North East Lincolnshire: Social worker turnover a risk to children - Ofsted

North East Lincolnshire's children's services department was rated inadequate in November 2021

A high turnover of social workers is putting children in North East Lincolnshire at risk, according to a new report.

The council's children's services department was rated inadequate by Ofsted in 2021 and a recent monitoring visit found it had "not improved".

Inspectors said leadership changes also lead to "the stalling of improvement".

The council said it was working to address Ofsted's concerns but there was "no quick fix".

A report of the visit, carried out on 8 and 9 November, highlighted issues around planning and "achieving permanence", saying too many children were experiencing "drift and delay".

It said "ineffective management oversight at all levels" meant children who require permanence "are not adequately overseen, delays are unnoticed, and the suitability of some children's placements is unknown".

It went on to say that "the high turnover of social workers" was resulting in assessments being restarted by social workers "who do not know the child, the child's history or fully understand the presenting risks".

The report added that where children were placed "many were unassessed, unmonitored and unregulated", leaving them in situations of "unassessed and continued risk".

Katrina Gueli, Director of Ofsted for Yorkshire and Humber, said North East Lincolnshire Council, like other local authorities, was increasingly reliant on agency workers to try and fill vacancies.

"It's very difficult for children to build a relationship with their social worker if they are having a constant change," she said.

The council said it had recruited more staff and appointed a new interim director of children's social care

Some social workers told inspectors that higher case loads meant they were unable to meet deadlines, leaving them feeling overwhelmed and demoralised.

However, inspectors found some children had achieved permanence within an appropriate timescale due to the efforts of individual social workers, despite the challenges.

A council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the "improvement work for children's services has now started, after months of planning".

But they stressed that the local authority had always been clear there was "no quick fix" to the issues highlighted in the report.

In a statement, the authority said it had appointed a new interim director of children's social care and the senior leadership team had been strengthened.

The council said it also expected more than half of social worker posts would be held by permanent staff, instead of agency workers, by January.