Under-fire child services failing to 'get a grip'

Ofsted inspectors found children in Tameside were still at risk due to failing services

A council has failed to "get a grip" on its under-fire children's services department which has not improved despite repeated warnings, inspectors have found.

Tameside Council was ordered to overhaul the service by the government last year after it was rated inadequate by Ofsted.

But inspectors returned for a monitoring visit in February and found a lack of stable leadership and "culture of uncertainty" meant improvements had not been made at the pace needed.

Teresa Smith, the authority's cabinet member for children and families, apologised for the findings and said an improvement plan was "our utmost priority".

Oftsed previously found children in the care of children's services in Tameside were at "ongoing risk" of harm due to serious failures in areas such as planning, oversight and weaknesses in leadership.

Inspectors found those "weaknesses continue to be present" when they returned to monitor progress during a visit in February.

Inspectors found weaknesses remained in how the service was run

In their report they described a "fundamental absence of grip on improvement activity" since the service was rated inadequate in December 2023.

Among the issues highlighted by Ofsted were poor quality assessments of children in need, alongside poor planning and supervision that is "mostly ineffective".

This has led to some children experiencing "drift and delay in having their needs understood and met", the inspectors said.

Some were left in situation of ongoing harm because the risks to them were not "fully understood or robustly responded to", they added.

In some cases, the language used on children's records was "inappropriate or victim blaming", their report said.

Inspectors were told there is some mistrust of senior leaders among staff after "multiple changes in direction".

They highlighted how a new director of children's services, Jill Colbert OBE, had been appointed in January to oversee a "service restructure", but said it was too soon to assess the impact.

Smith said Tameside Council was working to "achieve the necessary improvements that ensure our children are safe, loved and thriving through consistent good practice".

She said staff were working to recruit permanent staff to end a reliance on agency workers, alongside developing newly qualified social workers through a council-run academy.