Nottingham's children's services show 'early signs' of improvements

As part of improvement work, consultants expected to cost Nottingham City Council roughly £6.5m have been brought in for two years

Inspectors say there are "early signs of tangible improvements" in Nottingham City Council's children's services - but inconsistencies and staff shortages remain a significant challenge.

Ofsted rated the authority's services as "inadequate" in 2022, and said children had been left at risk of harm.

Monitoring visits are now taking place to ensure changes are made.

The council said it was "pleased that inspectors have noted significant improvement".

As part of the work to improve the services, consultants expected to cost the authority roughly £6.5m have been brought in for two years, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

'Need to be sustainable'

The first of the regular Ofsted visits was on 28 February and 1 March, and the second visit took place on 25 and 26 July.

His Majesty's Inspector Julie Knight said in the latest report: "Since the previous monitoring visit, a committed and stable leadership team has continued to progress the 'Changing Lives, Changing Futures' improvement programme for children's services.

"There are early signs of tangible improvements in field work practice and the environment in which staff work.

"A reduction in case-loads has been supported by investment in additional agency social workers.

"However, this is a temporary arrangement and senior leaders know that improvements need to be sustainable.

"There continues to be inconsistency in the quality of practice for children in need and those subject to a child protection plan, compounded by challenges in achieving greater workforce stability."

A government commissioner could be sent in if the council fails to make necessary changes

Significant challenges remain due to staffing stability, according to the report.

It says some children have too many changes in social workers, which means children and families can find it difficult to build trusting relationships.

On top of this, some do not receive support quickly enough due to waiting lists for services that support families experiencing domestic abuse or mental health difficulties.

Should the council fail to make necessary changes, a government commissioner could be sent in.

'Reliance on agency staffing'

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, portfolio holder for children, young people and education, said: "These findings provide an important benchmark in our journey of improvement and, taken together with the first monitoring visit, demonstrate that improvements in our response to children in need of help and protection have been made.

"However, we know there is still much work to be done and we continue to effect the positive change rightly expected by Ofsted to ensure all vulnerable children in Nottingham are well supported.

"I'm pleased that inspectors have noted significant improvement during their two visits following the initial inspection.

"We understand that these changes must be sustainable and agree with Ofsted that this is set against a backdrop of workforce instability and reliance upon agency staffing, which is an issue for all councils.

"Maintaining staffing levels remains challenging, not just locally but nationally, where the recruitment and retention of experienced social workers is difficult, and services rely heavily upon agency staffing."