Calderdale Council invest £400k to protect children & recruit more social workers

CALDERDALE Council is spending £300,000 on temporary social workers and £100,000 on consultants to sort out the way it deals with reports of children in need.

Calderdale Council was stripped of its status as a four-star authority in March and reduced to three, partly because of the time taken to interview children and families, and to put data on to files.

Now, business advisers PricewaterhouseCooper have been hired to carry out a review to help the council speed up the way it assesses and protects children in need.

They will report to the new director of children and young people’s services, Janet Donaldson, before Christmas, which will then be scrutinised by councillors.

“We need to look at front-line social services and make sure that what we are doing to protect children is good enough.

“The outcome of the review should also tell us where we need to put in extra resources,” she said.

The cabinet recently set aside £300,000 to hire temporary social workers. Government targets say initial childcare assessments should be completed within seven working days but in Calderdale fewer than half meet this target.

Core assessments, which should take no more than 35 working days, are also taking too long.

“Our aim is to at least meet the guidelines and ensure that we provide the best possible service,” said Mr Donaldson.

The move has been welcomed by David Kirk, the executive head of Ash Green School, Mixenden, and Deanfield Primary School, Ovenden, both Halifax, who had called for a review.

“People working in schools with vulnerable children have some serious concerns about the assessment system and the time taken to assess and, where necessary, to intervene,” he said.