'Serious failures to safeguard children' have been revealed at Liverpool City Council's failing Children's Services department.
A damning Ofsted report has slammed the council service as 'inadequate' and cited 'serious weaknesses' for children who need help or protection, leaving children 'being harmed or at risk of harm.'
After an inspection in March, the Children's Services department has been rated as inadequate in four out of five of the key areas - including the overall rating.
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A key issue raised by inspectors concerns 'the experience and progress of children who need help or protection' with a number of deeply concerning problems revealed.
This includes 'serious failures to safeguard children' within the department and the failure to always identify significant harm. When this harm is identified, it is not always robustly responded to.
The report states: "Many children experience drift and delay in having their needs met, as a result of insufficient workforce capacity and a lack of regular management oversight and direction. Some children have had their child protection plan removed too soon and risks have not been mitigated. This is leaving some children at risk of, or suffering, ongoing significant harm."
The report found that poorly informed decisions from the council's Careline team - which manages all child social care enquiries - have left children experiencing 'repeat incidents' before they receive the help they need from the council's Careline team When contacts are not accepted by Careline, children's information is stored in an email inbox for three months, even when consent is not secured.
When children are at risk of immediate harm, Ofsted found that the response at the 'front door' of the council service is mostly swift, However it found that when there is a potential crime and there are child protection concerns, joint enquiries with the police are not always started.
The report is also critical of other agencies, adding: "In particular, the response from agencies, including the police, to children who experience sexual harm is sometimes poor. As a result, these children are not getting the help and support they need and these serious crimes are not always investigated."
Ofsted found that some children do not receive 'sufficient protection' from the council, even when they are subject to child protection planning. Risks are not always identified and when they are, the response is not always 'robust', which leaves the children at risk of 'ongoing harm.' This includes some disabled children and some who go missing from home or care - where the response was found to be 'mostly weak.'
The service was found to be closing child protection plans too early for some children, with critical work not completed. This has resulted in some children experiencing further incidents of harm and repeated social care interventions.
Ofsted also found that the needs of disabled children are not being consistently well met by the council. The report states: "High workloads are impacting on social workers’ ability to complete fundamental work, such as regular visits, child in need plans and planning. As a result, these highly vulnerable children are not seen with the regularity they need or reviewed to ensure that they are safe and making progress."
Responding to today's report, new council leader Cllr Liam Robinson said: "“I was deeply concerned to read the Ofsted report, and share the concerns of the whole city.
“We have been letting down our most vulnerable children and young people, as well as their families which is completely unacceptable. As a new Leader working with a new Cabinet and new Senior Management Team, we are determined to put this right.
“We have a new dedicated children’s social services lead, Cllr Liz Parsons, who has professional experience in this area, to help drive forward improvements.
“There is no greater responsibility for a council than being the corporate parent for young people who need support, and we owe it to each and every one of them to deliver the best service we possibly can.
In a joint statement, Theresa Grant and incoming chief executive Andrew Lewis, said: “We recognise that people will be rightly concerned about Ofsted’s findings.
“It is in no way a reflection of our frontline social care staff, who are absolutely dedicated to keeping our young people safe. A huge amount of work has been taking place in recent months to tackle the issues that have been identified.
“We have already made progress in creating additional capacity, and work is under way to implement a new social work practice model which will make a huge difference to the support that our most vulnerable young people receive.
“The Improvement Plan will be implemented later this year, overseen by a new Director of Children’s Services who we are currently out to recruitment for.”
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