Slough's protection failings put children at risk

In a report published this week, the watchdog said inadequate practice was found in the council’s quality of risk assessment and care planning, managerial oversight, and challenge in case work.

Assessments and plans in a sample of cases were not reviewed to reflect changing family circumstances, while parents were also found to be unclear about the consequences of not improving situations for the children involved.

The "systematic failure" of some managers and independent reviewing officers was highlighted by inspectors, who said there was a lack of contingency planning for children subject to child protection plans over a number of months.

But the watchdog also praised the council for some effective practices such as the consideration given to equality and diversity issues, the contribution made by health agencies to the safeguarding of children and the involvement of young people in the evaluation of provision.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "During the Ofsted visit, we put together an immediate improvement plan to make sure that social workers and their managers showed that they had taken note of the lessons learned.

"We will be bringing together a group of people to oversee the improvements, including external experts and ensuring that our partners also fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities and assist in driving the necessary improvements."

Inspectors said Slough had been significantly affected by the comprehensive spending review, which resulted in a substantial reduction in revenue and capital funding through the formula funding grant. However, it went on to say that Slough had protected services of children and young people in view of the increasing demands on frontline social work.

The watchdog has called on the council to immediately undertake an audit of all children on the threshold of risk or subject to child protection plans to ensure they are being protected from serious harm and to ensure the serious shortcomings in quality assurance arrangements are addressed by strengthening management oversight.

The council has also been told to ensure child protection plans and written agreements with parents clearly identify what needs to change and what action is required.