Council children’s services receives third “requires improvement to be good” in a row
North Somerset Council's children's services have been graded "requires improvement to be good" for the third time in a row, as the council say they are working to improve the service
Children’s services at North Somerset Council has received a third “disappointing” rating in a row, as Ofsted warned that in many areas the standard of the understaffed service was inconsistent.
An Ofsted report for an inspection carried out March 13 – 24 stated: “Since the last inspection in March 2020, when North Somerset children’s services were judged to be ‘requires improvement’ overall, the local authority has not made sufficient progress and children and their families do not currently experience a consistently good service.”
The council has now received the “requires improvement to be good” three times in a row, although no children were identified as at risk of immediate harm.
“We can’t have a fourth ‘requires improvement to be good,’” Sheila Smith, director of children’s services at the council, told North Somerset Council’s children and young people’s services policy and scrutiny panel on Thursday June 29.
She said that the grade had been expected but work was ongoing to address the issues identified previously. She told the scrutiny panel: “We know what we need to do. We just need to have the workflow that can deliver it.”
The Ofsted report stated that almost a third of posts were vacant at the time of the inspection, and said: “This has impacted on children’s experiences and wider improvement due to having to stretch capacity across services.”
The scrutiny panel was told there were issues with recruitment and retention of social workers. 10 are due to start soon in North Somerset but assistant director of children’s social care Becky Hopkins said: “We need about 20 more than that.”
Ofsted found that, for a minority of children, there was only a “superficial” assessment of risk in child protection enquiries. The report stated: “This is because social workers do not always fully understand or identify key risks for children. Children’s past experiences, historical information and presenting risks are not always considered sufficiently to inform current decision-making and the next steps to reduce harm.”
The inspectorate also wanted: “While most children are seen regularly, some are not being visited as frequently as they should in line with their needs and presenting risks. When children are seen, they are not always seen alone, and the quality of the intervention and the recording is variable.”
But Ofsted acknowledged: “An appropriate service-wide plan is in place, aimed at securing the improvements needed.”
The report added: “Although too recent to have supported improvement in all areas, these measures have underpinned recent improvements in the quality and impact of practice and provide the necessary foundations on which a more consistent response for children and their families may be built.”
Yatton councillor Wendy Griggs said “inspiring” work is being done to improve the services. She said: “It’s disappointing that despite all the positives the “howevers” have outweighed the positives in the judgement.”
Children’s services received the “requires improvement to be good” grade in three areas: the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families, the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection, and the experience and progress of children in care.
Just one area was judged as “good”: the experiences and progress of care leavers.