Bristol children, young people, and their families do "not receive consistently good services", a recent Ofsted inspection has found. The report on Bristol City Council's children's services found that although council leaders have made significant improvements, three out of five key areas still need improvement.
The aspects requiring improvement included the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families, the experiences and progress of children who need help and the service's overall effectiveness. The experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers were both found to be 'good'.
The report particularly noted that assessments of private fostering arrangements were "not robust" and that not all safeguarding checks were completed before children’s placements were approved. It also found that leaders were not fully aware of these shortfalls.
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During the inspection, which took place in January, there were concerns that the response to young people who are homeless was "inconsistent", with the report saying that some children aged 16 and 17 are not helped into safe and secure accommodation at the earliest opportunity or afforded an assessment of their immediate vulnerability.
At times, the report said that initial contacts about children do not progress to being accepted as referrals quickly enough creating delays for some children in receiving help and support. Senior leaders were thought to be aware that initial health assessments for children coming into care are often significantly delayed, preventing the identification of possible health conditions at the earliest opportunity.
Overall it highlighted that council leaders had made significant improvements since the service’s previous inspection in 2018, including in the quality of support provided to children in care and for care leavers, but noted that more needed to be done to ensure that children benefit from consistently good support.
In the areas where the service is performing well, the report said that children looked after by the local authority are mostly settled and are making good progress. Most children were found to benefit from consistent caregivers, live in stable homes, and their needs are regularly reviewed.
Meanwhile, care leavers were seen to be very well supported via thorough and coordinated transitions. The report found those leaving care were consulted about the service and aspired to achieve a sense of belonging in Bristol for all care leavers.
Bristol's innovative ‘Weapons in schools programme’, which aims to prevent children from being criminalised should they bring weapons into school, was cited as "highly effective", and the work of social workers and support staff were particularly praised. The findings said that social workers took time to understand what life is like for young people and help improve things, often speaking with pride and care about those they work with.
The inspection by Ofsted took place against the backdrop of four different people holding the director of children's services role in the past 12 months. The current director Abi Gbago was appointed in December 2022 and very quickly began conversations to ensure that services for children become more joined across the council. But the report said it was too early to measure the impact of this.
Bristol City Council and local area partners will now work together to produce an action plan in response to this report which will be submitted to Ofsted by the end of June.
Councillor Asher Craig, cabinet lead for education, children services and equalities, said: “I welcome this report and its findings and fully accept that there are areas of our Children’s Services where we must work and build on to ensure that all our children and families receive a consistent level of support. We have a dedicated, caring and talented Children’s Services team who put families first. Children and families are a key focus for us which is underpinned by our Belonging Strategy, and I am confident that we have a committed senior leadership team in place which is passionate about making the changes needed, with a strong vision for the future of children’s services in Bristol.”
Abi Gbago, the newly appointed executive director of Children and Education, said: “I am pleased that inspectors have recognised the significant improvements that have taken place since their last inspection. In the short time that I have been here I have been really impressed by the level of expertise and compassion across the teams and I know we have a strong commitment to our vision for Children’s Services from city leadership. We fully accept the findings of the report and are clear on the steps we need to take to deliver the improvements required whilst building on our strengths.”
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