Nottinghamshire to boost safeguarding and cut youth budget

The Ofsted unannounced inspection, published today, found the county’s response to child protection referrals does not meet statutory guidance and does not ensure that children are adequately safeguarded.

Inspectors said referrals were sometimes closed prematurely without children being seen and some assessments were not undertaken until some months after the referral had been received.

On the day of the inspection, concerned inspectors referred five cases to senior managers for urgent review of decisions made about risk of serious harm to children. The report said that the council responded quickly to these concerns, with one visit taking place that day.

Nottinghamshire County Council said that it had seen a 43 per cent rise in referrals of children at risk in the past 12 months and announced a safeguarding improvement programme set up to oversee all work to strengthen and improve the service provided to vulnerable children and their families.

Anthony May, corporate director for children and young people's services, said: "The shortcomings in the service are unacceptable. I am not happy with what the inspectors found and that is why I have set up the Safeguarding Improvement Programme. It will be overseen by councillors, independent advisors and expert professionals."

Yesterday the council announced that it planned to invest an extra £1.7m a year in child protection services. The local authority also plans to invest £3.1m in specialist placements for children in care.

As part of a savings drive, the council wants to cut youth service budgets by £401,000 and Connexions budgets by £315,000. It also plans to save £30,000 from the county’s teenage pregnancy team, make some reductions in play service grants, and take away funding for some school out-of-hours services.