Children's services assessments 'continue to be of variable quality'
19.08.2022 - 09:37
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A monitoring inspection of children's services in Trafford in the wake of an "inadequate" judgement three years ago has found that assessments of young people "continue to be of variable quality". Ofsted visited the services on July 12 and 13 - the fourth monitoring visit since the local authority was said to be falling short in June 2019.
Inspectors Lorna Schlechte and Amanda Maxwell examined the quality of social work assessments and plans for children in need; the way in which all staff and managers "listened to the voices of children in need"; management oversight of social work practice and senior leaders' understanding of the quality of that practice.
Their main findings were that "there is too much variability in practice for children in need in Trafford, compared to other cohorts of children". They said: "Senior leaders have recognised this from audits completed in the last few months. This increased awareness has led to a recently commissioned review of the quality and effectiveness of service for those children."
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Their report said a service redesign, launched in October 2021, had led to the establishment of a "Families First" service, which aims to support children in need "more robustly". It went on: "Sometimes, plans for children are not updated regularly or in line with children's circumstances. Management oversight does not always have sufficient impact on the quality of planning to avoid drift.
"A stable senior leadership team continues to maintain focus on appropriate improvement priorities." The inspectors said the service still had a high rate of agency social workers,
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