Ofsted problems mount up over children's services inspections

The past six months have seen a number of questions arise over the future of Ofsted’s role in children’s social care inspection.

Stretched resources, a growing brief, raised ministerial expectations and a disconnect with children’s services have all prompted concerns that the Ofsted inspection system is not fit for purpose.

So in light of these challenges, what do children’s services experts think the inspectorate needs to do to overcome them?

Lack of resources

The three-year inspection cycle under Ofsted’s single inspection framework (SIF) was meant to be completed by the end of 2016.

But the SIF is so in-depth and resource-intensive that in two years, less than half of councils have been inspected and the deadline for all councils to be inspected has been extended to March 2017.

Earlier this month, CYP Now revealed that documents published in the summer showed Ofsted is “significantly under-resourced against agreed budgets”, forcing the inspectorate to shrink SIF inspection teams to make resources stretch further.

Ray Jones, professor of social work at Kingston University, says the strain on Ofsted’s resources mirrors what has been happening in children’s services departments over the past few years.

“Local authorities are really struggling to do what they need to do because of funding, workforce and workload issues,” he says.

“It does seems that all the inspectorates, not just Ofsted, are beginning to suffer what the organisations they are inspecting are experiencing.

“It would be helpful and wise if Ofsted made some strong statements on that.”

Maris Stratulis, England manager at the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), says Ofsted’s struggles suggest ministers may look at alternative, more efficient ways of delivering inspections.  

“Ofsted is clearly in transition,” she explains.

“Is there a bigger agenda of potentially reconfiguring Ofsted in another way such as introducing a tendering process [for inspections] in the future?

“There’s a national agenda for introducing tendering into social care – is there an agenda where Ofsted could come into that framework?”

Staffing issues

There have been a number of departures of senior Ofsted social care staff over the past year, while the skills of frontline inspectors have also been called into question.

Director of social care Debbie Jones resigned in May after 18 months in the post, then a month later, her interim replacement Kath O’Dwyer moved on.

Earlier in the year, Jacky Tiotto, deputy director of social care, also left to become director of children’s services (DCS) at Bexley Council.

Upon questioning by a parliamentary committee on what was behind the number of senior departures, Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw conceded there had been tensions in the leadership team over the organisation’s approach.

Ray Jones says the changes at the top show Ofsted “lacks continuity in terms of leadership and management”.

“It seems to have unsettled itself,” he says. “The national inspectorate doesn’t appear to have stability or the confidence needed to lead the sector.”

Meanwhile, David N Jones, chair of the Association of Local Safeguarding Children’s Board Chairs, says the changes at the top have created uncertainty.

“Senior people have a big influence in the future direction of the organisation,” he says.
“It is important that Ofsted can demonstrate the understanding of the sector that it regulates.

“People have been unnerved by changes and need Ofsted to demonstrate clear understanding of the sector.”

David N Jones, who used to be an Ofsted inspector, also warns that with large numbers of inspectors approaching retirement age, the inspectorate faces a major challenge to replace them.

Ofsted says it wants to recruit more inspectors from existing frontline social work practitioners, but Jones says that is no panacea.

“Ofsted thinks it will be strengthened by having more people with frontline experience, but it is a very demanding role and not every senior manager can do it,” he adds.

Multi-agency inspections

The pilots of joint targeted area inspections (JTAI) of safeguarding services, initially due to begin this year, have also been delayed until early 2016 after Ofsted struggled to find areas willing to take part.

Children’s services leaders have consistently voiced fears over the scope of the planned week-long multi-agency inspections.

Stuart Gallimore, chair of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services standards, performance and inspection committee, says: “The JTAI represents two additional inspections for local authorities involving the multi-agency JTAI and the single agency JTAI focused only on the local authority.

“This, along with the continued use of the SIF, would be unsustainable for inspectors and inspected, unaffordable to government and represent a significant increase in the inspection burden placed upon local authorities.”

Bexley DCS Tiotto, says there should be a rethink over the breadth and depth of what Ofsted inspects in children’s social care.

“I’d reduce down and not broaden out,” she says.

“What is on the statute books – services for looked-after children, child protection and supporting families so you don’t have to do that – would be a good package to focus on because there’s still weaknesses in those original services.

