INSPECTORS have found steady and concerted progress is being made in addressing BCP Council’s failing children’s services – but concern remains over lingering challenges from local government reorganisation.

Ofsted has published its latest findings having completed its second monitoring visit of the department since rating the service as inadequate almost a year ago.

Inspector Steve Lowe’s report, which was published yesterday, said a “sensible, sustainable plan” was now in place to provide a better service for children.

“The overall quality of service is slowly improving and staff are increasingly confident in tackling risks to the most vulnerable,” Mr Lowe said.

“While staff turnover is still higher than senior leaders would wish, these improvements are equally evident in the temporary workforce when those workers have remained in post for several months or more.”

Following the first monitoring visit in June, the council’s director of children’s services Cathi Hadley said there were “green shoots of progress”.

Asked for her assessment on the latest Ofsted report, she told the Daily Echo: “They have felt we are making steady progress and they felt that we are where we should be, so that is a good litmus test.

“We have to build each monitoring visit. Build on what we have done and going forward we are building.

“The headline always is the fact they didn’t find any children at risk and no children were harmed.

“Staff morale is a lot higher, so we are beginning to steady that ship and manageable case loads and also the voice of children coming out quite strongly.

“More to do as always.”

Read more on Ofsted and the improvement advisor reports

Mr Lowe, who was joined by fellow inspector Louise Hocking for the visit on October 4 and October 5, said some children were still experiencing delays in getting help and protection.

The monitoring visit focused on children in need and those subject to a child protection plan, namely those children who are at risk of significant harm or who require support to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development.

The report said: “The absence of a clear, unified approach of ‘this is how we do it here’ for staff leads to inconsistent decision-making in child protection conferences, poor planning and a lack of depth in assessing and analysing the underlying reasons for chronic neglect and the impact of domestic abuse.”

Bournemouth Echo: Senior officer Cathi HadleySenior officer Cathi Hadley

Ms Hadley said staff have come up with a practice model they would like to be used and it has been signed off with senior management. Efforts would now turn to implementing it, which can take two to three years to fully embed, with potential for financial support from government.

The inspectors said local government reorganisation – when councils merged in 2019 – has been and continues to be a challenge for the authority, specifically around harmonising systems and working practices posing a “barrier sufficiently timely progress”.

“This has also, at times, made it more difficult for the local authority’s political and corporate leaders to take a whole-council approach to supporting positive change for children,” Mr Lowe said.

“The consolidation of recent improvements is reliant upon overcoming those barriers.”

Ms Hadley said since she arrived at the start of the year there had been “really good work” in highlighting where children’s services sits She added: “It is about how I work with my corporate colleagues and all of the other things that are happening in that LGR transformation to ensure that children’s services are front and centre of that decision making, so it becomes an enabling process, not a disabling process.”