Children's trust making positive start, Ofsted finds

Sandwell Council launched a children's trust in April to help improve standards in children's services, which were rated as "inadequate" in 2015 and again in January this year following a reinspection.

In its first monitoring visit since the trust was set up the inspectorate praised the new organisation for its "determination" to improve services and for quickly recognising the scale of work required.

This has included plans to tackle instability in the workforce and high social worker caseloads. Currently, a third of social workers are agency or interim staff and inspectors said caseloads are too high, which means staff do not have enough time with children.

Inspectors found that the trust is looking to improve its offer to social workers in order to attract and retain staff. A review of staffing levels and team structures is also taking place to reduce caseloads and bolster support from management.

"The trust has brought a renewed energy and determination to improve services for children and families in the borough," a letter to the trust outlining the findings states.

"Although it is too early to assess the impact of its work on social work practice, the trust has been quick to assess the scale of change required, and work to address the legacy of poor social work practice is underway. A positive start has been made to improve services for children and young people in Sandwell."

The letter adds: "Social workers and team managers feel positive about the changes made and the introduction of the trust. They see leaders as visible and accessible and a management grip on services is discernible. "

Progress has also been made by the trust in improving monitoring of the quality of work, through weekly performance meetings involving managers.

A new auditing tool is also being developed to monitor work and staff will have opportunitities to receive in-depth feedback and guidance after their work is audited.

Inspectors said such monitoring improvements are necessary as inspectors found that the quality of social work assessments remains poor.

"They are not routinely updated when children's circumstances change. This means that subsequent plans are made without full and up-to-date information," states Ofsted's letter.

The majority (86 per cent) of assessments are completed within 45 working days, but inspectors found that managers are not currently providing social workers with clear direction and timescales for their completion.

Following their visit to Sandwell in May, inspectors also noted that children's views are not consistently recorded.

Jacqui Smith, chair of Sandwell Children's Trust said: "The trust has given us the fresh start we needed in order to re-energise the workforce and focus on improving children's social care in Sandwell.

"As recognised by Ofsted, we have an ambitious improvement plan in place and are working across the trust to make sure this is implemented.

"Obviously we are not there yet and this monitoring visit from Ofsted has given us plenty to focus on."

Meanwhile, Wirral Council's children's services was also visited by Ofsted in May, for the sixth time since it was rated "inadequate" in September 2016.

Inspectors found that the council is making progress in improving support for children who need to be taken into care. They found that all social workers and managers know children allocated to them well.

"This was particularly encouraging with regard to older children who were reluctant to engage with social work support because of their previous experiences, with workers thinking sensitively about how best to build respectful and fruitful relationships with these children to good effect," states Ofsted's letter to the council.

Paul Boyce, corporate director for children at Wirral Council said: "We welcome the acknowledgment from Ofsted that we are making progress in improving services for the children we look after.

"This is the second successive positive letter from Ofsted and shows that we are doing the right things and are heading in the right direction in making the progress required to improve all of our services."