“It’s okay to do focused looks at bits of the system, but dangerous to do it when you haven’t resolved the policy or practice responsibility [of different agencies].”
 
Rising service expectations

Both government and society expects higher standards from children’s services, and Ofsted is playing a key role in delivering the judgments on which ministers base their decisions when deciding whether to intervene in councils deemed to be struggling.

With three-quarters of councils inspected under the SIF to date receiving a judgment in the lowest two categories, children’s services leaders are concerned that increased financial pressures will see more judged as failing and unable to meet the expectations of ministers.

The Local Government Association has called for Ofsted to take resources into account when delivering its judgments on children’s services departments, a stance backed by David N Jones.

“The government and Ofsted can’t expect there to be improving standards when the resources available are significantly reducing and they are managing increased demand,” he says. “It is difficult to square that.

“A number of people have already said to Ofsted it will have to form a view about what is reasonable resource.

“Ofsted can’t avoid commenting on the management of resources: not just the total amount, but also how the resources are managed.”

Ray Jones adds: “You expect a national inspectorate to be challenging, but you also expect it to be constructive. Ofsted is strong on the former, but lacks a view of the context and has become an inspectorate that lacks credibility.”


Ofsted analysis reveals extent of risks to the rigour, reputation and quality of its own work

Analysis of board meeting papers published by Ofsted in recent years lifts the lid on a range of issues being faced by the inspectorate.

Doubts over quality

In addition to highlighting issues the regulator is facing over completing the single inspection framework cycle, a strategic risk report that was presented to the organisation’s board in March discloses that there is also deemed to be a “high” risk that Ofsted will fail to produce inspection reports to the required quality.

Indeed signs of issues with quality are already evident. The papers reveal that in 2014/15, there were 87 complaints relating to social care inspections. Of these, five resulted in changes to the judgment grading and four resulted in further visits.

This is an increase on previous years. In 2013/14, there were three further visits and three judgments changed, while in 2012/13, there were two further visits, and two judgments changed.

Timeliness is also an issue. In 2014/15, eight per cent of children’s home inspection reports and 16 per cent of other social care inspection reports were published within the desired 25 days of an inspection taking place.

Threat to reputation

The document also reveals that there is a “high” risk that Ofsted’s credibility and reputation could be damaged among providers, parents and the public.

This represents an increase in perceived risk since a year earlier when a similar document deemed the risk to be “medium”. This comes despite efforts overseen by former director of social care Debbie Jones, who quit the organisation earlier this year, to address the possibility that Ofsted’s reputation suffered in the event of a safeguarding scandal.

“Ofsted’s credibility rests upon its reputation as an independent body making robust decisions in the interests of children and learners,” the document states.

“It is vital we have the support of the wider public and those who use the services we inspect and regulate.

“Problems with the consistency of inspector quality and judgments (either perceived or real) call Ofsted’s credibility as an independent body making robust decisions into question, particularly in relation to the safety of children.

“Historic cases with significant safeguarding concerns have recently come to light which could lead to concerns being raised about the robustness of Ofsted’s judgments.”

In March, the watchdog was heavily criticised by the Commons’ communities and local government select committee for failing to detect large-scale child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham. A report published by the committee on the child abuse scandal said Ofsted’s inspection framework at the time “lacked sufficient focus” on CSE.

Lack of rigour

Ofsted also deems there to be a “medium” risk that it fails to identify unsafe or under-performing providers. This could be as a result of an unsafe or under-performing provider being identified externally (in the press) or a provider judged “good” or higher subsequently failing or having reputational issues. There is also a “medium” risk that Ofsted could lack the funds to deliver what is needed to the quality required.

Concerns about finances were previously raised in a report that went before the board in June 2014. This document reveals that Ofsted was initially told it would be getting £165.7m for 2014/15, but this was later reduced by £4m to £161.7m. Its budget was subsequently cut to £142.8m for 2015/16.

The strategic risk report from March reveals that it has a number of contingency plans in place if it encounters serious financial difficulties. These include asking the Department for Education for more money, cutting discretionary spending on contracted staff, projects and events, and shifting funds from different areas of Ofsted.