'Widespread and serious failures' at Herefordshire Children's Services

About 400 children in Herefordshire are in care and more than 1700 have a social worker

'Widespread and serious failures' are leaving children and young people in Herefordshire "not protected from harm".

The council's children's services have been judged "inadequate" across the board, the lowest possible rating.

Ofsted inspector Lisa Summers found services "fragmented and chaotic" with poor practices and high staff turnover.

Council chief executive Paul Walker apologised and said children and families "deserved better."

The Ofsted inspection, carried out in July, found the impact of leaders, the experiences of children, and overall effectiveness of children's service to be inadequate.

"Leaders and managers fail to safeguard and protect children in Herefordshire," the report said, adding that poor practices and high staff turnover resulted in "widespread and serious failures which leave children harmed or at risk of harm."

The council will now work with Children's Commissioner Eleanor Brazil to expedite improvements.

Herefordshire Council CEO Paul Walker said the Ofsted downgrading was "unsurprising" but "upsetting"

Key findings:

• Churn of managers, social workers and foster carers means children do not receive appropriate support

• Poor decision-making and understanding of risk leave children at risk of harm

• Action to protect children is not taken soon enough and serious safety concerns not always identified

• A weak response to missing children

• Too many children in care experience delays in finding permanent homes

• Insufficient oversight of children living in unregistered children's homes

• Ineffective relationships with partner agencies

Children told inspectors they were "angry with the local authority as they do not feel listened to, valued or heard."

Despite "significant financial investment, there remains insufficient capacity across the workforce to support a timely and appropriate response to children," the report added.

Herefordshire Council must work with Children's Commissioner Eleanor Brazil to speed up improvements

In June 2018 Ofsted said that Herefordshire's children's services needed improvement.

The "quality and impact of social work practice has significantly deteriorated" since, according to the report.

A High Court judgement in April 2021, which found the council had "utterly failed" three foster children, lead to a non-statutory improvement notice from the Department for Education.

After this "significant numbers" of staff left, including the director of children's services and the "vast majority" of the senior management team, said Ofsted.

Despite a permanent leadership team now secured, "the pace of improvement is too slow," it added.

An improvement board, established by Mr Walker after taking up his post in May 2021, has failed to have the "necessary impact," according to the report.

"The pace of improvement is too slow. Despite recent efforts and plans to address the significant and serious weaknesses in the service, improvements for children have not been realised," it said.

In April the council agreed to spend £22m on improvements to the service.

Despite this investment, "corporate support" was not strong enough to realise recruitment needs, Ms Summers found.

In response to the report, Mr Walker said "while unsurprising" the change in rating was nonetheless "upsetting and disappointing."

"Since the inspection we have urgently reviewed all the cases highlighted by Ofsted and have identified a number of immediate actions to address the issues raised," he added.

Director of children's services Darryl Freeman also apologised for the "long-standing" and "deep-rooted" failings.

"We have a clear vision of the service we want to create... We are already working hard to put things right," he added.

The council is to hold an extraordinary council meeting on 30 September to discuss the report.

Terry James, leader of the council's opposition Liberal Democrats, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it was "the lowest point that Herefordshire Council has been in for 25 years."

Ofsted's report "doesn't even cover the experience of families, who weren't interviewed," he said. "Some families have been treated appallingly."

Angeline runs a support group for Herefordshire parents who have had negative dealings with children's services

Angeline runs A Common Bond, a support group for Herefordshire parents who believe they have been wronged by children's services.

She said she was "over the moon" at the findings in the report and hopes to meet the Children's Commissioner personally.

"Everything we have been saying is in there - the lack of management and social workers, the high case loads, the high turnover, the failure to deal with domestic abuse," she added. "Yet we were treated as the enemy."

A Department for Education spokesperson said Ms Brazil would be working closely with senior council leaders.

"In the light of the seriousness of Ofsted's findings in Herefordshire, we are immediately stepping up our intervention to make sure children are safe," the spokesperson added.

Ms Brazil will report her recommendations to the Secretary of State in December.

Panorama's Protecting Our Children: A Balancing Act is on BBCiPlayer