Figures show extent of social care failings in Peterborough

The appalling performance of Peterborough City Council’s children’s social care service over the past three years has been revealed.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that more than 1,000 children referred to children’s services were not assessed within the 10-day target time between November 2009 and April 2012.

And at the height of two crises in the department, more than half the children requiring an Initial Assessment (IA) by a social worker were not assessed within the 10-day government-set limit.

In March 2010, after an Ofsted report revealed a failure in management, 59 out of 99 IAs took longer than 10 days.

Then, in September 2011, a month in which former director of children’s services John Richards resigned after another damning Ofsted report which said vulnerable children were being put at risk, 114 out of 200 IAs were not completed within 10 days.

Cllr Sheila Scott, the cabinet member for children’s services, said she did not start receiving monthly performance figures until after the March 2010 Ofsted and that she received misleading performance figures in the run-up to the Ofsted report published in September 2011.

She said: “The information provided by senior officers – not John Richards – was not detailed enough, I was probably presented a rosier picture.

“I have absolute confidence in the weekly figures I get now.”

The statistics show that 1,051 out of 3,280 social care referrals missed the 10-day IA target between November 2009 and April 2012.

They also show the improvement in the department since Malcolm Newsam was taken on as interim director of children’s services, with just one IA missing the 10-day target out of 220 in April this year.

Referrals are generally made to the council through organisations such as schools, health professionals, police and concerned members of the public.

Children’s services was criticised for failing to take action after concerns were expressed about the care of five-year-old Tyler Whelan, who was murdered by his mother’s boyfriend Elvis Lee in March 2011.

There was also a large spike in referrals to social care in May 2011 and it has increased steadily since then.

Mr Newsam said this was down to greater public awareness following the Baby P case and that previous thresholds were set too high, meaning “insufficient work was accepted into the system”.

Now the department is coping with more cases than ever before and most of them are being handled on time.

Nick Edwards, NSPCC service manager in Peterborough, said: “Problems in the performance of the children’s services department at Peterborough City Council are well documented and these figures support the findings of the Ofsted inspections, which highlighted extensive and concerning issues in children’s social services.

“Recent figures in Peterborough indicate a welcome improvement in performance over recent months which we hope will be maintained.”