Troubled child protection team ‘making progress’ Ofsted inspectors hail improvement to social services after inadequate rating for a decade
BIRMINGHAM’S child protection service has taken further steps towards shaking off its ‘inadequate’ rating after a decade, a new report reveals.
Ofsted inspectors found Birmingham City Council’s children’s services had made significant improvements since their last visit a year ago.
But it is still too inconsistent to be upgraded at this time.
The report comes as the department is preparing to be outsourced to the newly formed Birmingham Children’s Trust in April after years of persistent failure.
Inspectors concluded the council “has demonstrated that it has made improvements in the quality of social work practice since the last inspection. Further work remains to be done to ensure that practice is consistently good and that the best outcomes for all children are achieved on a timely and consistent basis.”
It added that the council “has made progress in ensuring that social work caseloads are manageable and that social workers have more time to build and establish relationships with the children they work with. These improvements have resulted in social workers being able to regularly visit families and ensure that children are being seen and heard.”
The service has been in crisis for more than ten years and its poor oversight implicated in the high-profile deaths of children in its care including eight-year-old Khyra Ishaq, who was starved to death by her parents, and 18-month-old Keegan Downer, placed with a guardian who murdered her.
Several changes of management and improvement plans have failed to improve the service.
But the latest three-year improvement plan, coupled with extra investment in staff – it is the only council department to see a funding increase during recent years – means that it seems to be slowly turning the corner.
Labour cabinet member for Birmingham children’s services, Brigid Jones, said: “I’m really pleased that Ofsted has again confirmed our steady progress.
“People are working tirelessly to ensure that children and families most in need get the best outcomes and changes in life.
“As with the earlier monitoring report, we know there is still much to do, but the important thing is that we know where we need to improve. We again have tangible evidence that sustainable improvements are being made.”