Staff at Fisher’s Folly have been warned to be on their best behaviour, as septuagenarian corporate director Debbie Jones makes her last hurrah, and evermore ridiculous CEO Katherine Kerswell declares: ‘Let them eat cake!’
The last-but-one time there was a full inspection of Croydon Council’s children’s services operation, it delivered a damning report of children at high risk of harm which led to council bosses chucking £30million at the problem in a desperate effort to try to fix it. The then council CEO even offered staff £500 bonuses if they helped to recruit social workers.
That was in 2017, when Ofsted inspectors discovered “widespread and serious failures” which “leave some children at risk of significant harm”.
Although never officially confirmed, sources inside the council have suggested that much of the inspectors’ concerns involved teens and young adults in care in Croydon who were vulnerable to being targeted by people traffickers. There were also at least two cases of teenagers in council care committing suicide.
“Inspectors identified a legacy of poor practice characterised by drift and delay in the provision of key services,” the Ofsted inspectors noted seven years ago.
“Weak managerial oversight at all levels has not ensured that basic social work practice is of a good enough standard. Children do not receive robust and timely responses to ensure that risk is reduced and their needs are met.”
It took until March 2020, and considerable input and intervention from social workers loaned from other local authorities, before Ofsted was able to return and declare that Croydon’s children’s services were back to being as they should be, with a rating of “Good”.
So it is understandable that there has been an air of edginess around Fisher’s Folly and some of the senior figures in the council HQ this week, as Ofsted inspectors have been on site for the first full delve into Croydon’s children’s services since covid.
Under pressure: Katherine Kerswell, the council CEO
Current chief executive Katherine Kerswell, in her “weekly waffle” email to staff, was at peak patronising when she warned council employees to play nicely and be on their best behaviour when the men (and women) from the ministry came to visit for a full standard inspection of children’s social care services, which began on Monday and continues until next Friday, October 25.
This is very much the “last hurrah” at the council for septugenarian Debbie Jones, the corporate director for children’s services who in the midst of the council’s financial collapse four years ago, Kerswell recruited offering an interim pay rate of £800 per day.
Jones recently announced that she is stepping aside, though she’s hanging around to see through the Ofsted inspection.
Jones won’t, it seems, be around for the inspectors’ report, or to deal with its consequences.
In her round-robin email, Kerswell wrote: “Colleagues have been working incredibly hard in preparation for [the Ofsted] visit, which is an opportunity to share all the great work that goes in to supporting Croydon’s children and their families.
“This is a major moment for our colleagues in CYPE [children young people and education directorate], and for all of us.”
Last hurrah: the very well-paid Debbie Jones
This may become to be regarded as Kerswell’s “Let them eat cake” moment, and we all know what eventually happened to Marie Antoinette. Certainly, after that fateful 2017 Ofsted visit, heads rolled…
“Please be mindful that staff in the directorate will be focused on the inspection and to support them where needed, even if that’s buying them a coffee and a cake!” Kerswell ordered staff.
“It may also have an impact on meeting room availability with up to six inspectors on site – so please be friendly and welcoming if you see them in our buildings. We are one team and we all want them to see the great work that is being done.”
Kerswell may be feeling the strain just a tad.
Despite having more directors working for her than there was even when her predecessor, Jo “Negreedy” Negrini, was in charge as chief exec, and after having only recently returned from an extra-long summer holiday, £192,000 per year Kerswell is now faced with another financial collapse – official predictions of a budget of overspend this financial year totalling a cool £42million.
Then there’s the two-week obligations of Ofsted’s inspection team crawling all over the place, and that comes straight off the back of last week’s “peer review”, where officials from other authorities and agencies popped in to Fisher’s Folly to have a close look at just how things are going at the only council ever to issue three Section 114 notices.
“Thank you to everyone who has worked hard behind the scenes to make this week’s Corporate Peer Challenge run so smoothly,” Kerswell wrote in her weekly waffle.
“It’s not easy organising the diaries of 150 interviewees across just four days!” Oh, what larks!
“The panel have [sic] gained a real sense of what a diverse place Croydon is and all the work that’s gone into the council’s improvement journey – where we’ve come from, where we are now, and where we want to be.
“Thank you to everyone who took park this week in interviews, we’ll share the formal report and findings from the review once received.”
It should make for a right riveting read – though don’t hold your breath, it could be 2025 before it sees the light of day, and only then, as with past reports into Kerswell’s running of the council, possibly only after Kerswell herself has been granted prior approval.
Read more: Ofsted inspection rates Croydon children’s services ‘Good’
Read more: Damning verdict on Croydon’s ‘inadequate’ children’s service
Read more: Two key figures leave council over Ofsted inspectors’ report
Read more: Negrini offers council staff £500 to recruit social workers
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