Havering Council: Children left at risk by council services - report

Havering Council has battled a range of financial problems

Children are being put at risk in an east London borough on the verge of bankruptcy, an Ofsted report has found.

On Friday, inspectors released a report into Havering Council's child services, rating it inadequate.

They found social workers were battling "complex and high caseloads" while management was "poor".

In response, Havering Council highlighted the borough's growing children population and shortage of government funding.

The government has been approached for a comment.

The reports comes after a range of financial issues at the council, which has seen councillors apply for a £54m government loan in recent weeks amid a warning of effective bankruptcy.

The two-week on-site inspection was carried out between 11 and 22 December. In 2018 the council had been rated "good".

Inspector Claire Beckingham wrote: "Since the last inspection the progress children make, their experiences and the quality of the services they receive have significantly deteriorated.

"Poor management oversight and supervision across social work teams, coupled with a weak reviewing service, have led to widespread drift and delay for too many children.

"These combined weaknesses have led to a small number of children remaining at risk or experiencing harm for too long."

• Havering Council warns it could soon go bust

• Council considers £12m of cuts to avoid bankruptcy

Inspectors acknowledged Havering had a good understanding of the areas for improvement and had appropriate plans in place to address concerns before the inspection took place.

But it warned "substantial resources" were needed to deliver core statutory services.

Oscar Ford, the council's cabinet member for children and young people, accepted the report and apologised.

"The safeguarding and wellbeing of our children and young people has always been, and will continue to be, a top priority for the council," he said.

"We realise it has been a challenging time for our workforce and we are focused on ensuring that staff have stronger management and supervision with increased capacity to improve the standard of the service.

"Overall, this will make the quality of life better for the children and young people that we are responsible for in our borough."

Social work leaders will meet with government officials in March to discuss long-term plans.

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