Following an inspection of children's services at Buckinghamshire Council, from 6 to 17 December - the council's first full inspection since becoming a unitary authority in 2020 - the inspectorate said that while services were no longer "inadequate", further improvements are needed for it to be rated as "good".
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Opportunities for children’s services in Buckinghamshire to improve had been limited by the “depth and extent of poor social work practice" dating back to a previous inspection in 2017 combined with “acute and persistent” difficulties recruiting and retaining social workers and frontline managers".
“These challenging conditions have been compounded by the pandemic, particularly a large and persistent increase in demand for children’s services following children’s return to school,” a report by inspectors said.
Inspectors drew particular attention to the fact no children were identified as at immediate, unassessed risk of serious harm.
There were also no widespread or serious failures for children seen across the council’s range of services for young people.
Ofsted rated children’s services in Buckinghamshire as "inadequate" after an inspection in November 2017 where it found progress in improving services to be “inconsistent and too slow”.
In its most recent assessment of the service, it highlighted how many children, particularly those being seen by the help and protection teams, had experienced too many changes of social worker.
“This means that the help they receive is fragmented and episodic rather than carefully planned and underpinned by continuous strong professional relationships,” said inspectors.
Some children in care also made unfavourable comments about their frequent change of social workers, they added.
Senior managers were praised for establishing a “comprehensive and rigorous” set of performance measures which gave them a “sound understanding” of the services provided for children.
“However, this data is not always used to full effect to provoke enquiries into some significant practice areas that inspectors highlighted, including a persistently high rate of re-referrals and unsuitable accommodation for a small number of care leavers,” the report explains.
Despite this, the service was commended for regular and “forensic” levels of scrutiny that had promoted improvement in the circumstances and experiences of many children.
“This approach embraces managers at every level and has enabled leaders and managers to have a more collective, shared culture in understanding and addressing difficulties,” the report adds.
Ofsted said it recommended a number of improvement actions to the council including reducing a high rate of re-referrals and assessments that resulted in no services being provided for children and their families.
The cumulative impact of earlier interventions and family histories in children and family assessments could also be improved along with the quality of social workers’ direct work with children, it added.
Inspectors also noted that children’s services had received considerable additional investment following the recent unitarisation of the council.
Furthermore, social workers and managers attended a wide range of training and development opportunities.
“This has continued to promote their professional knowledge and development. Despite the intensive workload demands, most social workers like working in Buckinghamshire and reported that their managers support them and help them prioritise their work,” the report concludes.
