The sigh of relief from the Town Hall could be heard all the way to Purley, as inspectors passed the council’s under-pressure children’s care department as overall ‘Good’. But with only 80% staff and a series of deaths of youngsters in council care, the report offers serious warnings
Ofsted has this morning published its report on Croydon’s children’s services department, with an overall rating of “Good”, but with a “Requires improvement” rating for those children who need protection.
The report follows a full inspection conducted in October, the first carried out on Croydon’s children’s services since early 2020. Then, the rating was “Good”, and marked the end to special measures for the council since 2017, when Ofsted inspectors discovered “widespread and serious failures” which “leave some children at risk of significant harm”.
According to the latest Ofsted inspectors’ report, “Since the last inspection in 2020, the local authority has improved services forchildren in care and care leavers. Although senior leaders have improved services for children at the ‘front door’, not all children who need help and protection receive a consistently effective service.”
According to official council figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request, in the four years since the previous Ofsted inspection, five children or young people have died while in the care of Croydon Council.
Three of those deaths occurred in 2020, one in 2021 and one last year.
The council refused to release Coroner’s Court reports into the deaths. “We do not hold the records of inquest/reference numbers, as they are not council documents,” the council claimed, not very convincingly.
Under pressure: despite years of efforts to get a full complement of social workers, the council’s children’s services department is missing 1-in-5 staff
The pressures on Croydon Council’s children’s department have long been known to be greater than for most other local authorities in the country.
More children live in Croydon than anywhere else in London. The Home Office at Lunar House on Wellesley Road is also home to the national intake unit for unaccompanied young asylum seekers.
Yet according to today’s Ofsted report, Croydon’s children’s services department still operates with just 80% of its supposed permanent workforce for children’s social care.
Recruitment and retention of full-time qualified social workers was identified as one of the key failings in Croydon in that damning Ofsted report seven years ago. Then, the council’s response was to throw £30million at the problem, much of it intended to recruit more staff. That unplanned, extra spending, many council insiders believe, was the start of the tailspin into the council’s effective bankruptcy in 2020.
As today’s Ofsted report states: “Children’s services have experienced significant challenges with a high turnover of staff, financial difficulties, increased demand and an ambitious transformation programme.”
By “ambitious transformation programme”, what they mean is more cuts to staff and services.
“Despite this,” Ofsted says, “progress has been made in most areas and many children receive effective care and protection…
“The stable and committed senior leadership team is supported by elected members [meaning councillors; since 2022, the cabinet member responsible has been Councillor Maria Gatland], who have continued to invest in services with the aim of improving outcomes for children in the borough.
Summary report: ‘Good’ findings, with one important exception
“In some areas of practice, such as the out-of-hours service, the pace of change has been too slow or it is too soon to see a positive impact for children and families.”
This “too slow” level of responsiveness is referred to more than once in the Ofsted report.
“The responses by the out-of-hours service to children in emergency situations are inconsistent,” the report says.
“There is insufficient staff capacity to answer calls out of hours, which limits the amount of information they collect from referrers and means that out-of-hours workers are unable to fully assess and prioritise their work,” the inspectors note elsewhere.
‘Good news for Croydon’: Mayor Jason Perry
“A lack of capacity in the emergency duty team means workers are not always able to visit children, for example when children are in custody overnight,” is another observation by the inspectors. Apparently council leaders “have transformation plans in place”.
According to Ofsted, “The pace of change in this service has been too slow. In response to
concerns raised during the inspection, leaders have recognised a need to further strengthen recording and oversight of children who have been held in police stations overnight.”
Elsewhere, the report states: “Social workers respond quickly when they become aware of allegations of significant harm. Most strategy meetings are effective, and child protection investigations are thorough and reach timely and proportionate decisions.
“There are sometimes delays in initial child protection conferences taking place, and interim safety planning, pending multi-agency decision-making, is variable in quality.
“Once held, initial child protection conferences enable effective information-sharing to inform plans to help, protect and support children.” Yes: “once held”.
The inspectors found that social workers visit children subject to child protection and child-in-need plans “regularly”. The inspectors say that they “saw some excellent examples of direct work undertaken with children that informs assessments and safety plans”.
But there remains the impression of an under-staffed department stretched to almost breaking point by the levels of demand encountered: “The quality of direct work is more variable for a minority of children who have experienced several changes of social worker,” the report states.
According to £82,000 per year Mayor Jason Perry, “This is good news for Croydon.” Apparently, according to piss-poor Perry, “We know where we need to get better, with plans underway – now we will be stepping up the pace.” Perry has been in charge of the council for almost three years.
In one of her fake bon homie, cheery round-robins sent to staff this morning, council chief exec Katherine Kerswell wrote: “The report recognises how our services have improved since the last inspection back in 2020, despite huge challenges including the pandemic and the organisation’s financial crisis…
“Ofsted’s assessment is a fair and realistic reflection of where we are right now. It’s honest about what we need to improve on…
“This really is great news, and I want to say a huge thank you and well done to everyone involved. I’ve been told that during the inspection we had colleagues queuing up to talk to the inspectors; wanting to share their work and examples of best practise [sic], which is something to be proud of [sic].
“It says a lot about the talent and level of experience we have in our workforce,” Kerswell said.
“Today is a big milestone.”
Read more: Ofsted inspection rates Croydon children’s services ‘Good’
Read more: Damning verdict on Croydon’s ‘inadequate’ children’s service
Read more: Negrini offers council staff £500 to recruit social workers
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Contact Mayor Perry if you need more info : mayor@croydon.gov.uk
Wait – someone had to raise an FOI to find out the details? WTF!
I’m surprised, my experience as a professional dealing with Croydon children’s social care has been abysmal. Glad that some children are getting the services they need and deserve.
Our Tory Councillors have certainly been milking this for all it’s worth like somehow it means they are doing a good job or something.