Council served with Improvement Notice on child protection

Rochdale council has been served with an Improvement Notice, which was not made public, following a review of its children’s services by Ofsted last December in the wake of the child grooming case in which nine men were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court earlier in the year.

The Ofsted report described the local authority arrangements for child protection in the borough as ‘inadequate’.

The Improvement Notice, issued by the Under Secretary of State, Edward Timpson MP called for a list of improvements. He warns: “Should the Council be unwilling or unable to comply with this Notice, or the Secretary of State for Education not be satisfied with the Council’s progress at any stage, the Secretary of State for Education may choose to use his statutory powers of intervention (s497A Education Act 1996) to direct the Council to enter into an appropriate arrangement to secure the improvements required in children’s social care services."

The notice sets out a number of recommendations including:

(i) Improve areas of weakness identified in the inspection report;

(ii) Reduce the average time between a child entering care and moving in with its adoptive family, and the average time between receiving court authority to place a child and deciding on a match to an adoptive family; and

(iii) Put in place arrangements to sustain and build on the improvement secured.

It looks at specific areas such as Leadership and Governance, Early Help and Partnership Working and Improving Support Measures plus Leadership and Governance

It calls upon Senior Managers to “... provide a clear vision and strategy that results in their taking a lead role in planning and development to reduce risk and provide an appropriate range of services to children and families...” It also calls on greater collaborative working by partners in order to identify children and families who would benefit from early help and ensure effective assessment of the need for this help by means of “agreed assessment processes and clear thresholds which are understood and consistently applied... "

It also calls upon the council to put in place an Improvement Board with an independent Chairperson which is expected to meet every month working under the supervision of the Department for Education. An official from the Department for Education will attend Board meetings as a participant observer. The Board should include the Council’s Partners in its membership.

The Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB) must also ensure that council staff and partners understand their roles and responsibilities, contribute proportionately and are held to properly account, with reliable resources that enable the board to be "strong and effective".

The council has also been ordered to reduce its reliance on agency staff in order to, take action to fill vacant posts and establish clear handover strategies for the replacement of interim staff with permanent appointees.

It is believed that the council is currently working on its improvement plan.

Upon receiving the original Ofsted report in December, Rochdale MBC chief executive Jim Taylor said: "We are in a strong position to address all the issues that Ofsted highlighted and new leadership is in place. The rating we have received is not good enough … the council and the safeguarding board have more to do; we are not there yet and we know that but Ofsted have seen the improvements that have been made and they know we are moving in the right direction.

"I am committed to ensuring we improve further. Since taking on this role, I have met a lot of social workers and been truly impressed by their dedication and motivation. It is important to remember the often difficult work they do and they all want to help drive through these improvements for the sake of all children and young people in the borough."