"Half of councils still fail vulnerable children", claimed The Guardian.
"Councils failing to learn from Climbie case", echoed The Times, as the Commission for Social Care Inspection published the third annual star ratings for social services in England last week.
But these headlines are not necessarily a true reflection of what's happening in children's services across the country.
David Hawker, director of children's services in Brighton and Hove and co-chair of the Association of Directors of Education and Children's Services, believes they are "much too simplistic", and says it is important to dig below the surface.
And while Hawker claims it is too early to tell what impact joining-up children's services will have on performance, some patterns are emerging.
Of the 35 councils with pathfinder Children's Trust status, trailblazers for integrated working, 28 received a rating of three or two stars. Only one, Ealing, received a zero star rating, although it is the only zero-rated council that is nevertheless considered by the commission to be serving most children well.
Commission rating
And on their capacity to improve children's services in the future, 33 of the pathfinders are rated as excellent or promising by the commission and only two, Sandwell and Ealing, as uncertain.
Overall, 68 per cent, or 102, of local authorities were awarded two or three stars for their performances, an increase of eight per cent since last year. A further 40 secured one star and the number of councils with a zero rating remained at eight.
David Behan, chief inspector of social services at the commission, says focusing on simple things drives improvements.
Tower Hamlets, a pathfinder Children's Trust and one of the most deprived areas in the country, shines through as one council that has done exactly this. In just three years its social services have been transformed from one to three stars.
"Partnership has been an important factor in gaining our three-star status," says Ian Wilson, Tower Hamlets' corporate director of social services. "It has enabled us to tap into energy and experience we might otherwise not have been able to."
Innovation and involving service users has also been crucial. For example, looked-after children said they did not like their looked-after children reviews. They suggested a different way of doing them, which the council is now piloting.
Wilson reports that children now say their reviews are much more productive and they feel empowered. Staff also say they prefer it and are finding the review meetings less boring and more productive.
Focusing on the recruitment and retention of social workers has also played a key part in improving performance in Tower Hamlets. The council has reduced its vacancy rates from 36 per cent in 2003 to 11 per cent in June 2004. All staff are employed permanently and no social worker has left the service in the past 15 months.
Wilson says this is because the council has competitive pay rates and spends twice the inner London average on training and staff development.
It has also invested heavily in recruiting and training people from the local community: 70 per cent of the 106 people entering a training programme for Black and minority ethnic residents were from the local Bangladeshi community and 16 per cent were from the Somali community. "Many live locally, speak the local languages and so are committed to the borough," adds Wilson.
Positive outcomes
Gateshead Council, also a pathfinder Children's Trust, is another authority to achieve three-star status this year, an improvement from two stars last year.
Keith Moore, head of services for children and families at Gateshead Council, says: "It's clear that our partnership working is central to delivering positive outcomes for children and young people, and colleagues in health are supportive."
One practical way councillors and officials have shown their commitment to looked-after children is by involving them in the council's scrutiny process.
"As often as possible, we try to ensure looked-after children attend committee meetings so they can communicate directly with the council about the issues important to them," says Moore.
But as children's minister Margaret Hodge recognises, there is still too big a gap between the best- and worst-performing local authorities.
"Poorly performing services are letting down children and this cannot be allowed to continue," she says.
The Children Act 2004 gives the Government new powers of intervention to help turn around councils whose star ratings show consistent underperformance.
Hodge insists that, where necessary, she will "take whatever action is needed to improve services for children".
The London Borough of Ealing is one of two councils to drop to a zero-star rating. But the council says it is vital to look behind the headline figure to see what is really going on. For example, it is the only no-star authority found to serve most children well, which compares favourably to the one-star authorities where only one of 40, Bracknell Forest, was found to be serving most children well.
It was Ealing's uncertain capacity for improvement in children's services that contributed to the overall no-star rating, in part a reflection of issues relating to the stability of the social services management team.
However, as councillor Martin Beecroft, cabinet member for independent living, says: "We now have a strong management team in place and we are confident of continued developments and improvements to our services."
According to councillor Alison King, chair of the Local Government Association's Children and Young People Board: "Despite funding shortages, uncertainty about the future, planning for the Children Act and recruitment difficulties in some areas, the results show that we are rising to the challenge."
STAR RATINGS
- This is the first time that the annual star ratings for social services departments have been published by the newly formed Commission for Social Care Inspection
- The star ratings, as well as reports on the performance of individual councils are at www.csci.org.uk.
