By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
A man who grew up in care says children are losing out as “desperate” local authorities struggle to improve their children’s services due to care costs and staffing problems.
The Government’s served Labour-run Nottingham City Council a formal ‘improvement notice’ on October 24 “following significant concerns highlighted by the publication of Ofsted’s inspection report of the council’s children’s services”.
Ofsted had visited the council’s children’s service on September 5 and deemed it ‘inadequate’.
Inspectors say there were “serious failures, leaving children at continued risk of harm when they are first presented as in need of support”.
The council has apologised and pledged to do “whatever it takes to improve”.
Nationwide, as of March 31 2022, just 13 per cent of local authority-run children’s services were judged ‘outstanding’.
Around 35 per cent ‘require improvement’, while 11 per cent are ‘inadequate’.
A total of 39 per cent are rated ‘good’.
Terry Galloway grew up in more than 100 different care facilities across Manchester before he moved to Nottingham.
He now campaigns for better rights and treatment of care leavers.
He said: “Interestingly the council up in Redcar and Cleveland are in a similar position.
“From my experience they have got some good staff but they have not got enough, but the whole sector is struggling to retain them.
“The other side of this is that everyone outside the social services are in a silo, it has to be a whole community approach.
“We have to change the culture within the council and go out into the community and help all the businesses, the third-sector, and the public take responsibility, because they are all our children.
“Social care is out there doing stuff that other organisations should and could be doing.”
The notice says a Government-appointed Improvement Adviser, Lou Williams, will now oversee the council to provide advice and support, and they will remain at the authority for a minimum of 12 months and until the Secretary of State is satisfied they are no longer required.
Government officials or advisors will undertake reviews of progress against an improvement plan at least every six months.
Should the council be unable to comply with the improvement notice and should ministers not be satisfied with the council’s progress, ministers may choose to invoke their statutory powers of intervention, including installation of commissioners to run the service.
The council must focus on certain areas of improvement raised by Ofsted, including bettering responses when children are first presented as potentially in need of help and protection.
Services are said to be too slow to identify and respond to risks of harm to children, while management of the service “remains inconsistent and is not supporting social workers effectively”.
There has also been a high level of staff turnover.
Mr Galloway added: “Obviously they must pull their finger out. We need joined-up thinking. There are wasted referrals so social services are swamped.
“Colleges could build a training flat with an electricity meter to teach children in care about independent living and that will take pressure off social services.
“Some of these local authorities, because they are so desperate, they are spending £10,000 per week to house a 15 to 16 year old.”
Mr Galloway adds he is now trying to pass a motion through at Nottingham City Council for a new policy on corporate parenting.
He says he wants to make sure more organisations, authorities and services are working together to meet the needs of young people in care, in turn taking pressure off and lowering costs.
He is also aiming to get authorities to make ‘care leaver’ a protected characteristic, so that equal consideration is given to their circumstances so future policies do not discriminate.
Responding to the notice Cllr Cheryl Barnard (Lab), Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Schools, added: “We’ve listened carefully to everything contained within the Ofsted inspection report and work is already under way to provide the right level of care and support in Nottingham.
“I’m sorry that some children have not been getting the right help at the right time and I accept that our overall performance is not where it should be. However, we’ve been judged as requiring the lowest level of intervention which indicates that there is confidence in our plans to improve as quickly as possible.
“Everyone in our Children’s Services team is committed to providing the best possible care in our city – and will do whatever it takes to improve. Our children and young people deserve nothing less. We have taken on board all of the feedback and recommendations from Ofsted.
“The DfE has recognised our commitment to ensuring services to children improve and that immediate action has been taken. This will provide a firm foundation from which to build over the coming months.”
