Children are being left at “continued risk of harm” even after the department is made aware of their need for support, inspectors found following their visit in July.
They have downgraded the department to “inadequate” for both overall effectiveness as well as its quality of support for children in need of help and protection. After its previous full inspection in 2018 it had been rated at “requires improvement” by inspectors.
Ofsted’s findings come as the government considers deploying commissioners to run Nottingham City Council amid “historical financial and governance failings”.
The council has been given a three-month warning by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to improve.
Previous failures by the council to protect children had been highlighted during a focused visit in February 2020.
But improvement has since been “slow and uneven” and hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic, said inspectors who also noted the impact of the death of a senior manager in children’s services on colleagues and the service.
Child protection support has worsened, they found, and is now “too slow to identify and respond to risks of harm to children”.
Inspectors detail “significant, widespread and systemic,” weaknesses in the city’s multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH). This is leaving some children in need of protection having to wait up to six weeks to be seen by a social worker.
“The majority of contacts in the MASH are delayed and not processed within timescales appropriate to the risks and needs of children,” says Ofsted in its inspection report.
Other concerns raised include “inconsistent” oversight of work and supervision by managers, with social workers not being supported effectively.
Staff turnover is too high, and the council is beset with failures to support homeless 16- to 17-year-olds.
Despite concerns raised inspectors note that a new senior management team is in place and “has a sound understanding of the challenges it faces”.
Cheryl Barnard, the council’s children, young people and schools portfolio holder, has apologised and pledged to improve support to ensure children are safe.
“I am sorry that some children are not getting the right help at the right time and I accept that our overall performance is not where it should be,” she said.
“We accept the findings of the report and are committed to improving – and will work with all concerned to continue to keep our children safe.
“We’ve taken immediate action over the summer to make swift improvement in key areas, such as engaging more agency social workers to support whilst we recruit more permanent staff.”
In addition she has pledged to focus recruitment of permanent staff on improving management oversight of “decision making when information is first received by children’s services”.
