Doncaster to take back control of children’s services from independent trust
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Doncaster Council has announced plans to regain control of its children’s services after Ofsted criticised the standard of care under the country’s first children’s services trust.
Doncaster Children’s Services Trust (DCST), which was set up in 2014, will close later this year after Ofsted downgraded services from “good” to “requires improvement” with leadership rated as “inadequate” following an inspection in February.
“Senior leaders in Doncaster Council and Doncaster Children’s Services Trust have together overseen a decline in the quality and impact of services for children, young people and their families since the last inspection in 2017,” the report states.
The South Yorkshire council’s cabinet agreed plans last month to return children’s services to council control by September.
A report published by the council states that the “mutual” decision “would present the opportunity to achieve better outcomes for children and young people in the delivery of integrated services that accelerate the pace of improvement”.
The plans will also “help simplify processes and align service delivery to the wider council services and wider partnership”, it adds.
DCST’s services are also described as a “significant budgetary pressure” for the council, in its report, which reveals a projected overspend of £6.26m in 2021/22.
Debbie Hogg, the council’s corporate director of resources, told the cabinet that bringing services back in-house would see the council gain “considerable” financial benefits and improve frontline spending.
The report puts forward plans to seek “ring-fenced” funding for its children’s services in a bid to “retain independence” created by the trust.
It also pledges to transfer all jobs created by the trust back to council control to avoid redundancies as well as carrying out an “extensive” six-month consultation with staff.
“The transition by DCST into Doncaster Council will be driven by an improvement proposition that builds upon a shared ambition via a set of core values and a learning culture. The plan has clearly defined actions to drive change with tangible milestones over the next three years,” the report concludes.
Its publication comes just weeks after plans to hand over control of children’s services in West Sussex to an independent trust were shelved after “continued and secure progress” was made by the county council.
Currently, children’s services are run independently from council control in 10 areas: Birmingham, Kingston, Northamptonshire, Reading, Richmond, Sandwell, Slough, Sunderland, Windsor and Maidenhead and Worcestershire.
In January, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi announced that an independent trust would also be created to run Bradford’s children’s services.
