Ofsted say there are still "'significant weaknesses' in Bradford's Children's Services

This was the finding by Ofsted during a recent monitoring visit, the results of which were published yesterday.

But the visit, the first since it was announced a commissioner would come to the District to oversee improvements in Bradford, does say there have been improvements in a number of areas.

Among the findings in a report on the visit, which was focused on children in care, were that Bradford Council urgently needed to "improve the standard of care provided in residential services" and "further stabilise the workforce and to reduce social workers’ workloads."

It said some children in Council care "continued to experience harm while in care." But it added: "for those children who have recently come into care this was an appropriate step to safeguard them, and for most children this was achieved at the right time."

At the time of the visit last month the 1,365 children were in Council care.

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Inspectors point out that due to the closure of a number of children's homes after damning Ofsted reports, an "unregistered provider" was being used to home some young people. They added: "This exposed a child to serious risk of harm.

"These events demonstrate a failure on the part of Bradford senior leaders as the corporate parents for some of these children. Senior leaders have accepted that they have failed some children in care and have instigated an urgent review of residential services, commissioning and unregulated placements."

The report continues: "When children first come into care, while the option of living with family and friends are rightly explored, weaknesses in planning and rushed decision-making in some children’s cases have resulted in inappropriate placements which quickly break down.

"Children experience too many unnecessary moves and a lack of early placement stability. Some children have had a lengthy route to their current placements and have experienced numerous breakdowns of placements."

It said a lack of care spaces in Bradford meant that "at the end of July, 368 children were living out of Bradford and away from their families, friends and local communities."

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The report said: "While significant weaknesses remain, actions that leaders have taken since the last monitoring visit, which focused on children in care, have recently started to show some improvements in some areas.

"There has been improvement in the quality and frequency of children’s review meetings, life-story work is taking place with more children, children are helped to achieve timely permanence through adoption and permanence tracking is now in place.

"There is still much more to do to improve the consistency of practice and address continuing weaknesses in several key areas."

Referring to the District's Social workers, the report says: "Caseloads remain too high for some workers, particularly for workers in the longterm social work teams who hold children in care cases.

"Most social workers spoken to by inspectors said that morale was good and that they liked working for Bradford Children’s services."

Between the visit and the report being published, former head of Children's Services Marc Douglas has left the Council, and work is underway to find a new boss for the department.

In response to the report Kersten England, Chief Executive of Bradford Council, said: “The inspectors acknowledged that progress has been made in some challenging areas but there is clearly still much more to do and it is essential that we speed up the pace of improvement.

“We are pleased that the inspection team recognised the good work being done to support the emotional wellbeing of children in care and help them feel settled. We have a hard-working and dedicated team in our children’s services and they can take encouragement from the fact their efforts are having a positive impact on children’s lives.

“It is also good to hear that inspectors found morale was good among our social workers and that they like working for Bradford. We know that caseloads remain too high for some social workers and the recruitment and retention of social workers remains a priority.

“We are committed to the welfare of children and focussed on continuing the upward trajectory of improving services but we are in no doubt that it is vital that we speed up the pace of the improvements.”

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, said: “We are absolutely committed to improving children’s services across the district and ensuring that we offer the best services possible to our children and families.

“While welcoming the recognition from Ofsted that things have got better in some areas it is critical that every effort continues to be made to tackle the weaknesses they have identified.

“I will be seeking assurances from the management team that the substantial investment the council has made in the service results in the necessary improvements over the coming months.”

In response to the latest Ofsted findings, Councillor Kyle Green, Conservative Group Spokesman for Childrens’ Services said, “My Conservative Group colleagues and I are pleased that the Inspectors have identified some signs of improvement during their latest visit. Any improvements in the level of a child’s understanding of why they are in care and the speed at which a child is found a permanent home are very welcomed and will be very beneficial to those children who are affected.

"However, we are concerned that despite this being the sixth inspection of Children's Services, since the main inspection in 2018, the report yet again found that the speed of improvement remains too slow and again highlighted the need to urgently improve the standard of care in residential services, with the workloads of social workers’ still needing to be reduced and the workforce stabilised.

"The other areas where improvement is still required are also not small issues, including the commissioning of placements, corporate parenting, care planning and managers’ oversight and practice with at risk children living at home."

In respect of Childrens’ Homes, Cllr Mike Pollard (Con. Baildon) Deputy Chair of Childrens’ Services Scrutiny Committee, remarked: “The wide ranging Corporate Parenting role, which is a responsibility for all Elected Members, clearly needs strengthening. Forensic analysis of evidence discernible in previous monitoring reports should be done by Members, in advance of their visits to children’s homes, with actual outcomes for individual children being properly interrogated”.

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, Leader of the Conservative Group concluded, “We still remain unsure that the measures that the Council is implementing are those required to deliver the breadth and depth of improvement that is required and in the timely manner required.

"My colleagues and I will continue to monitor the situation carefully, making constructive criticism where necessary, but also offering support where appropriate. At the end of the day, we all want what is the best for children, just sometimes have different ideas about how to provide the services to best do the job”.