A TRANSFORMATION programme for BCP Council children’s services will see details on a bid for funding unveiled this summer.

Efforts are being made to put the department back on track after a damning Ofsted inspection found that the service was inadequate.

BCP Council has already received its first monitoring visit from the watchdog and the findings of this focused assessment are due in the coming weeks.

Read more: BCP Council children's services 'inadequate' with kids at risk

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on June 22, Cllr Mike White, portfolio holder for children and young people, said the children’s services team was developing a bid for transformation funding.

He told fellow members that this bid will probably come to cabinet in July and September.

In a statement to the Daily Echo, Cllr White said: “The children’s transformation programme is being established to coordinate the action needed to sustain the required improvements in children’s services.

“This relates specifically to actions needed to achieve recurrent savings and to safely and appropriately manage and reduce the demand for statutory services.”

At the cabinet meeting Cllr Drew Mellor said he was “really excited” at news of the bid for funding.

Read more: BCP Council's children's services boss apologises to families

“We are aware we are on a journey and also we want to make sure we get the most out of transformation and the opportunities to really deliver long term for our children,” Cllr Mellor said.

Ofsted carried out a full 12-day inspection of BCP Council’s children’s services in December 2021, with its findings published in February.

Lead inspector Steve Lowe said: “There are still serious and widespread weaknesses in the quality of children’s services that leave vulnerable children at risk of harm.”

In-between the inspection and the report being published, Cathi Hadley was appointed as the council’s director of children’s services.

In an interview with the Daily Echo, Ms Hadley apologised to families for the failures in the local authority service.

She said: “None of us would want to put children at risk and none of us would want to leave children at risk and we absolutely apologise for not being able to move swiftly on some of those areas where Ofsted have found us lacking and we will be doing our utmost to address those issues now.

"I know we have already started that work and we are already concentrating on those areas where Ofsted had their most concerns.

“We have been through every single one of those cases before Ofsted left the building and reassured Ofsted that we ensured that those children were not left at risk.”