DfE good practice council rated 'inadequate' for children's services

Inspectors found that the quality and impact of practice in East Riding Council had deteriorated significantly for specific groups of children since the last Ofsted inspection in 2016.

In 2018 the council was announced as one of eight new "partners in practice", as part of the expansion of a government peer-support programme that sees leading children's services departments work with other local authorities to improve standards.

The council had previously been rated "good" in 2016. But during the latest inspection, despite noting a strong network of early intervention services to support children and their families in their own communities, as well as some effective core social work practice in locality teams, Ofsted found "widespread weaknesses in practice and management oversight" for vulnerable children in need of help and protection.

Inspectors said thresholds for access to children’s social care services are not fully understood or applied by agency partners or by some staff in the council's early help and safeguarding team.

"Some children remain in early help services when the risks are too high," the inspection report states.

"The front door is not currently resourced sufficiently to meet the demand generated by increased contacts and referrals, and management oversight of the front door is weak. This is leading to delays in children’s needs being identified and responded to appropriately and to unassessed risk for some children."