North Somerset: Vulnerable childrens' needs secondary to parents', Ofsted finds
Nina Jacobs
Monday, February 14, 2022
Inspectors have criticised children’s services at North Somerset Council for putting children’s needs and the assessment of risk for some young people “secondary” to the needs of parents.
In a letter to the authority following a focused visit on 7 and 8 December, Ofsted said there had been “little progress” in the quality of social work practice to improve the experiences for children in need of help and protection since its last inspection in March 2020.
At the time, the inspectorate handed down its second lowest rating to the authority judging its children’s services as “requires improvement to be good”.
Following the most recent visit, inspectors identified “weaknesses” in social work practice, management oversight and supervision.
While no children were found to be at immediate risk of harm, child protection plans were too wide-ranging and lacked timescales and contingency measures to ensure progress, the letter says.
Despite the commitment of social workers to supporting children and parents, it highlights how some children in need of additional help and protection experience repeated episodes of child protection planning and, in some cases, for short periods.
“This is because decisions are often focused on recurring incidents and parents’ needs rather than a thorough analysis and understanding of the experiences and histories of children, and the detrimental impact on their lives of harmful parental behaviours, “ the letter explains.
It goes on to describe how Covid-19 has had a “personal and significant” impact on staff with a number of them shielding during the early stages of the pandemic.
But senior managers were praised for responding by prioritising the needs of the most vulnerable children through increased visits as well as being mindful of staff safety.
Staff were also supported with protective equipment and flexible ways of working, the letter adds.
Inspectors highlighted evidence during the December visit of social workers going that “extra mile” to continue working virtually to support children despite the challenges caused by the pandemic.
“Social workers report that they enjoy working for North Somerset children’s services and value their smaller caseloads.
“They spoke a lot about relational and strengths-based social work and were enthusiastic about this approach,” inspectors said.
However, they concluded the quality of supervision was inconsistent and the impact of children’s experiences was not sufficiently considered.
Outlining a series of recommendations, inspectors said the council needed to improve the analysis and management of risk to children as well as management oversight of safeguarding practice, including supervision of staff.
It should also improve the quality and timely implementation of plans for children and quality assurance arrangements of social work practice.
The inspectorate noted that a restructure of senior managers, services and staff sickness in a key role had slowed the pace of improving social work practice.
“The local authority’s chosen model of practice and improvements identified at the last inspection are yet to be embedded. The workforce is generally stable with a low use of agency staff and low caseloads,” it said.
