Children and young people in Herefordshire not protected from harm
A new Ofsted inspection rated council-owned children's services in the region as 'inadequate'.
An Ofsted inspection of local authority children services in Herefordshire has lowered them from 'needs improvement' to 'inadequate'.
The assessment raised concerns about children's safety, stating, "Protective responses are too often delayed and not sufficiently robust."
It continued: "They fail to identify children’s needs or effectively assess carers’ abilities to provide safe and secure homes."
"Significantly deteriorated"
After visiting services in July, inspector Lisa Summers concluded that the services had "significantly deteriorated" since the previous inspection in June 2018, stating that children's needs are not met.
She put this down to a tenuous stability around the senior management team and underdeveloped partnerships. Since the prior inspection, she said only "minimal improvements" had been made.
The assessment resulted in several reactions from senior leaders in the council who expressed their disappointment at the result.
Chief Executive Paul Walker said: "I’m sorry for the failures outlined by Ofsted – children and families deserve better. Since the inspection we have urgently reviewed all the cases highlighted by Ofsted and have identified a number of immediate actions to address the issues raised."
"We have a three-year plan and have agreed an additional £22 million to support this"
Leader of the Herefordshire Council, Councillor David Hitchiner, has announced the appointment of a new permanent leadership team to drive change in their services. He said: "Many of the issues are long-standing and the improvements needed will take time. We are committed to making the changes needed to make a difference for children and families and have a three-year plan and have agreed an additional investment of £22million to support this.”
Ofsted aims to monitor and improve standards in education and children's social care. They do this through regular inspections, reporting directly to the government, parents, carers, and commissioners.