Children’s social care is told it needs to improve
Some services are not aqequately resourced
CHILDREN’S social services at Leicestershire County Council need to improve, according to Ofsted.
Inspectors from the Government watchdog published their latest findings on the way the council deals with youngsters in care and vulnerable children.
Their report raises concerns that some children, though not those immediately at risk of abuse or sexual exploitation, “experience delay in receiving the help that they need”.
The delay mentioned refers to children who might, for example, be going to school underfed, unkempt or tired to the extent that concerns have been raised.
The report also says some services are “not adequately resourced or effectively led”.
Ofsted sent ten officials to carry out the four-week inspection in November, which saw them poring over some 276 files and 700 other documents.
The council has accepted the report’s findings and 17 recommendations, and said it had already started work to make the improvements required.
In all three areas considered by Ofsted - children who need help and protection, children looked after and achieving permanence, and leadership management and governance - the department requires improvement.
The Tory-led authority said it had - even before the inspection -committed £3.5 million more to its spending on children in care, of which there are nearly 500 in the county.
It has also put £500,000 into recruiting more social workers. The new staff should allow a reduction in the caseload for individual social workers - an issue raised by Ofsted.
The council has taken on 20 short term social workers since July, and intends to recruit a further 11.
One average, each social worker had 25 cases at any given time. It is hoped to bring this down to between 15 and 19.
Cabinet member for children and young people councillor Ivan Ould said: “We had done a selfassessment of our position and there were no shocks in the report.
“We are not inadequate but we require improvement to be good. There were also some areas of strength identified.
“We do need to up our game and we do need to be sharper. That is why we have put in extra resources.”
County Hall’s Labour opposition, children’s and families’ spokesman councillor Sean Sheahan, said: “Ofsted have shone a light on what is a poor and disappointing service being provided to local children in Leicestershire.
Interim director of children’s services Paul Meredith said the current Ofsted inspection was the “most challenging and comprehensive” he had seen in his 30 years in the sector.
He said around 50 per cent of all councils with child social care duties fell into the ‘requires improvement’ category.
He said: “The investment we have made was as result of our self-assessment not a reaction to the inspection.”
The inspectors praised the council’s foster care arrangements, said social workers know their children well and that the health and education of young people in were are improving.