Councils set to ditch DfE-ordered children's services partnership

In October 2017, the Department for Education ordered Torbay Council to allow Plymouth City Council to take charge of its children's services department in a bid to improve standards, with a single director of children's services taking responsibility for both services in July last year.

A review of the first year of the new arrangements, completed last month, found that despite some progress, the pace of improvement in Torbay needs to be significantly increased, while in Plymouth the focus should be turned to improving the education system.

"Given this, and the scale of the challenges facing children's services, the councils have jointly concluded that each authority requires a dedicated full-time director of children's services to provide the necessary strategic, visible leadership," a statement from Torbay Council said.

"The Department for Education supports this decision."

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Torbay Council's children's services was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted in 2015, and received the lowest rating again in June 2018. Last month, inspectors conducting a monitoring visit warned of a lack of progress.

The statement said co-operation between Plymouth and Torbay will continue and this will include maintaining a recently established joint strategic safeguarding partnership.

"The councils are working closely with the Department of Education to ensure a safe and smooth transition to the new arrangements for children and staff and Torbay Council children's services will remain under government intervention," the statement adds.

A report by Plymouth Council on the joint arrangements recommends that they be "drawn to a close by mutual agreement with effect from the end of January 2020".

The report outlines four main reasons for the arrangement not succeeding as planned: delays in backfilling vacancies in both councils; unprecedented budget challenges in children's services in both councils; a disappointing Ofsted assessment for Torbay in 2018; and a requirement to focus on education provision in Plymouth.

"At this point in the joint arrangement it's clear that some critical decisions need to be taken in terms of the next phase," the report states.

"Despite some good progress so far during the first phase, the original planning assumptions have proved to be incorrect and the number and scale of challenges that have emerged subsequently are unprecedented.

"This leads to the conclusion that the current arrangements cannot deliver what is required and are not viable.

"A series of options were considered that take into account the experience so far, the benefits, risks and costs of each option, and the requirements for success in terms of senior leadership capacity, which has proved to be an absolutely critical factor.

"It is clear that for different reasons in each authority a dedicated full-time DCS is required to provide the necessary level of focused strategic leadership."

A recommendation to end the joint arrangement and revert to each authority having a dedicated director of children's services is due to be considered by members of Plymouth Council's cabinet at a meeting on Monday (11 November).