Notts children’s services enjoy ‘spectacular’ turnaround

A SURPRISE inspection of Notts County Council’s children’s services has found “good progress” – nearly a year after it was given notice to improve.

Ofsted looked at 40 cases in a visit in February and found the authority had addressed areas where action was needed.

The report, published today, states: “The strategic and political leadership of the council has taken swift action to tackle priority areas for action and areas for development.”

In response to the poor report, which rated 13 out of 33 areas “inadequate,” the council overhauled procedures, injected £25 million and recruited 60 new staff.

The drive was pushed by the findings of the serious case review into the death of Mansfield eight-year-old Charlotte Avenall, who was found hanged in her bedroom while known to social services.

Councillor Philip Owen, cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said: “We inherited a service that was described as being in crisis and not ensuring that children in Notts were safe.

“I think the turnaround is bordering on the spectacular.”

He added he was told by Ofsted the service was “no longer in crisis” and children in Notts were as safe as the council could make them.

“We have stepped up to the mark to do this,” he said.

He added the authority had made “necessary and hard” budget decisions. Cash pressures in the service were among reasons cited for £150 million of savings needed over the next three years.

The service struggled to cope with soaring referrals after the case of Baby Peter.

It has introduced a Pathway to Provision, a guide as to what intervention is needed, to help schools and others decide if a referral is appropriate.

Referrals have fallen after peaking in July when 1,598 contacts were made to the council about children. Now there are around 600 a month.

Previously, only 37 per cent of initial assessments were made within ten days, but that has been raised to 84 per cent.

Anthony May, corporate director for children services, said staff had worked “flat out” and had realised there were problems before the poor report.

But Ofsted found core assessments still needed to be more timely and quality was not “consistently robust.”

Mr May added: “Crucially, there are no areas for priority action, as these have all been addressed.”

Steve Edwards, service director, praised the efforts of staff.

Beeston-based social worker Sophie Eadsforth said she had seen improvements.

Ms Eadsforth said: “We have changed a few teams around. The balance of experienced and new workers was re-arranged to be more effective.

“We now cover a bigger area. People were maybe a bit disgruntled at first but it’s all working out well.”

Agency workers eased the burden until permanent staff started.

Regular Joint Access Team (JAT) meetings include input from education, healthcare, police and the voluntary sector on how to handle cases.

Newly qualified workers also have more support.