Liverpool children left at risk of harm by council failings

Inspectors found a deterioration in services since a 2018 inspection

Children in need of help and protection were left at risk of significant harm by a council's serious failure to safeguard children, a watchdog found.

Liverpool City Council's children's services has been rated inadequate following an Ofsted inspection.

A damning report revealed serious weaknesses and deterioration in services since an inspection in 2018 said it required improvement.

The council said it planned to invest an extra £4.5m into the service.

Ofsted, which inspected the service in March, found there were serious failures in safeguarding children who were at risk of harm or in need of support.

The report said when there was a potential crime and there were child protection concerns, joint enquiries with the police were not always started.

It also said the response from agencies, including the police, to children who had experienced sexual harm was sometimes poor - resulting in these children not getting the help and support they needed.

Merseyside Police has been approached for comment.

The inspection also found:

• Some children did not receive sufficient protection, even when they were subject to child protection planning

• Risks were not always identified and responses were not always robust

• Domestic abuse and its impact on children was not always fully understood when making critical decisions

• Some services were closed to children too soon, resulting in children experiencing further incidents of harm

'Unacceptable failures'

Elsewhere, inspectors said the needs of  disabled children were not consistently well met and children leaving care did not always get the support they required.

The report did highlight some areas of "stronger practice" in the city and said the response to homeless 16 and 17-year-olds was "mostly effective, through established and clear pathways with housing".

It also said children who went missing from education were robustly tracked and monitored, and there were rigorous mechanisms to monitor vulnerable children who were home educated.

Following the 2018 report, the council launched an improvement plan and had pledged to cut social worker caseloads, recruit 160 more social workers and invest £7.7m in improvements.

When asked why things had got worse instead of better, council leader Liam Robinson conceded it was "unacceptable" and said structural failures needed to be addressed.

"What is most important is that we fix this," he said.

"All of us want the very best for all children in the city, particularly the most vulnerable."

The council said it was recruiting a new director of children's services and was planning to introduce a cabinet member position dedicated to the portfolio.

Liberal Democrat opposition leader Carl Cashman said the service had been neglected because of the "emphasis of the Caller Report and the work of the commissioners".

Government officials were sent to oversee some departments at the authority in 2021 after a breakdown of governance.

"All the emphasis has been on the crisis in regeneration and finance," he said.

"In the meantime an unseen crisis has been building up in the care services of those who need us most."

The council promised an improvement plan would be put in place before September, approved by the Department of Education and Ofsted, while a special "improvement board" would be set up to oversee its progress.