Sefton Council’s improvement in children’s services deemed ‘too slow’ by Ofsted

Ofsted have told Sefton Council that the rate of improvement to children’s services is ‘too slow’ in the watchdog’s latest report.

The assessment comes in an Ofsted report to Sefton Council published earlier today (Wednesday).

This was the third visit by Ofsted since the Sefton Council was judged inadequate in February 2022.

The visit found:

• The pace of improvement for children needing permanence is too slow, and weaknesses in care planning persist.
• Assessments of family and friends who care for children are improving, but inconsistencies remain. Some children live in safe and secure homes, but there are inconsistencies in maintaining contact with family members.
• Too many children face drift and delay in securing permanence. Weaknesses in care planning, lack of focus on individual needs, and limited tracking hinder progress in this area.
• Physical health needs are generally well met, but there can be delays in mental and emotional support.
• Some areas of progress were noted, including refreshment of the corporate parenting board, increased management direction, improving health assessments, and greater focus on children’s voices.

Responding to the letter from Ofsted, Dr Risthardh Hare, Director of Children’s Services, said: “These monitoring visits are a regular part of our improvement journey and they support us to identify areas where we need to make more and faster progress and mark signs of improvement.

“We were really pleased to see Ofsted recognise the clear signs of improvement in some areas of our work particularly the work done to strengthen our Corporate Parenting Board and what we have done in developing our academy, the recruitment and retention of social workers.

“We acknowledge that we still have much more work to do with our partners as we continue to make improvements but we are encouraged that the changes we have made are beginning to make a meaningful difference to children and young people in Sefton and improve the oversight of children in care.”

Cllr Mhairi Doyle, Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care added: “I am pleased that Ofsted have recognised the work that we have done in refreshing and strengthening our Corporate Parenting Board and our determination to listen to and value all children in Sefton.

“I am proud of the commitment the Council, partners, my colleagues and our wider workforce have demonstrated in making the necessary improvements and I want to thank our workforce for the way they have implemented and embedded these changes in the way they work with our families. Most of all, I am proud of our children and young people in Sefton who we are here to support in all they want to achieve.

“Ultimately, we have a responsibility to our cared for children, in just the same way as any parent, to support them in whatever way we can. I want cared for children in Sefton to grow up knowing that we care about them and believe in them and for Sefton to be a place where their voices are listened to and acted on.”

Cllr Mike Prendergast said on behalf of Southport Conservatives: “Once again we are faced with an Ofsted report which states that the pace of improvement is still too slow. After, such a prolonged period, I think the people of Sefton and our most vulnerable children should expect the pace of improvement in Children’s Social Services to be much faster.

“It is encouraging to hear that there are some areas of improvement with Ofsted highlighting better management oversight and better oversight from the Corporate Parenting Board. This isn’t enough though and given the sums spent, new staff and the amount of time that has passed, we should be seeing much more.

“The report rightly highlights the ongoing issues regarding data, overly optimistic auditing reports and the fundamentals of care planning being poor.

“As a member of the Overview & Scrutiny for Children’s Services and the Corporate Parenting Board I have repeatedly called for a cultural shift and better use of data to drive change, improvement and better outcomes for our most vulnerable children.

“We are now over 18 months on from the full inspection which graded the service as inadequate and the tectonic pace of change being overseen by the current Labour leadership is not good enough.

“Change and improvement for this department comes from the top, and so long as we have poor Labour leadership in Sefton I fear that despite all of the additional funding and social workers now in place, Labour do not have the leaders amongst them to drive the cultural change needed.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Leo Evans, who sits on the Children’s Services and Safeguarding Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said: “Whilst this letter does show more progress than previous reports, it is still a very concerning read. The key takeaways from this report is that progress is still too slow and that changes are not having a systemic impact on improving children’s experiences.”

“18 months on from the damning Ofsted report and too many children in our communities are still being let down. Since then, we’ve had two new Directors of Children’s services, a new cabinet member and now a new Chief Executive. Whilst the roundabout of chaos at Sefton continues, things still aren’t working. This council needs to desperately up its game.”