Still work to be done at Herefordshire Children's Services, Ofsted say

In July last year, Ofsted rated Herefordshire Council's children's services as inadequate

A council is "starting to improve" its children's service but there is still much work to do, Ofsted inspectors said.

Herefordshire Council's services were rated inadequate and deemed to be failing to protect children following an inspection in July last year.

A second visit carried out on 28 and 29 June, found progress but said quality and effectiveness remains inconsistent.

The council said improvement remains its "top priority".

Inspectors highlighted issues which may be "hampering" the delivery of an effective service.

These included:

• A continued high turnover of social workers

• A legacy of some families with chronic long-term needs who have experienced poor practice over several years

• Closure of children's cases to social care before sustained change has been achieved leading to increased re-referrals

• Management support which is not yet consistently effective.

"Some children experience chronic long-term neglect for too long without satisfactory sustainable change," Alison Smale, an inspector, said in a letter to the council.

The review found there had "not been enough progress" in recruitment and retention of staff, leading to "drift and delay" for children.

Inspectors also found some unaccompanied asylum-seeking children faced a delay of up to two weeks before being looked after and were left in adult hotels where they were exposed to safeguarding concerns.

Darryl Freeman the council's corporate director for Children and Young people says he welcomes Ofsted's findings and work is underway to make further improvements

However, the council was praised for its strengthened approach to understanding the quality of services for children through an enhanced audit process which continues to be improved.

Social workers "like working in Herefordshire and feel well supported", and "value the training and development they receive", inspectors said.

The county has teamed up with Leeds City Council, where the children's service is rated outstanding, as a part of a new long-term improvement partnership.

"We know we are on the right path but that the pace of change needs to be quicker and improvements more consistently embedded," said the council's corporate director for Children and Young people, Darryl Freeman.