Solihull Council ‘must develop three-year plan’ to improve children's services

Sir Alan Wood, who was appointed by the Department for Education as commissioner of Solihull to oversee children’s services, said the improvement plan needs to address the areas identified in a critical Ofsted inspection report, in particular, the failures in effective management of key decision making for children.

Wood was appointed to undertake a review of Solihulll's children’s services amid concerns over a lack of progress to improve child protection support following the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes in June 2020. The six-year-old lived in Solihull and was neglected and abused in the months leading to his murder in June 2020. His step-mother Emma Tustin was found guilty of his murder and Arthur's father Thomas Hughes was found guilty of manslaughter.

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An improvement notice was issued to Solihull in February 2022 following serious concerns around practice. A Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) carried out by four national inspectorates found significant failings in the delivery of services to protect and safeguard.

A DfE review in September 2022 identified insufficient improvement, which led to the DfE's decision to appoint a commissioner, alongside a statutory direction. Ofsted carried out an inspection in early November 2022 published in January which judged Solihull Council’s services to children as inadequate.

In his review, Wood, a former president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, highlighted:

Lead safeguarding partners were not sufficiently prominent in overseeing the effectiveness of services to safeguard and protect children and they delegated these functions to colleagues.

A lack of effective leadership for a considerable period.

Instability caused by large numbers of agency staff with high levels of turnover.

Ineffective corporate parenting.

However, Wood highlighted that Solihull had started to see improvement in the quality and practice of social work across children’s services and the need to build a wide ranging early needs service.

"Getting these two areas working effectively will promote improvement across the range of service," said Wood, cautioning that children should be placed at the centre of its policy-making.

Wood recommended that Solihull Council develops a three-year financial and staffing plan for children’s social care to complement the implementation of the three-year improvement plan.

Furthermore, the council should implement "a dynamic recruitment and retention package" to create a stable workforce and reduce the reliance on agency staff.

The report outlines that Solihull should improve capacity at a senior level in children’s social care to ensure its stability, while a new comprehensive model of early help should be introduced.

Wood concluded that leaders would need to perform at the best level of public service leadership over the next three years.

Leader of Solihull Council, Councillor Ian Courts welcomed the report and accepted the recommendations, highlighting that a new leadership team is now in place in children’s services and recruitment for more social workers is underway.

“Investing in children’s services is our top priority, and following my recommendation, the council has recently approved over £25 million of additional funding for children’s social care," concluded Courts.