Council moves from 'inadequate' to 'good' in just two years
Joe Lepper
Friday, July 7, 2017
Inspectors have praised swift improvements at a council's children's services department, which has been rated as "good", just two years after receiving an "inadequate" judgment.
Ofsted handed the children's services department at West Berkshire Council its lowest rating during an inspection in 2015 due to concerns that children were being left at risk of harm through delays, poor assessments and high turnover of staff.
But, following a visit in May, inspectors found that services are now "good", and gave particular praise to council leaders and senior management for swiftly addressing weaknesses and their willingness to innovate.
Ofsted, which in another report published today also rated children's services in Bath and North East Somerset as good, found that West Berkshire's workforce is now more stable than in 2015, quality assurance checks have improved, and social workers are working well with partners across health, education and justice.
Inspectors said the launch of a multi-agency safeguarding hub had sped up the assessment of cases where a child may be at risk of harm and ensures specialist support is deployed earlier.
Inspectors also welcomed a fall in the vacancy rate among social workers from 50 per cent in 2015 to 10 per cent, saying this had led to children being able to develop long-term relationships with social workers.
"The experiences of vulnerable children have improved markedly since the last inspection in 2015, when children's services in West Berkshire were found to be inadequate overall," Ofsted's inspection report states.
"Leaders in the local authority have worked proactively and successfully with partners, first to address critical weaknesses and, more recently, to deliver the changes needed to provide a consistently good service.
"Success in building a more stable workforce, better-quality assurance processes and an ambition to innovate and learn from others have hastened the pace of change."
Despite the praise, inspectors did highlight areas where further improvement is needed, including improving protection for young people who are vulnerable to child sexual exploitation (CSE).
They said a greater focus on ensuring return home interviews are carried out swiftly when a child goes missing from home or care is needed, and also found that analysis of CSE risks is "not robust enough".
West Berkshire's director of children's services Rachael Wardell said: "We were quick to speed up our changes following the last inspection and eager for Ofsted to return and see the progress we've made.
"We've worked hard to reduce the turnover of staff to give more continuity to the children and families we work with, to be more effective at checking we're meeting the standards we expect from ourselves and to look outward and learn from other authorities.
"I'm thrilled for our staff and delighted for our children and our families to say that our children's service is now good."
Bath and North East Somerset children's services' overall rating of good follows a visit over April and May, in which inspectors were particularly impressed with its work around adoption, which it rates as "outstanding". They found that adoption plans are well prepared, put in place quickly and adoptive families have good support.
However, care leaver services were rated as "requires improvement" due to planning around support being inconsistent and not always taking into account escalating risks.
