By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottingham City Council is spending £360,000 on more social workers after a critical Ofsted report of the authority’s children’s services.
A September report rated services ‘inadequate’ after ‘serious failings’ within children’s services were found to be leaving some children at risk of harm.
The Government then served the Labour-run authority with a formal ‘improvement notice’ on October 24 “following significant concerns highlighted by the publication of Ofsted’s inspection report”.
Now, the city council has decided to increase the staffing budget for social worker posts within its Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) by £366,000.
The current budget for the service is £684,000 and the proposed changes would see the budget increased to £1.050m.
The authority will also recruit eight social new workers as part of improvement plans.
The MASH, which is a team of Children’s Social Care staff and other safeguarding agencies, works to look at concerns and make decisions about the most appropriate course of action for children at risk.
It is intended to provide a single point of access in Nottingham City for concerns and requests for support in relation to vulnerable children and young people who might be at risk of harm.
But inspectors said the MASH had “significant, widespread and systemic” weaknesses, leaving city children without enough protection and waiting up to six weeks to meet a social worker.
They also found management was not providing social workers with direction or overseeing the length of time children were processed.
And, when allegations of significant harm were first presented, decision-making within the MASH was not quick enough – continuing to expose children to harm and leaving them without safety plans.
Council documents stated: “We are starting to see some improvements, but it is recognised that children and their families are waiting too long for a service or support.
“The current staffing levels within the MASH do not meet the current service
demand.
“The creation of eight additional social worker posts will see a total of 10 social workers based within the MASH. This would see our staffing levels
increase to bring us in line with regional partners.”
They added that increasing staff should allow the team to “in a timelier way, ensuring that families receive the right support at the right time”.
They added: “Moving forward we aim to respond to all contacts within one working day in line with statutory guidance.”
In a meeting earlier this month, Councillor Cheryl Barnard (Lab), portfolio holder for children, young people and schools, said she had visited the children’s department and found that staff were “buzzing with the improvements that have been made”.
She added: “They were bang up to date on cases and they’ve got a new system for grading cases.
“It was really good to see staff morale was really good, they understood the judgement wasn’t about them or their work.
“The improvement has been hampered by the shortage of social workers.”
