Ofsted warns of slow progress at 'inadequate' council

Surrey County Council's children's services was handed the inspectorate's lowest grade in May, for the second time in four years, after inspectors found that vulnerable children were being left exposed to harm for long periods of time.

Following a monitoring visit inspectors concluded that the council is "not yet making sufficient progress" to improve services.

They are particularly concerned that children are being stepped down from child protection plans before there is strong evidence that the risks they face have diminished. Too often interventions for this group of children have to be stepped up again when concerns resurface, inspectors said.

"Too many children continue to be removed from child protection plans before there is substantial evidence that the risks they are facing have reduced or their circumstances have improved," a letter from Ofsted to the council outlining the findings states.

"This results in many children and families being placed on a plan for subsequent episodes. Some very young children have been the subject of repeated child protection and child in need plans."

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Inspectors also warned of a widespread lack of knowledge across the department of issues such as neglect and domestic abuse.

"Many social workers, frontline managers, child protection conference chairs and partner agencies have insufficient knowledge and understanding of the impact of cumulative neglect, exposure to domestic abuse and other adult difficulties on children," the letter states.

Inspectors did note though that the department is planning to introduce a streamlined service structure with smaller teams and caseloads, which aims to cut down on the number of social workers children see.

In March, former Association of Directors of Children's Services president Dave Hill was appointed as director of children's services at the council to turn around the department's performance.

A spokesman for Surrey County Council said: "We know there is much to do to ensure our services for children are the very best they can be and we fully accept these findings.

"Ofsted recognised we've put in place a new, highly experienced senior team to lead improvements and we're focused on building on the work that's already been started to ensure everything possible is done to support and care for children in Surrey."

Meanwhile, inspectors carried out focused visits last month to City of Wolverhampton's and Thurrock Council's children's services, looking specifically at children in need and child protection plans.

In Wolverhampton Ofsted found that timely decisions are being made following initial assessments of children. However, they also note that social workers do not spend enough time with children and are not taking into account historic factors in cases of neglect.

In Thurrock inspectors raised concerns about workload pressures social workers face due to an increase in referrals in recent months but welcomed measures taken by senior managers to address this by increasing social work numbers in assessment and family support teams.