Hull pledges £4.4m to improve 'inadequate' children's services
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
A council has committed to spend an extra £4.4m on its "inadequate" children's services amid concerns children are at risk.
Inspectors conducting a monitoring visit last month at Hull City Council, the second to be conducted since the provision was rated inadequate in May 2019, found that the progress and experiences of children in care have "significantly declined", since the previous monitoring visit.
"Leaders and managers have failed to appreciate the scale of the weaknesses and the resultant impact on children," the report states.
"Shortfalls identified at the time of the inspection have not been properly rectified. The number of children in care has been rising very quickly, at a rate more than double the national average. Leaders have not analysed this rising trend to help them to respond appropriately and address the underlying issues.
"Too many children come into care in an emergency even though many of these children are known to services. Some children do not come into care quickly enough, leaving them at risk at home."
The report reveals that managers at the council took immediate action to protect children after inspectors raised concerns about their welfare during the visit.
Inspectors also warned that caseloads for children's social workers have increased, and are now actually higher than they were at the last full inspection in 2019.
The report adds that there are not enough local homes for children in care to suit their needs.
"As a result, some children live in unsuitable and unregulated homes," the reports states.
"Brothers and sisters are not always able to live together as resources are not available, and too many children have lots of placement moves as a result of poor-quality matching.
"This does not provide them with stability or help them to form good relationships with their carers."
In response to the findings, Hull City Council said it will invest an additional £4.4m in children's services this year "to help meet the escalating demand on children’s services and to provide the additional capacity and resources needed to improve".
Meanwhile, Niki Clemo, former chief executive of Slough Children's Services Trust, will take on the role of director of children’s services, and all child protection cases are in the process of being reviewed.
The council said it is working closely with its improvement adviser, as well as the Department for Education, and regional children’s services networks in other authorities so that it can benefit from their support, experience and expertise.
Stephen Brady, leader of Hull City Council, said: “Our work to support children, young people and their families in Hull is paramount and today’s report is obviously a huge blow. On behalf of the council, I sincerely apologise that these essential services are not achieving the high standards required and want to reassure our residents that our top priority is to improve them.
“We are ensuring we have the right leadership, expertise and resources to support our staff and partners as we redouble our efforts to make the improvements needed and deliver the best services we can and that Hull’s children and families deserve.
“Although we recognise that these problems aren’t all about funding, we have already committed an additional £4.4m to support children in need of care.”