TAMESIDE Council has been damned in a scathing report that has seen its children’s services department rated inadequate once again.
But its leader is ‘not surprised’ after ‘ineffective senior leadership’ was found while its department’s head apologised.
Ofsted inspectors believe ‘the quality of social work practice has deteriorated’ and ‘some children experience ongoing harm and live in neglectful situations for too long.’
They also say some children can be left at risk of further harm.
The authority was rated inadequate after an inspection in 2016 but graduated to ‘requires improvement to be good’ in 2019.
However, that has dropped back with comments painting a grim picture – of the five main areas, four are now at the lowest possible level.
A Government ‘commissioner’ will now be brought in for three months.
In a report following December’s investigation led by Andy Waugh, it says: “The quality of social work practice has deteriorated for those children in need of help and protection and children in care.
“There are serious failures that leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. Children who need help and protection are not always identified at the earliest opportunity.
“The quality of assessments is not good enough, therefore, children are not receiving the right interventions at the right time.
“Too many experience drift and delay, including changes in social worker, weak planning that is overly adult-focused and a lack of robust management oversight and direction.
“As a result, some experience ongoing harm and live in neglectful situations for too long, without timely authoritative action being taken.
“There has been ineffective senior leadership in Tameside since the last inspection, which has resulted in too many not receiving effective services that meet their needs.
“Not all shortfalls identified during the last inspection, or the focused visit in June 2022, have been addressed.”
In a list of what needs to improve are the council’s oversight, accountability and governance of leadership of children’s services and the multi-agency recognition and response to risk – Allison Parkinson was appointed director in August.
Also included are the quality of assessments, the response to 16 and 17-year-old children who are homeless, the sufficiency of placements and the recruitment and retention of staff and support for newly qualified social workers.
The report adds: “Some children are left at risk of further harm without purposeful action being taken to protect them.
“Delays are further compounded due to insufficient social worker capacity impacting on the timeliness and conclusion of screening.
“This means that some do not receive the help and protection they need at the earliest opportunity.
“Most assessments are not effective at identifying all needs and risks. In some instances, cases are being prematurely closed without children receiving the support they need.
“For some, decisions to end child protection plans are overly optimistic and not always informed by up-to-date assessments, particularly with children who experience neglect.
“As a result, some children are then exposed to further harm. Some are not protected well enough even when they are subject to child protection planning.”
The report told how ‘swift and decisive action is being taken in some parts, to improve management oversight and raise the quality of social work practice’ and a new board ‘is now providing a greater scrutiny.’
It states: “There are some discreet areas of the service, such as for children at risk of exploitation, where children receive interventions that support them effectively and keep them safer.
“The complex safeguarding team provides an effective, strong response to children at risk of exploitation.”
However, it conceded: “There is still more to do to ensure that children and young people receive an effective initial response.”
Dropping back to inadequate will see pressure on Tameside Council and its councillors, particularly deputy leader Cllr Bill Fairfoull, who has responsibility over children and families and was in charge when the council was subject of a critical Ofsted and Care Quality Assessment of its SEND provision in June 2022.
He said, with no reference to his future in the role: “We accept we must – and we will – do better for our children and young people in Tameside.
“I’m pleased the inspectors have acknowledged that swift and decisive steps have already been taken to address the issues.
“We’re deeply committed to making the necessary changes to improve the quality of practice and have strengthened our approach further since August, working with our partners to focus on practice improvement ensuring that our children are safe.
“We’re investing significantly to improve services for children and young people and we’ll keep working at pace.”
Leader, Cllr Gerald Cooney, added: “It’s our absolute priority to continue to improve services for our children and families.
“This report comes as no surprise as we raised these concerns with Ofsted in August, when we took steps to bring in new leadership.
“I’m pleased Ofsted acknowledged we have the right leadership team in place and a robust improvement plan.
“The council will be assigned a Department for Education Commissioner for the next three months, which I see as a positive opportunity and will allow us to continue to receive valuable feedback on our current capacity and capability to implement our improvement plan.
“I’m whole-heartedly determined we are going to get this right and give our children and young people the quality of service they need and deserve.”
Away from the council chamber, chief executive Sandra Stewart said; “Soon after my appointment as Chief Executive in December 2022 I commissioned an independent service diagnostic assessment as I was becoming concerned about the pace of improvement.
“I immediately brought in a new leadership team and put in place a protective response and an improvement plan to address some weaknesses.
“I’m pleased Ofsted noted a more robust oversight at a senior leadership level. I will of course continue to vigorously review all aspects of children’s services to monitor and manage the ongoing improvements needed.”
And Allison Parkinson apologised, saying: “I am sorry that children’s services in Tameside are not currently at the standard they should be.
“We are working hard to deliver the improvements required to ensure that children receive the right support at the right time.”
Pffft. They didn’t do what they said.
They knew my son had been brainwashed after 3 years of case files for an order to last 6 days. I was asked to take back to court by them to take iver and sort it. , all they did was sit there behind me and not intervene.
So sad to know the system does not work.
Should Cllr Bill Fairfoull not stand down after duch a daming report! In the resl world if you can’t fo the job you get sacked.
Should Cllr Bill Fairfoull not stand down after duch a daming report! In the resl world if you can’t fo the job you get sacked.
I thought Ms Stewart took over as interim CEX in June2022, how is her leadership not in question? How many directors of children’s services has there been! The place is broken.
Sandra Stewart was provided information and evidence to support fraudulently sent emails, that a children’s social service manager was aware of a company director (companies registered as seperate entities, who both share same directors/owners), was fraudulently sending emails to ensure a young person would stay homed within one of their homes, knowing it was unsuitable and unsafe. The home which the YP was to be homed was not suitable for YP, putting profit before person centred care.
The visiting social services manager became aware and did not act. I made a complaint and Sandra Stewart responded within an hour (early hours) expressing she was concerned, requested for me to send more information. Information sent and supporting evidence sent. Sandra informed me would keep me updated every 21 days, instead she has continued to avoid my calls and ignore my emails since. Approx 2 and half years later and continues to ignore my emails. Phoned Sandra regularly and she has continued to ignore/avoid my calls. Unfortunately it appears that Sandra Stewart had swept this under the carpet during a period Tameside childrens services was under scrutiny. No investigation had taken place as witnesses was never called upon. I doubt we all know the severity of how bad the service is if serious concerns can easily be swept under the carpet.