£1.4m investment after critical social care report

A critical Ofsted report about Somerset County Council’s care of vulnerable children has resulted in a £1.4 million investment in social care in the county.

Around 48 new staff, including 22 social workers, will be employed over the next few years to keep up with the rising number of children coming into care in the county, following a £1.4m funding agreement by the council.

This investment follows an Ofsted inspection in June which reported on how the council looks after children in care.

While the report declared that care services were “adequate”, in two specific areas the council and its NHS partners were found to be “inadequate”. Inspectors made a number of recommendations and the council was told it would receive a further check up in three months.

Councillor Frances Nicholson said: “We have a clear council priority to protect vulnerable children. At a time that our government funding is going down, numbers of vulnerable children coming into our care are going up. That puts pressure on our council finances.

“We are investing £1.4m in improvements and Social Work staff, to protect the most vulnerable children in society. The investment reflects the huge increase in demand that we face in this vitally important area and is a commitment I totally endorse.”

Mrs Nicholson outlined the improvements made by the council since the inspection.

She said: “We have taken swift action to expand the social work team by 48 full time staff, including 22 social workers and 26 support workers. The increase in staff will allow us to continue to improve how we protect and look after children in care, to give them a more positive future.

“As well as increasing the size of team, we are strengthening our processes, designing better planning, working collaboratively with partners and increasing staff training. We have also made a commitment not to place vulnerable 16 and 17 year olds in bed and breakfast accommodation.

“This commitment was made good in July through immediate measures, and longer term work will ensure that such accommodation will not be needed in the future.”