New boss to improve failing children's service

Tina Russell currently heads up Worcestershire Children First

A council widely criticised for its failing children's services has appointed a new leader to expedite improvements.

Tina Russell will become Herefordshire Council's corporate director of children and young people after Darryl Freeman resigned last week.

The department is under pressure to speed up transformations after it received the lowest possible Ofsted rating in 2022.

Council chief executive Paul Walker said he was confident Ms Russell, who currently heads up Worcestershire Children First, would deliver "the best possible social care services".

"Her experience in delivering quality children’s services within a safeguarding partnership has been instrumental in taking Worcestershire from an Ofsted rating of inadequate to good," Mr Walker added.

The former head of Herefordshire Council's children's services Darryl Freeman resigned last week

Children's Commissioner Eleanor Brazil was appointed by the government to work with the service in 2022 after Ofsted inspectors found "widespread and serious failures".

In March 2023, the department was given six months to show it could "effect real change".

However, a commissioner's report last December found improvements were not being made fast enough, and the council lacked the capability and capacity to improve within a reasonable time frame.

An Ofsted monitoring inspection in February, the fourth since the inadequate rating in July 2022, concluded plans to improve services for 16 and 17-year-olds and care leavers, had "not led to sufficient positive impact".

The council's children's services were found to have widespread and serious failings by Ofsted in 2022

Mr Freeman left with immediate effect after the publication of the report.

In response to his departure, the council highlighted some service improvements, saying the number of children in care had reduced and families were waiting less time for referral outcomes.

Councillor Ivan Powell, cabinet member for children and young people acknowledged the report reinforced there was "still much to do".

Ms Russell will join the authority on a nine-month fixed-term contract from 1 July.