An MP has called for Tameside’s children’s services to be taken out of the council’s hands after Ofsted issued another scathing report on the department.
Andrew Gwynne, who represents the Denton and Reddish constituency, says the current state of the service – which has been rated ‘requires improvement’ since 2019 – is ‘letting children and families down’. In its latest report looking at the ‘front door’ of the service, Ofsted said that despite promises by the council to address capacity issues, the response to some children ‘at immediate risk of harm has deteriorated’ since its last inspection.
‘Systemic delay’ in convening strategy discussions means that children are being left in ‘circumstances of unassessed risk for too long’, the letter by inspector Mandy Nightingale states. Tameside council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it recognises the ‘continued need to improve’ and is working with the Department for Education to create an improvement plan.
