Doncaster's children services rated 'inadequate'

Children's services in Doncaster were removed from the council in October 2014

A government watchdog has rated Doncaster's child services "inadequate".

Ofsted said improvements had been made, but inspectors found "serious weaknesses in a small number of cases".

Last October the government removed child services from council control and gave them to an independent trust following a number of child protection failures.

A trust executive said he was not surprised at the report.

Mark Douglas, chief operating officer at Doncaster Children's Services Trust (DSCT), said the trust had only existed for 11 months.

"The Ofsted report's confirmed what we know about services in Doncaster," he said.

"It's confirmed what we already knew in terms of where the areas of strength and further development's needed and it doesn't provide any surprises for the trust.

"So in that sense, I am reassured that the trust has a good understanding in terms of improving children's services."

'Vulnerable situations'

Ofsted rated the trust's adoption services as "good". However, its child protection services suffered from a "slow delivery" and "insufficient co-ordination".

Inspectors added: "For some children, this means they have been left in vulnerable situations for longer than necessary."

The report also said the trust needed to reduce the "turnover of social workers and managers".

In March 2009, an inquiry was launched by the government following the deaths of seven children in the district through abuse or neglect over five years.

Less than a year later a serious case review found attacks in the nearby town of Edlington in which two young boys were tortured by two brothers, aged 11 and 12, had been "preventable".

In July 2013 the then Education Secretary Michael Gove ruled an independent trust would run children's services in Doncaster.