There are still "serious concerns" with the children's services department in Bridgend County Borough Council - a year after five-year-old Logan Mwangi was murdered in the area. A new report by Care Inspectorate Wales said "further urgent action" is needed to improve services for children and families.
However, the report acknowledged there had been improvements at Bridgend County Borough Council in the last 12 months. Logan was killed by his mother, step-father and step-brother in July 2021 after suffering "catastrophic" internal injuries consistent with a "brutal and sustained assault" likened to a car crash.
Angharad Williamson, 31, John Cole, 40, and 14-year-old Craig Mulligan were all convicted of murder and received life sentences. The latest routine inspection on the children's services department in the area took place between 23 and 27 May 2022. The report was released on August 1 2022, nearly a year to the day Logan was killed and his body dumped in the River Ogmore close to his home in Sarn on July 21 2021. A separate child practice review looking at the circumstances around Logan's death and the involvement of professionals in his and his family's life is due to be published in the autumn.
However, ahead of then Care Inspectorate Wales' report found that staff absence and recruitment, coupled with "deficits in some systems and processes, including managerial oversight arrangements, has had a significant adverse impact on the delivery of some children’s services in Bridgend County Borough."
Concerns were also identified in relation to "the timeliness of the local authority’s Information Advice and Assistance (IAA) service and the ability to meet its statutory responsibilities to promote and protect the well-being of vulnerable children and families."
Councillor Jane Gebbie, cabinet member for social services and early help at Bridgend County Borough Council, said she welcomed the report's publication
She added: "A great deal of work has already taken place to improve the overall quality of our services for children and their families, and much of this has been highlighted by the report. For example, we have commissioned a programme of independent quality assurance to assess the strengths and areas for development in children’s services, are actively recruiting new employees, and are carefully redeploying existing staff to provide additional support in areas experiencing the most pressure.
"Management oversight and decision-making has been strengthened by increased frequency of supervision in priority areas and the better collection and scrutiny of performance information data, and greater planning to reconfigure and improve the resilience and sustainability of the service in the longer term is also being taken forward.
"I would like to thank our children’s services workforce for the commitment and dedication that they have demonstrated during the considerable challenges of the pandemic and beyond. It is pleasing to note that when surveyed by the Care Inspectorate Wales, 93 per cent of our staff said that they felt well supported.
"We are committed towards giving our workforce all the support they need to do their jobs well, and to help them to develop their careers in Bridgend County Borough. The council also remains committed towards strengthening the overall effectiveness and resilience of its services for children, and we will continue to liaise closely with the inspectors as we seek to deliver further improvements."
Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS, who worked for more than 25 years as a child protection social worker before becoming a politician, said it was clear improvements needed to be made. She has also called for an independent inquiry into children’s services across all of Wales - arguing that ones were taking place in England and Scotland.
Ms Dodds said: “Missing from this report is the use of comparisons, there is no metric to identify how Bridgend is measuring up to other local authorities in Wales or even to previous inspections.
“The report also contains no reference to the tragic death of Logan Mwangi or what impact this has since had on workers in Bridgend children’s services. This is something that would have had a huge emotional impact on people and the services they deliver.
“There is also no specific focus on child protection work and how children are protected including no assessment about whether this service performs well or not. This is something we would want to see in a Wales-wide review.
“The report lacks context and does not tell me as a Senedd Member, how Bridgend are doing in comparison to Wales as a whole and how they could be supported with good practice from other local authorities
“It is my opinion that the inspection regime in Wales needs overhauling to focus on a pan Wales performance picture, assessing how local authorities measure up to this and then how they can be helped to improve.
“Finally, the Welsh Government must outline what it is doing to address the staffing crisis in children’s services, which is mentioned consistently throughout this report. Local authorities clearly need assistance in finding ways to recruit new staff and retain existing staff.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “The Care Inspectorate Wales report on Bridgend’s Children’s Services highlights a number of areas of concern. The Minister has sought assurances that work to address the issues raised in the report will be undertaken as a matter of urgency. We will work with Bridgend and Care Inspectorate Wales to support them to make the improvements required and address the issues highlighted.”
“We have set out an ambitious programme for reform to transform children’s services in Wales and have been clear that now is the time for action and not further review. This action is based on a range of independent research, reviews and evaluation which set out the changes and the challenges which must be addressed.”
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