Herefordshire Council children's boss quits as Ofsted report published

Director of children's services Darryl Freeman joined the council in 2021

The head of Herefordshire Council's children's services has quit with immediate effect, as an Ofsted report criticises the pace of improvement within the department.

The authority has had two years of government help and millions of pounds of additional funding.

Darryl Freeman joined in 2021 to oversee improvements after previous "inadequate" Ofsted ratings.

The council thanked him for his work during "an extremely challenging time."

Chief executive Paul Walker said: "Darryl has diligently led our children's services day-to-day while steering significant service transformation."

Inspectors conducted a monitoring visit to the children's services department in February, the fourth one since the local authority was judged inadequate in July 2022.

They said despite senior leaders ensuring significant additional funding had been invested and was agreed for the next few years, it had not yet resulted in improvement.

Plans to improve services had not led to sufficient positive impact for care leavers and 16 and 17-year-olds in care, changes to services had either not been implemented or had only been put in place very recently.

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Children experience too many changes of social worker, which hinders their progress, they added.

The authority began working with a government-appointed commissioner in September 2022, after "widespread and serious failures" were found in the department.

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

Before that in 2018, Ofsted inspectors said the service needed improving due to a deterioration in the "quality and impact of social work practice".

Eleanor Brazil has been working with the authority as a government-appointed commissioner

But a report from commissioner Eleanor Brazil in December found the council did not have the capability or capacity to improve its children's services in a reasonable timeframe.

In response to Mr Freeman's departure on Wednesday, the council said the service had "seen the number of Herefordshire children in care reduce, families are now waiting less time for a referral outcome, and resources and support for the reunification of families has increased".

Addressing the latest Ofsted report, councillor Ivan Powell, cabinet member for children and young people, said inspectors again recognised some developments in the service, but the report "reinforces that there is still much to do".

"The council's single biggest priority is to build a service which continues to improve with ambition to become outstanding," he said.

"We are committed to providing services for children and families which are supportive and they have confidence in, and that the whole county can be proud of."

North Herefordshire MP Sir Bill Wiggin said he welcomed the decision to "remove" Mr Freeman, and was "optimistic that it will result in the speed of change that is needed" and ensure fewer children are in care.

Interim management arrangements have been put in place while the process of appointing a new director was under way, the authority added.