to make decisions and don't have the right procedures to highlight delays.

"Immediate action has been taken. We have changed the leadership of our children's services and are making fundamental changes to the way it works. We have brought in some of the country's top social work specialists to lead our 500 dedicated, passionate and committed social care and support staff."

He added that the council is working closely with the Department for Education, Ofsted and the Local Government Association and has already produced an improvement plan with their support.

The council has also agreed an additional £9.2m of funding for children's services to speed up improvement.

Gloucestershire's previous rating of "inadequate" followed a joint Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspection in 2010, which also found inadequate responses to safeguarding concerns and poor quality assessments that were leaving children at risk.
 
In February, neighbouring South Gloucestershire Council was rated as "inadequate" by Ofsted for the quality of support for children with disabilities.