DfE: Progress on children's services in Birmingham ‘too slow'

In a statement issued shortly after CYP Now revealed that an independent trust will be established to deliver children’s services, the Department for Education said that although some improvements have been made, it has been unsatisfied with progress.

“Nothing is more important than keeping children safe,” a DfE spokeswoman said.

“Although Birmingham City Council has made some improvements to the way it runs its children’s services, we know this progress has not gone far enough, fast enough.

“The council recognises this and that’s why we are working together to look at the steps that now need to be taken to make sure children and families in Birmingham receive the best possible care and support.
 
“The Prime Minister was clear that we cannot tolerate failure in children's services. That is why we are looking at the best next steps including moving towards a voluntary trust.”

Children’s services in Birmingham have been rated “inadequate” since 2009.

Birmingham Council has said it has been in talks with the DfE “for some time” about potentially establishing a children’ services trust.

Ray Jones, Professor of social work at Kingston University, who was drafted in by the government in 2013 to oversee improvements at Sandwell Council, said the decision to create an independent trust is unlikely to result in service improvements in the short term.

"I think that, given time, [Birmingham] would have sorted itself out," he said.

"Moving to an independent trust will take time and attention away from delivering children's services and, in the longer-term, it will add some confusion in terms of accountability. Although services will be delivered outside of the council, the council will still hold statutory responsibility for the service.

"It will add complexity and complications, and there is a danger that, in the short-term, it will distract from attempts to improve children's services."

Two independent children's services trust have been established so far - one in Doncaster and one in Slough.

Slough’s most recent Ofsted inspection, conducted around two months after the trust was established, found that the authority was still “inadequate”.

Doncaster Children’s Services Trust, which launched in October 2014, was also found to still be “inadequate” following an inspection in September 2015, although a number of improvements were noted.

Jones said: "The experience of Doncaster and Slough is that the attention given to setting up a trust might delay some of the changes which might need to be made to promote improvement."