High turnover of social workers slowing children's services improvements, Ofsted warns
Joe Lepper
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Ofsted has raised concerns that a “high turnover of social workers” is delaying Herefordshire County Council’s efforts to improve its "inadequate" children’s services.
The department was handed the inspectorate’s lowest rating in July 2022 amid concerns it is failing to protect children and blighted by delays and “weak” social work practice.
But following a monitoring visit in June inspectors have raised further concerns over the “continued” high turnover of social workers.
This is leading to “drift and delay for children and reduces the impact of leaders’ service improvement plans”.
Another concern is the impact on families with “chronic long-term needs” of a legacy of “poor practice over several years”.
Too often children’s cases are closed before effective action has been taken to improve their lives, inspectors also found following their June visit. This is leading to increased re-referrals.
Management support “is not yet consistently effective”, inspectors also warn.
“Some children experience chronic long-term neglect for too long without satisfactory sustainable change,” state’s a letter from inspectors to council leaders.
“When there are concerns about domestic abuse and substance misuse, over-optimistic risk assessments oversimplify the complexity of concerns about children and their families’ capacity to safely parent. Children’s wider needs are not well enough recognised and addressed, meaning that progress achieved remains fragile for these children.”
Despite the concerns, inspectors say that council leaders “have recognised the scale of improvement” and are implementing a “wide ranging improvement plan” adding that “positive progress is being made with some families”.
Action being taken includes forming an improvement partnership with Leeds City Council, where children’s services have been rated "outstanding" by Ofsted. This includes support from Leeds children’s services to Herefordshire’s frontline staff around their experience of improving help for young people and families.
“We know we are on the right path but that the pace of change needs to be quicker and improvements more consistently embedded,” said Darryl Freeman, Herefordshire’s corporate director for children and young people.
“Our new partnership with colleagues from Leeds City Council will be a huge help in this regard. The experience and insight they bring – having been on this journey themselves and helped other children’s services too – will be invaluable in building the service we all want to see.”
Herefordshire council leader Jonathan Lester added: “The findings show that there is still much to do but they also highlight a significant step forward.
“The improvement of children’s services remains the top priority for the council and we are determined to work with Ofsted and our improvement partners to secure a better service.”
