Liverpool City Council's child services department has been slammed as 'inadequate' in a damning inspection report.
An inspection of the crucial council department took place in March, covering all aspects of children's social care and early help and found the service to be failing. The inspection cited 'serious weaknesses' for children who need help or protection, 'which leave children being harmed or at risk of harm.'
In total four out of five areas of the service were branded 'inadequate' in a damning assessment of the council-run service.
The inspection rated the council as providing inadequate services for the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection, the experience and progress of care leavers, the impact of leaders on practice with children and families and for its overall effectiveness of the department.
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The experience and progress of children in care was rated as 'requires improvement to be good.'
Ofsted raised concerns about capacity, workload, delays in ensuring the needs of children are met and child protection, concluding that there are ‘serious weaknesses for children who need help and protection, which leave children being harmed or at risk of harm’.
They have listed 11 areas of improvement including caseloads and supervision; identification and response to risk; the quality of social work practice; support, advice and guidance for care leavers, robustness of senior management oversight and the quality of information for care leavers.
The service was judged as requiring improvement following an inspection in 2018 but inspectors said there has been a 'deterioration in the quality of practice' since then.
Senior leaders are picked out for specific criticism in the report, accused of 'not being aware of the current practice deficits or the impact on children.' This is blamed on a 'previous lack of senior officer scrutiny and challenge.'
The inspection identified 'serious weaknesses' for children who need help and protection, which leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The report added: "Risk is not always recognised and when it is, the response is not always sufficiently robust, leaving these children without sufficient or timely protection."
The hugely critical report means that an improvement plan will now be put in place before September, approved by the Department of Education and Ofsted. An Improvement Board will be set up to oversee progress and track milestones.
One positive note in the report found that the council’s early help offer is ‘effective’, and the work to support children who are at risk of immediate harm is ‘mostly swift’.
The response to homeless 16- and 17-year-olds was also praised, while children who go missing from education were found to be ‘robustly tracked and monitored’. And most children in care were found to be ‘safe and settled where they live’, although some were found to wait too long for permanent matching.
The report notes that interim chief executive Theresa Grant has “substantially accelerated the pace of improvement through additional financial investment and securing increased social work capacity, and [that] work is under way to address placement sufficiency issues”.
New council leader, Cllr Liam Robinson, said: “I was deeply concerned to read the Ofsted report, and share the concerns of the whole city.
“We have been letting down our most vulnerable children and young people, as well as their families which is completely unacceptable. As a new Leader working with a new Cabinet and new Senior Management Team, we are determined to put this right.
“We have a new dedicated children’s social services lead, Cllr Liz Parsons, who has professional experience in this area, to help drive forward improvements.
“There is no greater responsibility for a council than being the corporate parent for young people who need support, and we owe it to each and every one of them to deliver the best service we possibly can.
In a joint statement, Theresa Grant and incoming chief executive Andrew Lewis, said: “We recognise that people will be rightly concerned about Ofsted’s findings.
“It is in no way a reflection of our frontline social care staff, who are absolutely dedicated to keeping our young people safe. A huge amount of work has been taking place in recent months to tackle the issues that have been identified.
“We have already made progress in creating additional capacity, and work is under way to implement a new social work practice model which will make a huge difference to the support that our most vulnerable young people receive.
“The Improvement Plan will be implemented later this year, overseen by a new Director of Children’s Services who we are currently out to recruitment for.”
Responding to the report, new Liberal Democrat and opposition leader Cllr Carl Cashman said: "‘It is shocking to read a report stating that there are serious failures to safeguard our children.
"The council senior team needs to take a long hard look at themselves and reflect on how they can turn this around as quickly as possible. Having many social worker friends, you only need to speak to them to see how overworked they are in Liverpool. For them I’m sure this Ofsted report would have been a long overdue vindication. The council senior team needs to listen to their staff."
"The council has been trying to get a new director of children's cervices since February. My concern now is that this vital service has been neglected because of the emphasis of the Caller Report and the work of the Commissioners. All the emphasis has been on the crisis in regeneration and finance. In the meantime an unseen crisis has been building up in the care services of those who need us most and whose lives will be blighted by the incompetence of the council."
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