Widespread failings found at Shropshire Council's children's services

Ofsted inspectors looked at services for children in need of protection

"Serious and widespread" failings are leaving Shropshire children in need of protection at risk of "significant harm", an Ofsted report has concluded.

An inspection of Shropshire Council's services looked at arrangements for children subject to a protection plan.

Weaknesses included the quality of management oversight and staff supervision, said Ofsted.

The council said it was "absolutely committed" to ensuring best outcomes for children in the county.

Since an inspection in February 2022 there had been a deterioration in the quality of social work practice for the affected children, inspectors found.

"There are serious and widespread systemic failings, leading to weaknesses in child protection practice, which leave children at risk of inadequate protection and significant harm," the report said.

Inspectors carried out the latest visit in November 2023 and found too many social workers and managers were failing to ensure protection processes were being followed to manage escalating risks to children.

Serious and widespread failings were found at Shropshire's children's services

Vulnerable children were also being exposed to risk of harm for extended periods, the report said.

Since the inspection there had been "considerable challenges" in the recruitment and retention of staff, it added, which had led to an "over-reliance on agency workers in the case management teams".

This had resulted in a "level of inexperience," inspectors said.

The report added that senior leadership team at the council had acknowledged the shortfalls identified by inspectors and expressed a commitment to improve,  but inspectors criticised the pace of that improvement as being "too slow".

Shropshire Council will now be required to submit an action plan detailing how it will improve within 70 days.

Councillor Kirstie Hurst-Knight, in charge of children and education, said the authority had identified many of the issues raised and was working hard to address them.

The council was in the process of recruiting 20 new social care roles to help ease caseload pressure, she said.

"Yes, this report raises some difficult issues, however we have a highly-skilled and passionate workforce who make a real difference to the lives of children and families in Shropshire," she added.