CHILDREN’S services at Bradford Council are not improving fast enough, said Ofsted following a recent inspection.

The service was branded inadequate last October, having “rapidly deteriorated” in the previous 18 months.

Inspectors visited the Council last month, and found while there are some examples of good work, improvement is too slow and too much work is either ineffective or untimely.

Concerns were also raised in the report about the turnover of staff, social workers’ caseloads and the service’s management.

Inspectors found a “legacy of poor practice, which has not been addressed”, with the Council accepting the areas covered in the inspection are still inadequate.

They also said too many staff were leaving at short notice, “impacting negatively on children’s lives”.

A new strategic director, Mark Douglas, took over Children’s Services on July 1, and brings a wealth of experience in improving social care.

The Council is now implementing training for staff and managers to improve the quality of social work as fast as possible, and is working to reduce the number of caseloads social workers have to deal with.

Over the next three months, Bradford Council has said it will be focusing on delivering the training to staff to improvement management skills and making social work consistently good.

It will also work with partners to provide clearer guidance on which cases need to be referred to social care, and the Council is continuing to focus on recruiting permanent, skilled staff.

Councillor Adrian Farley, executive member for children and families, said the Council is investing “significant resources” to drive improvements.

He said: “The outcome of the latest monitoring visit is obviously not good enough.

“We know the changes we need to make will take time, but we need to see more improvement and at a faster pace.

“The Council has developed a robust improvement plan and Ofsted recognise that we have invested significant additional resources to deliver this.

“The fact that Ofsted acknowledge that our social work staff are very positive about working in Bradford, are aware of the services’ weaknesses, and are committed to the goal of improving practice for the children of Bradford gives us a foundation on which to build.”

Mark Douglas, strategic director of children’s services, added: “It is important to stress that Ofsted found that urgent child protection concerns are recognised with the right action being taken and no child was found to be unsafe.

“But we know that the social care services we deliver to vulnerable children are not at the level they need to be.

“While there has been some improvement there is a huge amount still to do. We know the areas we need to change and the actions we need to take to improve.

“We are working with effort and determination to get there.”