‘Slow’ progress led to Birmingham children’s head suspension

The “slow” pace of change in Birmingham’s children’s social care services was a factor in the suspension of its director, it has emerged.

Colin Tucker, who joined in 2009 after eight children known to social services died within three years, was suspended on 12 January.

The department has been criticised by Ofsted for its improvement rate.

Eleanor Brazil, the head of children, young people and families, said the “pace of change” had been a concern.

She said: “One of the concerns has been about the pace of change and the speed at which we are able to improve practice to the level at which it needs to be.”

The department was first served with an Improvement Notice in February 2009, putting it at risk of being taken over by the government if it did not make any progress.

In July 2010, Ofsted said the council was still failing to protect vulnerable children and that its capacity to improve was inadequate.

‘Inconsistent improvement’

It was told in September to expect a second Improvement Notice to bring safeguarding children up to a satisfactory rating within 12 months, or be replaced by a government intervention team.

At the time, Councillor Les Lawrence, cabinet member for children, young people and families, said he was confident children’s social care services could meet the target.

Four months later Mr Tucker was suspended.

The council has said the suspension is not linked to the death of two-year-old Keanu Williams from Ward End earlier this month.

Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board has said it will undertake a serious case review.

Ms Brazil said it was possible that more tragedies could occur.

She added: “The only thing I would add is that where you’ve got an authority who have been criticised for the quality of their safeguarding service, and where we know that we are taking steps to improve that but it’s still inconsistent, unfortunately it’s possible that something like this can happen and has happened.”

She said there were already some examples of good practice within children’s social care in Birmingham but that standard was not being consistently applied across the city.