Care for Suffolk's children in need now 'requires improvement'
It's dropped two grades, from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’
Care for Suffolk’s children in need has been downgraded to ‘requires improvement’, according to a new report.
Released by Ofsted yesterday, it revealed Suffolk County Council’s care for children had worsened since the last inspection in 2019, resulting in the local authority dropping two grades, from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’.
The report looked at four different aspects of children’s care, including the impact of leaders on services, the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection, those in care and those leaving care.
Of these, the only metric to be rated ‘good’ by Ofsted was related to the experiences of children already in care, with the report going into great detail about the council’s care staff.
"Disappointing"
Cllr Bobby Bennett, responsible for children and young people services at the council, said this was the most important detail.
She said: “It is disappointing that Ofsted didn’t find all our services to be consistently good. However, what really counts is that the report shows that our children are safe and well-taken care of and – in particular – our children in care are thriving.
“I was delighted to read the extent of praise for staff throughout the report, including the strength of relationships with the children and families we work with and their sensitivity and compassion. This public recognition is a huge testament to their hard work and dedication.”
Despite this, the report found several aspects of the service to be lacking.
For instance, it found although care services were good and varied, ‘a small but significant number’ of children’s cases were closed when there was limited information for safe decisions, including when there was a history of domestic abuse.
This means some children in need of care were left in situations ‘where their needs and risks are not fully understood’.
Issues were also found in delivering care for children aged between 16 and 17-years-old presenting as homeless, where they were not aware of their rights to be accommodated by the council.
The report stated information was gathered by council workers but was not used effectively, leaving vulnerable children’s needs not fully considered when decisions were taken.
"Worrying"
Cllr Ash Lever, the opposition group’s spokesperson for education and child protection, praised staff for their work but criticised the council for the report’s results.
He said: “This report is especially worrying because the council’s social care services for children were until recently rated outstanding.
“It seems like the Conservative administration has lost their grip.”
The new MP for Ipswich, Jack Abbott, also reacted to the report.
He said: “The latest OFSTED report into Suffolk County Council’s children’s services is concerning.
“The report shows services for vulnerable children have deteriorated over the past five years and serious improvements are required right across the board.
“Our children in Suffolk need and deserve so much better than the findings of this report.”
He added he had already met with the county council to discuss the findings and promised to work closely with the authority to turn the findings around.
‘Empty promises’
Also featuring in the report in great detail was the quality of service when it came to supporting care leavers, with Ofsted finding ‘significant inconsistency’ in the quality of support’ they received.
For instance, when leaving care, children work with a social worker before personal advisers (PAs) support them with their transition into adulthood.
The inspection found although some spoke highly of their PAs, others had a more negative view, describing them as overworked and only involved when they needed to be, some even saying their PAs made ’empty promises’.
The report added: “Most care leavers said they did not see PAs after they turned 21 and most said they were left to manage on their own.
“They spoke persuasively about their feeling that the service was only seeing their chronological age rather than their individual needs.”
‘Decline in the impact of leaders’
The inspection’s conclusion of the council’s leadership and its impact on social work with children and families was mixed.
On the one hand, the report stated several times there was a commitment from the council and its leaders, both political and financial, when it came to children’s care.
However, on the other hand, it stated this was not true across all parts of children’s services, with the council not even aware of some of its weaknesses.
The report stated: “Despite the commitment of the leadership team to pursue shared ambitious objectives for children and young people in Suffolk, there are areas where this has not been achieved effectively.
“Senior leaders have prioritised certain areas of development at the expense of others. This has meant that they were not aware of all the weaker areas of social work practice that inspectors identified which require improvement.”
Cllr Lever also said a period of change over the past year had made the service more challenging, with hopes the appointment of a new permanent, full-time director for children’s services would turn things around.
He added: “The report states clearly that ‘leaders have not had sufficient grip across all parts of children’s services’.
“We hope the Conservative administration will make these improvements – both for SEND services and children’s social care – their number one priority.”
‘Small uncomplicated amends’
Addressing the support gaps found by Ofsted, Cllr Bennett said small solutions would be key.
She added: “We need to improve some of our processes and systems and address inconsistencies in the way we do things.
“These things can be improved with small uncomplicated amends and a plan of action agreed by Ofsted.”
The council will now put together an action plan to be sent to Ofsted by the end of next month, with a partnership board to be set up to oversee the implementation of these actions.
The local authority also said several changes had already been implemented or were in progress to address the seven points for improvement raised within the report.
A quality assurance review of systems and processes will also be carried out.