Council weaknesses 'leave children at risk', warns Ofsted

The inspectorate uncovered the problems at Swindon Borough Council during a visit focusing on the performance of its initial response to child protection concerns through its multi-agency safeguarding hub (Mash).

They found that social workers in the Mash are not always identifying whether a child is at risk of harm, which is leaving some in potential danger.

Decisions are not taken swiftly enough and managers and social workers are not considering all relevant information about children. Inspectors found that chances to intervene had been missed recently, as well as historically.

"Swindon's children's services were last inspected by Ofsted in 2014, when the overall effectiveness of services was judged to require improvement to be good, states the inspectorate in a letter to the council.

"Since then the quality of decision-making when children are first referred for help or protection has declined, and there are significant weaknesses in the responses that children receive.

"Social workers in the Mash do not always identify risk, and inspectors found some children at risk of harm.

"Many decisions made by social workers and managers are not sufficiently swift and do not take account of all relevant information. In some cases seen by inspectors, opportunities to intervene had been missed historically, and recently."

Ofsted notes that the council is aware of the problems with the Mash and has sought to make improvements. This has included commissioning internal and external reviews of its performance.

An improvement programme has already begun, with a focus on boosting senior management involvement in the running of the Mash and training for managers.

This focus on management is deemed necessary by the council as the director of children's services, David Haley, had recognised that the service, "lacked a culture of rigorous challenge and accountability by managers at all levels", according to Ofsted's letter.

However, the letter adds that such improvements "are not yet ensuring that the 'front door' is providing a consistently safe, well-targeted and timely response to children".

Mary Martin, Swindon Borough Council's lead member for children's services, said: "Although this is not a full Ofsted inspection and there is no overall judgement, the findings of this two-day focused visit are helpful as we focus on improving this vital part of the service.

"The issues raised were highlighted in our own detailed review and diagnostic of the service and we welcome Ofsted's input and will act on their assessment that the resulting changes are not yet embedded.
 
"We are already working extremely hard to bring sustained improvement to the way the Mash operates and I am pleased Ofsted has highlighted that we have strong corporate support and have a thorough action plan in place, recognising that such improvement programmes take time to ingrain within the organisation.
 
"With record numbers of children in care, both nationally and locally, the council is facing a huge challenge, but we have made great strides in recent months."