Hull City Council hits back at union claims of bullying culture
Dan Parton
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Hull City Council has hit back at trade union claims that social workers have been bullied following a recent downgrade of its children's services rating to "inadequate".
The local branch of Unite claimed that council chiefs have sought to blame social workers and managers for the problems that led to the damning Ofsted report, published this month, which found leaders had failed to address weaknesses in the recognition of risk to vulnerable children.
The union accused council chief executive Matt Jukes, and children's services lead member, Peter Clark, of not doing "nearly enough to shore up the service" and called for a "managerial seachange".
It said they have imposed "year-on-year cuts to the service's budget" - despite increased demand. In January 2016, there were 627 children in care, rising to 799 this month, according to the union.
The lowest rating comes two years after the appointment of director of children's services Alison Murphy in May 2017.
In its strongly-worded statement, union representatives also claimed the council had delayed publication of the report by three months, while senior management were "splitting hairs with Ofsted".
It said: "Unite believes this wrangling was more about saving the reputation and careers of senior staff who are largely unchanged since the previous Ofsted inspection in 2014 and also avoiding the inevitable bad publicity for the council.
"A pile of blame has been heaped unfairly on team managers and frontline staff with suspensions rife.
"Staff are facing demands and threats to complete tasks - they are shattered and demoralised."
The city council said in response: "We would like to make clear that we dispute the claim that there is a culture of bullying within children's services.
"We take all reports of bullying extremely seriously and all complaints are investigated fully.
"Our recent staff survey showed that social care staff feel supported and during their January visit Ofsted also found this to be the case."
Addressing the union's claims around the budget, the council said these are "factually incorrect".
"Over the past three years, the council has injected an additional £13m each year into children's services and has committed £2m to improvements in key areas over the coming year," it said.
The row erupted after Ofsted published the findings of its inspection carried out between 14 and 25 January, which found that some children are left in "harmful situations, or at risk of harm, for too long".
The report adds: "Too many children do not get the help they need at the right time."
It also found "widespread and serious failures in the recognition of risk". This was an area of concern highlighted in a previous report published in February 2015.
While the report acknowledges that leadership has been strengthened in some important areas, these have "not sufficiently addressed the weaknesses in frontline practice and management oversight, in particular for children in need of help and protection".
The report also said that arrangements to safeguard children with specific vulnerabilities, such as disabled children, children living in private fostering arrangements, and 16-year-old homeless children, are ineffective.
While high-level improvements, such as in performance information, are helping to give senior leaders and politicians a greater understanding of the challenges children's social care faces, inspectors criticised the council's focus.
"Priority was given to a restructuring of the social work fieldwork service," said the report.
"However, not all children benefit from safe and effective social work.
"While senior leaders have focused on these high-level improvements, the experiences of children have not been given sufficient priority."
The impact of leaders on social work practice and the experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers were both rated "requires improvement to be good".
Among the areas highlighted for improvement are the quality of children's assessments and plans, as well as understanding the impact of adverse experiences on children.
Jukes described the judgment as "hugely disappointing" adding that the council was "committed to making the necessary improvements".
He continued: "With a committed team and, in particular, our hard-working frontline staff, along with strong support from our partners in the police, health, schools and the community and voluntary sector, our relentless drive for improvement will continue and we are confident that we can build on the progress we have made so far."
Murphy said: "We have made significant strides since the inspection and the conditions for further rapid improvement are in place."
