Ofsted concerned over Medway Council's disabled children services

Medway Council's services for disabled children have been subject to an improvement plan

Concerns have been raised about a council's services for young people with disabilities.

Ofsted inspectors found that "too many children have to wait too long for services," from Medway Council.

They were reviewing the authority's performance following an "inadequate" rating from Ofsted for its children's services department in 2019.

The councillor in charge of children's services said: "We have come a long way since the initial inspection in 2019".

A report was published on Wednesday with the findings of the latest Ofsted inspection, carried out in September, during which services for disabled children were assessed.

This area of service was the subject of an improvement plan after the initial inspection in 2019 showed areas of weakness for disabled young people aged up to 25, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Lack of community resources'

Inspectors concluded whilst children were seen by social workers promptly, the quality of their assessments varied.

They were also concerned about a "lack of community resources", meaning "too many children have to wait too long for services, such as short breaks or personal adviser support."

Children too often experienced changes in social workers and staff shortages and sickness within the services have hampered improvement, the report said.

Concerns were also raised about welfare plans, the placement of disabled children further away from Medway or in unregistered placements, and how plans for supporting older children into adulthood were put in place.

But inspectors praised the "strong and positive relationships" the children had with social workers who had been in their lives for a long time, as well as a weekly meeting group for children with additional needs.

Josie Iles, portfolio holder for children's services, said: "We recognise the support Medway's children and young people deserve and we will continue to make necessary changes to improve the service they need to help provide them with the best opportunities and better outcomes."

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