DfE appoints commissioner at 'inadequate' council

An inspection of provision at Croydon Council found that children were being left at risk of significant harm due to "widespread and serious failures" within the children's services department.

A report outlining the findings said inspectors identified a "legacy of poor practice characterised by drift and delay in the provision of key services".

"Weak managerial oversight at all levels has not ensured that basic social work practice is of a good enough standard," the report states.

"Children do not receive robust and timely responses to ensure that risk is reduced and their needs are met."

Ofsted said the local authority was made to take immediate action in a small number of cases identified by inspectors during the inspection.

Children's services in Croydon had previously been rated as "adequate" in 2012, but inspectors said there had been a "significant deterioration" in the quality of services since then.

"The workloads of social workers in some teams are high and this presents a serious barrier to providing effective services for children," the report states.

"The turnover of staff in many teams, coupled with the many transition points, further inhibits the building of trusting relationships between social workers and children."

Particular concerns were raised about the councils' response to child sexual exploitation.

"Too few children looked after who go missing are spoken to when they return, therefore the understanding of associated risks is weak," the report states.

"While strategic partnership understanding has improved, the response to children who are at risk from sexual exploitation is underdeveloped.

"When circumstances for some children do not improve, the local authority is either too slow to take action or reduces the level of support without evidence of demonstrable progress. This means that some children remain in harmful situations for too long."

The inspection findings, which saw Croydon rated as "inadequate" across all three key judgment areas of child protection, children in care, and leadership, have prompted the DfE to appoint Eleanor Brazil to act as children's services commissioner for the borough.

Brazil, who has acted as a commissioner in a number of local authorities in recent years, has been asked to prepare a report by 4 December 2017 on whether alternative delivery arrangements are necessary.

Croydon Council said it has taken immediate action to improve in the wake of the inspection findings.

Barbara Peacock, executive director of people, said: "We accept the findings of this report and are committed to making sure that we provide better support for our children and young people. I'm sorry that our services have not been good enough.

"We identified the need for improvements last year but despite working extremely hard to make these necessary changes, they have not delivered the impact we wanted.

"The report has shown the extent of work that is needed. Much of this work is already under way but we recognise there is a lot more to do and we are working with Ofsted to create an improvement plan to drive through those changes.

"So that we and residents can feel reassured about the safety of all the young people we are involved with we are reviewing cases and are taking immediate action where we do find issues to address."