The government is to issue Tameside council with an official improvement notice over its children’s care department, which has been repeatedly criticised by Ofsted.
Earlier this month the watchdog issued a report into the borough’s children’s services – which have been rated ‘requires improvement’ since 2019 – saying political and corporate leaders did not know their service and the impact on children ‘well enough’. Following a focused visit assessing the ‘front door’ of the department, Ofsted also said the response to some children ‘at immediate risk of harm had deteriorated’ since its last inspection in 2021.
After the publication of the report, Andrew Gwynne, the Labour MP for Denton and Reddish, called for Tameside’s children’s services to be taken out of the council’s hands and placed with an independent trust. He had said the service is currently ‘letting children and families down’.
