In the latest report from Ofsted, outlining the findings of an inspection carried out between 14 and 25 February, Doncaster Children’s Services Trust was rated overall as "requires improvement to be good".
“Senior leaders in Doncaster Council and Doncaster Children’s Services Trust have together overseen a decline in the quality and impact of services for children, young people and their families since the last inspection in 2017,” it states.
The independent trust was set up in 2014 after Doncaster Council was stripped of control of children’s services amid concerns over the quality of its provision.
The latest judgement will come as a blow to the trust which had been judged ‘good’ by the inspectorate in November 2017, two years after being handed Ofsted's lowest rating in 2015.
The report highlights how contracted arrangements between Doncaster Council and the trust have “failed to sustain good help and protection, care and support” for many children and young people.
“Corporate parenting has not been effective in challenging and driving the quality of support provided to all children in care,” it concludes.
Leaders and managers’ “line of sight” to practice quality, performance and children’s progress and experiences is “significantly impaired” by a recently installed electronic management and recording system, the report explains.
“Many staff and managers are insufficiently trained to have the confidence or ability to use the systems well.
“Senior leaders have been ineffective in making improvements, and children’s records and many performance reports continue to be inaccurate,” it adds.
Furthermore, inspectors raised the issue of some children and young people continuing to experience “drift and delay" in their needs being responded to appropriately.
This was compounded by the legacy of poor planning and intervention, they said.
The inspection revealed the trust has only begun to be challenged by the council since July 2020, with the impact of this only recently gaining “traction”, inspectors added.
“A change in leadership at the trust has begun to address the shortfalls. Current trust leaders are now more open and transparent about the significant decline in children’s social care,” the report states.
The trust was however praised for its “effective partnership response” to Covid-19 that ensured services to safeguard children were maintained despite the restrictions.
Targeted investment was also found to have been made to increase capacity across early help, the multi-agency safeguarding hub and assessment services.
In terms of delivering better outcomes, the inspectorate said scrutiny arrangements between senior council leaders and the trust needed to improve.
There should be a better shared understanding and application of child-in-need and child-protection thresholds across agencies.
The quality and accuracy of children’s records as well as analysis of assessments could also be improved, it added.
